shayan

I agree and thanks for the link I'll see what I can find there

thanks Scott .. I did look at CL and didn't find anything crazy, but you are right if I put up a post that might change things

I agree Apple PR does a good job, but not sure how much of a PR job this one is, I mean there are def some negative points made about apple and what it could do in the article...

its a funny one, but it'll take a lot more than a video for him to look cooler than jobs

thank you

Thanks Sam, its nice of you to put in the time and type this up. And all the best.

thats a good point, but I doubt they are planning to do all the interviews themselves, I think the article mentions that they just want to add any related video in there, i.e. interviews, lectures and anything else of that sort ... but if they don't there is no way it can scale, it will be like a tv show with a couple of episodes a week

not really, it is like trying to realize there are some capable companies out there that could have some big advantages over you and trying to find solutions on how you will compete with them if they decide to do the same thing, instead of just being optimistic that it will never happen

just curious, but what makes you think xobni will not be offering the feature soon, and if they will what makes you think that yours will have an advantage to theirs, knowing they are already ahead, have users, and done a good job executing it and will probably offer the services faster than you can!!!

hehehe most of mine was like that too

some interesting tips, but not too sure about the PR section specially hiring a PR firm, you might be able to get more creative than that and waste less money on these sort of expenses

or it might have been the reference copy that couldn't be checked out :)

I am happy that apple wasn't able to or didn't try hard enough to find the informer

very interesting I love meeting people like Mr. Lykes and yourself that take the extra (not asked for) step. These are the kind of things that really separate you from the bunch. And I really think there is no age on this, as long as you are fighting to achieve more and do better you have room to keep doing things like this. And I guess once you are the manager and the president you can remember how much it means to be appreciated when someone does these kind of stuff, and will work harder to motivate those that do these (rather than not saying anything direct in response to the mails in both cases)

what a short but inspiring paragraph. I just can't get enough of stories like this. This is a kid creating opportunities for himself out of pretty much nothing. These are the kind of things that make a difference between people and what they can achieve. Beautiful.

I totally agree that this is not a LinkedIn killer, but if FB is able to eventually get everyone on it, then this could be a LinkedIn killer...nevertheless this is a much needed feature

Only if she was a bit older heheh... I do see your point, but I still think you'll be surprised to see how many important, and influential people are actually on fb and use it... also LinkedIn is def a more professional place but you don't always want to spend your time with your bussiness connections and in the office, sometimes there are other ppl in your so called social graph that you would like to socialize with and have fun ...and for that you def have to come to fb and not linkedin

http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2007/12/social-blogging.html

well if you already have a feature complete beta, and all that is left to do is to make it look pretty, then congrats and I would recommend the following. You don't necessarily need money right now! Try to get a small group of beta users on your system, see their reactions and take their feedback. Then try to slowly grow this group to get more people using it. It is always a lot easier to raise money with a working product and some users on it. For doing any of these you guys don't have to quit your day jobs, if you have managed to get this far without quiting I am sure this will be doable too. Or you can do what the guy's at hotmail did (read the second chapter in Founders at Work) one person quits and the other works and they share the income, until they get to a point that they can get funding or generate revenue.

Also as a reminder, the more you have achieved, and the more you have to show, not only the easier you can get funding, but the higher you will be evaluated, which is definitely to your benefit. I would say giving out shares and raising money just so you can pay for your life expenses is not the best idea, get a line of credit!

Anyways, it looks like you are in better shape than I thought. All the best to you.

Since I have no idea what your product is, how big your team is, how much experience you have and what resources you have access to, it is hard to say how much saving is good and how much time you can spend with it (since the costs are also unkonwn).

But I would say in general you would spend about 6 months developing your product, and having something ready anywhere from a good working alpha version to something more of a working prototype and work in progress. I hardly doubt there are too many companies that can start generating revenues (let alone profits to spend on living expenses) within six months from the day they start.

So I would say the best way to do this is to start working on the idea before you quit your job, try to get a prototype or something together, and start looking for funding. I think in your case at the end of six months you will def need outside money (again since I doubt you'll be generating revenues by then and you are out of savings).

So regardless, if you do quit, I would recommend you looking for money right away. The worst thing to ever do is to ask for money when you need it, and when you are under pressure. Take your time, do your shopping, find out how interested people are in your product and try to raise some smart money before your time is up.

and please do keep us in the loop, and good luck to you

I would say recession is kind of here, and coming (but def not depression, technically speaking the economy is going through depression, when it has been in recession for a couple of years and not coming out). but in terms of should you wait for it to go away, I really don't think so. If you have an idea then you should def implement it now, otherwise it will be too late for it. But you have to realize that if in case there will be a recession, then finding jobs might not be as easy either. So if you don't think you can live and sustain the startup life for a while, then you should be careful quiting your job.

Also, there is a lot of talks of online advertising revenues going down, and this might even damage companies like Google a lot. But if you feel like you have a product that would attract many eye balls then you should implement it without worrying too much about online ads, and also you might be able to either find a business model for it that doesn't solely depend on ads or find other interesting exit options for yourself,.

In terms of venture capital, it all depends on how much money your project needs. As many of the "web 2.0" companies don't require much capital to start, I wouldn't think it will dry up, but if more and more of them fail to eventually generate revenue, I would assume the VCs will get more selective. But since the capital needed is much smaller than the dot-com era I would hardly think that vc's will dry up. Of course that is IMHO.

I have a toshiba satellite myself, and I love it... but I find them to be a bit heavy, and really bad on battery... and if you are willing to buy the high end ones then you have some other interesting alternatives!!! but I must mention the graphic card and the LCD are amazing can't recommend it enough

I love ubuntu, tis really good... and I am starting to get a feel from everyone's comments that if I go with MBP then I should stick to OSX ... so I guess I can either find an alternative like you said that would make me happy, and have my ubuntu, or switch entirely to apple and get a MBP

good point bootload, thanks... and about warranty I hope I can get a nice one from the manufacturuer themselves, don't really like the ones retailers like best buy give you, those ones are a rip off

never used OSX but becoming very tempted to give it a try, thanks brk

do you know any details of this one? I could def wait that much if its something good!!!

nice review tx thanks

never used OSX, so if I go with the Mac I'll def give it a try, based on the recommendations

how about facebook offering an opt-in instead of an opt-out????

I doubt most people (nontechies) even know about this feature and what it does, or they wont find it important enough go and opt-out

this is not good enough they need to do more...

I think this is great PR... he is getting other people engaged and interested ... but at the same time, if you were a competitor or were coming up with something very close to his product, then you could get ideas (but I would say if you are ahead of him or have already launched something you have great advantage otherwise it wont make too much difference)

it might even be to his advantage, by discouraging those that are just starting to do something similar by showing how much ahead he is!!