robterrin

Came here to upvote anybody who mentioned Henry George and the land value tax. Can't believe I'm the first one in this thread.

Read Progress and Poverty, he predicted it all over 100 years ago, and provided the solution. https://oll.libertyfund.org/title/george-progress-and-povert...

The challenge with this EO and all aspirational security pronouncements is their focus on outcomes while avoiding implementation details, trade offs and resources.

It’s as if nobody asked WHY zero trust and MFA are not already pervasive in the Federal Government. Legacy systems are going to be incredibly difficult and expensive to rearchitect for ZTA. Despite HSPD-12 (CAC and PIV authentication and access) being over a decade old, some parts of government refuse to use a smart card plus password for MFA. I wonder why? It is not simply because “government doesn’t understand computers.” The core issue is leadership. There is no benefit for executives to point out the constraints, like usability, cost or talent, that ensure that good ideas in principle will be adopted incorrectly and incompletely.

That said, there is some stuff worth cheering. The CSRB is much overdue and the elevation in status of cybersecurity as a critical function is directionally correct.

Much of whether these aspirations will be possible hinges on legislative budget decisions and ultimately sweeping reform of the government hiring system.

Wonder if Knuth’s work in 1972 influenced Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash” in 1992? Certainly seems like it did!

Solid essay on ancient myth and “Snow Crash” here: https://www.cs.unc.edu/~taylorr/snowcrash.html

First, congrats on making it this far! That's amazing and a huge feat.

Second, no you're not crazy. It is risky, but not crazy. Are there a few things you can do to derisk your decision? Identify what you would need to know to feel comfortable and work back from that to form testable hypotheses. Then figure out how much time/money/effort it would cost to test those hypotheses.

If that seems like too much work, or you still won't have the certainty, I wouldn't go all in, but there's one other option before shutting it down. Can you sell the business? Maybe to a search fund or a small investor? I'd get in touch with Arvid Kahl, here or on Twitter if I were you.

Best of luck!

Logged in just to upvote your comment.

An actual land value tax would be even better!

SEEKING FREELANCER | NYC | Full or part time

Cybersecurity engineers proficient in application security, cloud security, identity and access management, and operations. Fintech experience preferable, with a minimum of a few years focused on security.

Email address in profile.

Helping fintechs and other startups access temporary cybersecurity defenders: https://www.getblueteam.com

Having run a cybersecurity services business for three years and previously working for federal clients, I know that government and large banks are sucking the talent up, leaving fintechs two options: ignore security or overpay.

On the reverse side, there are lots of talented independent providers who simply need somebody to vouch for their skills. We meet with and vet everybody on our platform to make sure they have the capabilities.

Will be launching a prototype to replace this landing page shortly. If you're in the New York area and are either looking for cybersecurity contractors or looking for a project, I would love to get your input!

This question came to mind when I read this excellent post: https://danielmiessler.com/study/infosec_interview_questions...

Maybe this will help: https://blog.cloudflare.com/secure-and-fast-github-pages-wit...

Kokozaur, I've been running a cybersecurity services business for the last 2.5 years.

My product pitch was just accepted into an accelerator (all non dilutive capital) run by Columbia University and the City of New York.

Please reach out to the email in my bio, or let me know how I can contact you.

I may have somebody who is a good fit. My email is in my bio. Please reach out.

Any advice on how to find the right person to talk to at these firms? I used to work at Deloitte, and even there I haven't figured out how to sub on something.

How have you gone about doing this? I used to work for Deloitte, and haven't had much success finding people to sub to. Any advice would be much appreciated.

We're a cybersecurity services firm (www.tailrisk.com) that is New York based and got all of our work as the prime contractor through our networks, reputation and skills.

First, pick a very specific niche that you know has demand, ideally by asking potential customers and then positioning yourself in that niche.

You say "sysadmin stuff, troubleshooting and cloud," but clients want to know specific platforms you know well, software you've implemented and types of problems you can solve.

Make sure you are targeting a market where they are interested in "dating not marriage." Many places will not outsource their sysadmin and try to hire you full time instead of as a consultant.

Finally, this comes from my experience running Tail Risk (www.tailrisk.com) a cybersecurity services firm. We have excess project work, tools, templates and playbooks we would like to share with independent (security) consultants. Is that something that interests anybody on this thread? If so, please reach out.

*edited for typo

The articles going around about insurers not paying cyber claims that cite Mondelez are disingenuous. The Mondelez policy was a property & casualty (P&C) policy with an extension for some data property, not a separate cyber insurance policy. It's quite possible that insurers would balk at the claim considering it an act of war, but they haven't done it yet. In my opinion, this case is more about the wrong type of coverage. Mondelez should have purchased a stand alone policy.

"[Andreessen Horowitz] aims to flip the venture industry on its head by acting more like a talent agency - specifically Creative Artists Agency, which became so prominent in Hollywood that it was hard to do deals without them being involved."

https://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2011/01/21/why-andreess...

This being Hacker News and all, I thought the idea that a16z is modeled on CAA would have come up already.

Best comment on the thread so far.

Property tax reform could work for single family homes if we decoupled property tax from land tax. NYS should only raise taxes on the value of land given the surrounding population density, natural properties and accessibility to public infrastructure. Check out some Henry George, if you're interested in learning more.

There are plenty of religions that offer a more flexible interpretation of "God" that might better suit your world view. You may want to check out Quakerism, the Bahá'í Faith and Buddhism. These are just three that come to mind, but there are many more.

I would also add that predestination is a particularly Calvinist protestant belief. Many religions that rely on good works, such as Jesuit Catholicism and Quakerism can provide meaning and sense of purpose without the offensive belief that one has no self determination or choice about being a good person in life.

Can somebody recommend a person or company that they like for this task? I have a company brand, good enough customer flow to stay afloat, but extra hours I could put towards more work.

We offer cybersecurity services and due diligence for financial institutions, healthcare and acquirers, so it's a pretty specialized target market.

Venture capital is broken. Plenty of other good businesses to create out there that don't have to do 20% month over month.

Off topic, but Sahil, love your drawings and paintings on your IG.

I've thought about the idea of moving to a place like Provo from NYC, but I work in cybersecurity, and I don't think there's a client base anywhere but DC, NYC or maybe SF.

Anybody who is interested by the economics of domain names should read Henry George who laid all this out over one hundred years ago in Progress and Poverty. Domains are just the new frontier since we discovered and claimed all physical land. The 1990's were a land grab and now we are entering the period of calcification.

This article is well reasoned. I have heard VC's lament that they are constrained by the business model, and one of the world's foremost academics studying PE/VC believes the model is broken. Limited partners (LP's) have a required rate of return based on actuarial statistics that pension funds must meet, spending goals for foundations or building plans of endowments. All problems stem from having to hit their investors' goals while investing in uncertainty (different than risk, which is what private equity does).

There is one more point I would add to the list. VC's seek high volatility experiments because the power law approach to investing means their wins have to be massive rather than just double or triple their money. VC's themselves use a portfolio to dampen volatility. Peter Thiel is on record that most VC's think about it all wrong and should just admit to making huge bets.

Rob Hayes, of First Round Capital, once said that VC's sell a product (money) to customers (entrepreneurs). This would make LPs their suppliers. If so, then having a family office, or other patient capital, back your fund would be a huge advantage.

Coworking spaces aren't about work. As a small business owner who uses a coworking space, my perspective is that it's about signaling that you are a real business with a business address. Working from home may work for freelancers or online only businesses, but the second you start signing contracts or having meetings, you need a professional space to be taken seriously.

That said, it's incredibly hard for me to get anything done in a noisy environment with no visual barriers and so many wantrepreneurs around. I like the coffee, camaraderie and event spaces, but for most days, working from home is sufficient.

I'm a teaching assistant for a class called Entrepreneurial Finance at my alma mater, which always has a good draw of entrepreneur and investor guest speakers.

One of the recent speakers was Kent Collier, CEO of Reorg (https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/reorg-research#secti...), an information service to the buy-side that focuses on arcane and opaque information, particularly bankruptcy. They are a smash hit that only took $1.3M in financing that now does $1M a week in revenues.

His view is that solo founders and preferable. The reason he gave was that it takes such a clear and unambiguous vision, with total dedication to that vision, that any space between multiple founders creates drag and can kill the startup.

Just going to leave this here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-03/manhattan...

I buy the story about rates and mobility falling in general, although I think this a longer term trend.

Mostly, if wages stagnate, people don't buy homes. Not rocket science. Been going on for nearly 50 years now.

+1 Very good comment. You may like to read some Henry George: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George

Something else is going on here... Let's look at the reasons given:

- Noise

- Pleasant to use

- Accurate

The real reason is because the author is a hipster programmer and wants to elevate his status. It is well known that "real" coders who set up ISP's in the 90's and accomplished other badass feats of superhuman programming use clicky keyboards (https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/40897/how-do-i...).

This goes back to the bullshit nature of most technology jobs. It is such an empty life to work on abstract intellectual problems with no discernible results in the real world, as noted by David Graeber:

"Crucially, the realization brings a delight, the pleasure at being the cause, that is the very foundation of our being." - https://harpers.org/archive/2018/06/punching-the-clock/

The key (pun intended) component here is the theatre of a loud keyboard. It FEELS like you're getting work done! The author readily admits it, "This thing is loud, which really makes me feel like I'm getting serious work done when typing."

So the noise and being pleasant are really one in the same. The feedback make him feel better about being able to make something that produces change in his environment. Even if he is his own audience and only fooling himself, that is enough.

Finally, I question the accuracy piece. I grew up typing on mechanical keyboards, and therefore can appreciate the haptic sensation and noise aspect, but I'm happier with my keyboards' accuracy today. Most of my typing errors are not an issue of incompletely depressing a key, but typing the incorrect key. Mechanical keyboards do nothing for improving this kind of accuracy.

Theatrics for an audience of one. That is the reason. Plain and simple.

(edited for formatting)

"[Applicants] shouldn’t be discounted because [they don't] have one exceptional skill, nor should [they] be propped up because this lack of one exceptional skill misleads us into thinking [they are] succeeding only through [their] own effort like some sort of [academic] Horatio Alger character. It’s bad for [applicants], it’s very bad for [applicants] of color who never get the same breaks, and it’s just bad for [education]. Period."

https://www.draysbay.com/2018/8/13/17678388/tampa-bay-ray-jo...

P.S. Headline should read, "Colleges Say They Want Students with Character..."

And this is eight years after the largest HIPAA violation ever (at the time) at NY Presbyterian suffered because a physician programmer was allowed to take down a firewall and Google started indexing patient records. https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-presbyterian-columb...