Before I joined it sometime this year or last, I thought Pinboard seemed like the silliest, most likely-to-peter-out trifle of a service. But now it stands alone from all the other pinning services I used to use, including Instapaper.
In other words, I trust this guy with knowing how to execute (and to the point, probably recognize) successful minimally-viable products.
My application: "I'd use the $37 to buy $20 worth of stamps and envelopes, then $17 for a disposable camera and photo development costs. I'd photograph myself putting the stamps on the envelopes and get the photos developed. Then I'd put the photos in the envelopes and mail them to you."
"I just received an email that Buddy's Cannabis in San Jose is having a special. 27 different strains are on sale for $29.99 per 3.5 grams. I think I'll go for that, and give the remainder to the first homeless person I see."
If you manage to get a photo of yourself sealing the envelope with said photo of you sealing the envelope inside of the envelope... then we might have a winner. Could call it EscherGram
I would like to take this moment to announce PICPC-VC, which is an automatic follow-on investment, structured as uncapped convertible notes, of $50 available to any founder accepted into the PICPC program.
I would like to take this moment to announce PICPC-VC-2, which is an automatic follow-on investment, structured as uncapped convertible notes, of $500 available to any founder accepted into the PICPC-VC program.
Already replied to this comment, but what the heck, I thought about what you said and had some more to add (since my original posts were "ha ha" funny, or at least I thought so).
I don't have startup credentials. My last startup was 10 years ago; I built a hosting company and sold it to a consulting firm for a couple hundred grand. I'm still in IT, so I clearly haven't made enough to cash out yet (I'm an IT operations lead; paid well, but definitely not F-you money).
I'll offer something better though; come to me with an idea I believe in, something that is going to change the world for the better. I'll provide free room and board for six months while you build it (my wife and I aren't great cooks, but practice makes perfect). If you get huge, awesome. I don't want any equity, I just want you to succeed. If it doesn't work out, head on over to a code school in SF that guarantees you a high five figure salary after your time with them.
I can't offer credentials; I can offer to give what I can to help someone reach their goals/dreams. The startup scene needs an airbnb.com for founders who don't need cash, just time and a place to live, and for people who are willing to host said founders at no (or very little) cost to help with their goals.
This much money, I mean... what would I do with it. I think I can build a sustainable business but I fear at this point that the sums involved are forcing me to give up too much control and to grow faster than will be sustainable. I have legitimate concerns that this will ultimately be bad for the company and that it's helping to fuel a salary bubble.
Excellent. Not too long ago I asked a partner at a very well known VC firm if they would consider investing a small amount ($x00) in many "startups" to see if the founders would use the money effectively and follow up with a more serious investment if so. He looked at me as though I was asking sarcastically rather than sincerely.
I'm confident that these six new Pinboard/Ptacek/A16Z companies will have excellent return on investment.
Humor aside, there are many smart founders but being brilliant and being money-minded are orthogonal.
I wonder how much having any amount from a top-tier investor like a16z is worth (since you don't need to reveal the amount, at least initially, and once they're already talking to you...). Presumably that $50 is worth more like $5-10k, unless someone reads this thread.
Does that mean that recipients can legitimately tell the press and other investors that a16z is one of their investors?
Assuming that the recipient can keep a straight face?
EDIT: Perhaps having a16z as the only VC in your seed is a very bad idea. Chris Dixon (now a partner at a16z) cautions enterpreneurs against the risks of having a sole VC in your seed round:
"I can think of about 15 founders I’ve spoken to recently who tried or are trying to raise Series As but are seriously hampered by the fact that a big VC invested in the seed round but isn’t participating in the Series A."
Are there any good "State Engine" packages for use with Ruby on Rails? I have been working in Javascript for the Windows 8 UI (and probably PhoneGap to make a quick Android port), but if it would help get the product done to go another direction, I am willing to consider.
Can someone more in touch with corporate finance explain what an uncapped convertible note means for ownership and operation of a company? Serious question.
That $50 would be converted into stock at the time of their next fundraising. Uncapped means there is no cap on the valuation at the time of the next round. So if one of the founders raised money at a $100,000 valuation later, the $50 investor would get 50/100,000th of the shares.
If it were capped, say at a $50k valuation - the investor would get 50/50,000th of the shares, regardless of the valuation.
Thanks! I'll reiterate obilgic's question since I don't know if your showdead is on: what is the ownership situation before, or in absence of, subsequent fundraising? Would a company be considered automatically split into some number of shares at some point?
Then it's typically a loan with a pre-defined interest rate.
A convertible note does not buy equity - thats what 'convertible' means - and 'note' means 'loan'. So it's a loan that can convert to equity based on certain conditions.
As I said, all of this is overly simplistic. It's just a 30,000 foot overview.
People seem to be missing the point. While the $37 is a gimmick, the reality is that this investment, in the form of advertising, is worth perhaps tens of thousands of dollars (I am not familiar with the intimate details of Pinboard's traffic, so I could be high or low on this). Google should adopt this model, since they have more advertising inventory than anyone and have the power to instantly propel promising startups to success. They could quickly obtain equity stakes in a vast number of startups that they deem to be promising, and throttle their "investment" based on analytics.
I applied. Anybody have tips for the interview??? Can any alumni put in a word for me??? What if I use my product to deliver a 6-pack to one of the pinboard founders, will that improve my chances??? Please help!!!
I've developed iMaciej, a PIC-PC interview simulator. It can help you prepare for your interview by asking you the same sort of hard-hitting questions Maciej has been known to ask in previous batch interviews such as "What?" and "I don't understand" and "Where's the tea?".
I'll wait for the blog post inviting hardware startups too, followed by a post about how $37 gives founders too much runway, and half as much ought to do it.
This is $1 less than it takes to sponsor a child for one month through Compassion International (an organization that supports 1.2 million children in the most poverty-stricken areas of the world). Would the money be better spent sponsoring a child or sponsoring a startup?
What if this sponsorship enables an IT project that is then able to save the lives of two poverty-stricken children a month. Does that make it worthwhile?
More abstractly, what if this sponsorship enables an IT project to build a new kind of internet, that then enables Compassion International to work much more efficiently such that they are able to sponsor 200% more children on the same donations they currently receive?
> I have no understanding of the concept of humor...
So it is a joke.. Or at the very least tongue in cheek. (With some exceptions,) I doubt hosting is what most VC funding is spent on.
Edit: as he said, "The biggest obstacle to creating something useful is finding the time to build it and attracting an initial pool of paying customers." If you have access to those you probably have $37. I get that he is trying to say technical costs can be negligible for startups. I fail to see how Investment Co-Prosperity Cloud helps anyone in anyway. And thus, I think it's a joke (even if the funding is real).
Consider something like the start of instagram - no revenue and huge data transfer costs after getting tons of users. Although I realize OP is suggesting building something with revenue that is sustainable.
This is the value the winners get:
"What else will I get?
I will feature the six successful applicants on the Pinboard blog, and give them whatever additional help I can in making contacts in computerland and attracting an initial pool of customers."
His point is that a lot of money isn't needed, but publicity is (and a cool service of course).
>If you have access to those you probably have $37. I get that he is trying to say technical costs can be negligible for startups. I fail to see how Investment Co-Prosperity Cloud helps anyone in anyway.
You've managed to recapitulate his point while simultaneously missing it.
As you say, costs are negligible. Time to build something is hard to find, but nobody can help you find it.
Attention is what's really valuable and really hard to get, as a startup. Maciej is highlighting this by making an offer to startups that puts what's really valuable for building a sustainable business (I'll drive attention your way) front-and-center, while mocking the valley's mentality of take-huge-wads-of-funding-cash-and-bet-it-all-on-winning-the-growth-lottery approach to business creation with his "I'll throw in $37" offer.
Thinking of applying as a single non-technical founder. All I have is an idea but I am sure with the $37 dollars I could hire an awesome programmer to put it together for me!
EDIT: Seeking technical co-founder to help build out idea. Must be prepared to sign NDA before equity can be discussed.
There's a bit in James P Hogan's novel Code Of The Lifemaker about a charlatan mentalist, asking a crowd to pick a number under certain circumstances. Because of the way he structured it most people picked 37. See here for excerpt- http://jm.home.xs4all.nl/37/cotl.html
I got excited when I read that book the first time since I'd decided at about age 15 or so that 37 was "the most random number" and used it everywhere I could as some sort of odd prank.
I actually quite like this but what scares me is I see no mention of an export. A startup could never use this if there is no simple way to leave at some point in the future.
Someone should start a similar fund, but instead of just throwing large amounts of money at the companies like PICPC, they should help introduce them to their vast network of highly engaged people... perhaps on Twitter.
It does seem like cost are negligible today, but on deeper analysis theres a lot of costs beyond simply hosting.
Just from memory for my startup (Authy.com), initial costs were:
Domain: $1000+
Design: $3000
Video: $3000
Hosting: $400
Depending on your skills this initial costs will vary. An although I agree you don't need external investment to cover them, you should at least plan to invest $10,000US to cover your initial costs.
It's a way to add two-factor authentication to your website or app. Instead of having people log in with just username and password, they'll also have to enter a code. They get the code from the Authy app on their phone.
(PS I'm not affiliated with Authy, just trying to be helpful.)
Basically, yeah. Goes well with platform-as-a-service for software-as-a-service, full-text-indexing-as-a-service for software-as-a-service, payment-as-a-service for software-as-a-service, etc.
Easier to snap these components together than roll your own.
"Authy is a simple API to add two-factor authentication to your website or app"
Two-factor auth is a thing where when you log in to something, you also get a text message, or open an app on your smartphone, and type that into the app you're trying to log into. The purpose of this is that even if someone figures out your password, they can't get access to your account, because they don't have the 2nd form of auth (hence two-factor.)
A lot of the things that you seem to think of as mandatory are not.
Domain: or get something longer for $9. E.g., authyapp.com or getauthy.com
Design: http://themeforest.net/ $15-$25, or DIY (depends on how much design matters for your niche--for Pinboard it clearly doesn't)
Video: You don't need no stinkin' video
Hosting: Maciej is recommending http://prgmr.com/xen/ for $32 (but can you actually run a modern app stack on just 128 MB of RAM?) Anyway, even if you need a gig, that's $100.
Ha, I'm aware that if you're careful, you can do it, but I was more thinking of a python or ruby stack with MySQL (or whatever) that most people would use :).
Not unless you consider every request needing to use disk swap "running" which I can assure you is orders of magnitude slower and terrible.
In my experience on Rackspace cloud 512MB instances are the minimum you should use for tiny production apps. Also, they're discontinuing 256MB on OpenStack - these were suitable for single-user dev instances, but I got more swap and or locking if ever attempting to run publicly with traffic. 512MB instances solved that issue.
Edit: Also I should mention I'm assuming you mean wanting to run a fairly standard stack, not a stack targeted toward tiny memory footprint.
I agree that getting things done "properly" still costs money. But every single item on your list can be done for at least one order of magnitude less in the MVP stage.
Unless Heroku has changed, you absolutely should not host a production site using a free account. If your site doesn't get any traffic for a certain period of time, they spin down your instance. This means that the next subsequent view will have an abnormally long load time as they wait for your EC2 instance to spin back up. The $20/mo at Rackspace (or any other provider) is well worth it.
App Engine has this problem too. The solution is to run a cronjob somewhere (App Engine has cron built in, so I've used that in the past) that hits your frontend every ~10 minutes or so. Instances never go stale, and on App Engine, you get 28 instance hours/day for free, so you can stay under the free quota as well.
On Heroku, you don't even need to manually run a cronjob or set up something that feels like you're consciously trying to game the system. If you sign up for the free tier of NewRelic that Heroku offers, it'll automatically ping your dyno often enough to prevent it being spun down.
"The project aims to draw attention to the fact that if you have access to technical labor, the startup and operating costs for an online project in 2013 are negligible. The biggest obstacle to creating something useful is finding the time to build it and attracting an initial pool of paying customers."
Good thing that in the brave new future world of 2013 labor and marketing are completely free of all costs, opportunity and otherwise.
The value in accepting $37 from pinboard or a16z is in getting a lot of exposure and not the money.
Are you serious or joking when you made this offer? Either you guys missed the point or you want to put your name on the meme of the day. Can you give me a compelling reason for me to accept the $37 from you?
To take this to the next level, I vote for crowd-funding at the end of it all. I'd put $20 behind my favourite startup from the class and cheer them on. Almost like fantasy sports, but for startups.
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[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 223 ms ] threadIn other words, I trust this guy with knowing how to execute (and to the point, probably recognize) successful minimally-viable products.
"I just received an email that Buddy's Cannabis in San Jose is having a special. 27 different strains are on sale for $29.99 per 3.5 grams. I think I'll go for that, and give the remainder to the first homeless person I see."
I don't have startup credentials. My last startup was 10 years ago; I built a hosting company and sold it to a consulting firm for a couple hundred grand. I'm still in IT, so I clearly haven't made enough to cash out yet (I'm an IT operations lead; paid well, but definitely not F-you money).
I'll offer something better though; come to me with an idea I believe in, something that is going to change the world for the better. I'll provide free room and board for six months while you build it (my wife and I aren't great cooks, but practice makes perfect). If you get huge, awesome. I don't want any equity, I just want you to succeed. If it doesn't work out, head on over to a code school in SF that guarantees you a high five figure salary after your time with them.
I can't offer credentials; I can offer to give what I can to help someone reach their goals/dreams. The startup scene needs an airbnb.com for founders who don't need cash, just time and a place to live, and for people who are willing to host said founders at no (or very little) cost to help with their goals.
startupbnb.com?
This much money, I mean... what would I do with it. I think I can build a sustainable business but I fear at this point that the sums involved are forcing me to give up too much control and to grow faster than will be sustainable. I have legitimate concerns that this will ultimately be bad for the company and that it's helping to fuel a salary bubble.
The going colo article a few months back is invaluable on it's own: http://blog.pinboard.in/2012/06/going_colo/
I'm confident that these six new Pinboard/Ptacek/A16Z companies will have excellent return on investment.
Humor aside, there are many smart founders but being brilliant and being money-minded are orthogonal.
Assuming that the recipient can keep a straight face?
EDIT: Perhaps having a16z as the only VC in your seed is a very bad idea. Chris Dixon (now a partner at a16z) cautions enterpreneurs against the risks of having a sole VC in your seed round:
http://cdixon.org/2012/04/02/revisited-big-vcs-investing-in-...
"I can think of about 15 founders I’ve spoken to recently who tried or are trying to raise Series As but are seriously hampered by the fact that a big VC invested in the seed round but isn’t participating in the Series A."
A large micro-investment portfolio.
Anything in this portfolio is sort of a tip of the hat from a16z, a micro-endorsement that messages: "we've got our eyes on this company."
Heck, I will wager $37 that submitting your startup idea to HN will get you more exposure than posting on Pinboard's blog.
That $50 would be converted into stock at the time of their next fundraising. Uncapped means there is no cap on the valuation at the time of the next round. So if one of the founders raised money at a $100,000 valuation later, the $50 investor would get 50/100,000th of the shares.
If it were capped, say at a $50k valuation - the investor would get 50/50,000th of the shares, regardless of the valuation.
A convertible note does not buy equity - thats what 'convertible' means - and 'note' means 'loan'. So it's a loan that can convert to equity based on certain conditions.
As I said, all of this is overly simplistic. It's just a 30,000 foot overview.
More abstractly, what if this sponsorship enables an IT project to build a new kind of internet, that then enables Compassion International to work much more efficiently such that they are able to sponsor 200% more children on the same donations they currently receive?
It is not a joke.
> I have no understanding of the concept of humor...
So it is a joke.. Or at the very least tongue in cheek. (With some exceptions,) I doubt hosting is what most VC funding is spent on.
Edit: as he said, "The biggest obstacle to creating something useful is finding the time to build it and attracting an initial pool of paying customers." If you have access to those you probably have $37. I get that he is trying to say technical costs can be negligible for startups. I fail to see how Investment Co-Prosperity Cloud helps anyone in anyway. And thus, I think it's a joke (even if the funding is real).
You might be surprised.
I doubt that was the point.
I will feature the six successful applicants on the Pinboard blog, and give them whatever additional help I can in making contacts in computerland and attracting an initial pool of customers."
His point is that a lot of money isn't needed, but publicity is (and a cool service of course).
You've managed to recapitulate his point while simultaneously missing it.
As you say, costs are negligible. Time to build something is hard to find, but nobody can help you find it.
Attention is what's really valuable and really hard to get, as a startup. Maciej is highlighting this by making an offer to startups that puts what's really valuable for building a sustainable business (I'll drive attention your way) front-and-center, while mocking the valley's mentality of take-huge-wads-of-funding-cash-and-bet-it-all-on-winning-the-growth-lottery approach to business creation with his "I'll throw in $37" offer.
EDIT: Seeking technical co-founder to help build out idea. Must be prepared to sign NDA before equity can be discussed.
I got excited when I read that book the first time since I'd decided at about age 15 or so that 37 was "the most random number" and used it everywhere I could as some sort of odd prank.
From Webpop we'll offer a free project and a startup template (http://app.webpop.com/themes/startup) for anybody accepted into the program.
For some people this might be enough to completely skip the Linode and buy one more beer.
> Participants receive almost no money, and are expected to do everything themselves.
So not really all that different than many (most?) incubators.
Just from memory for my startup (Authy.com), initial costs were:
Domain: $1000+
Design: $3000
Video: $3000
Hosting: $400
Depending on your skills this initial costs will vary. An although I agree you don't need external investment to cover them, you should at least plan to invest $10,000US to cover your initial costs.
What does it do exactly? I couldn't figure it out from the website and I churn through a lot of landing pages.
(PS I'm not affiliated with Authy, just trying to be helpful.)
Easier to snap these components together than roll your own.
Two-factor auth is a thing where when you log in to something, you also get a text message, or open an app on your smartphone, and type that into the app you're trying to log into. The purpose of this is that even if someone figures out your password, they can't get access to your account, because they don't have the 2nd form of auth (hence two-factor.)
Domain: or get something longer for $9. E.g., authyapp.com or getauthy.com
Design: http://themeforest.net/ $15-$25, or DIY (depends on how much design matters for your niche--for Pinboard it clearly doesn't)
Video: You don't need no stinkin' video
Hosting: Maciej is recommending http://prgmr.com/xen/ for $32 (but can you actually run a modern app stack on just 128 MB of RAM?) Anyway, even if you need a gig, that's $100.
C/Golang/Lua/Vala/SBCL/Ada/Pascal and an embedded datastore like bdb!
Why in my day we used to write little apps with C and bdb that used less than 5mb of memory! (Sqlite didn't exist yo.)
Heck these days you get (ENTERPRISE) choices like LevelDB and BangDB.
Edit: Who wants to have a datastore-backed c10k contest on prgmr machines? :D
I was trying to be lean.
Ruby users are quiche eaters anyway. Real programmers write their code in Fortran and persist to a hierarchical database on a mainframe.
You think real programmers need needles.
Or hands.
In my experience on Rackspace cloud 512MB instances are the minimum you should use for tiny production apps. Also, they're discontinuing 256MB on OpenStack - these were suitable for single-user dev instances, but I got more swap and or locking if ever attempting to run publicly with traffic. 512MB instances solved that issue.
Edit: Also I should mention I'm assuming you mean wanting to run a fairly standard stack, not a stack targeted toward tiny memory footprint.
Depends on what you call modern.
I think fitting nginx / embedded lua / redis should be possible (considering your dataset fits into 32 megs).
Actually, that sounds like an interesting challenge!
* Domain: $9 * Design: $50 (Themeforest) * Video: $5 (Fiverr) * Hosting: $0 (Pick your choice)
I've been thinking semi-seriously about this & I came to the conclusion that with $37 you can actually get a LOT done.
Seriously, why over complicate things?
Good thing that in the brave new future world of 2013 labor and marketing are completely free of all costs, opportunity and otherwise.
Are you serious or joking when you made this offer? Either you guys missed the point or you want to put your name on the meme of the day. Can you give me a compelling reason for me to accept the $37 from you?
Although, in the spirit of low friction, I would gladly honor any such requests for a discount.
($1.12 won't even cover the minimum BART or Muni or VTA fares now, I think, unless you're a child or senior or disabled or something)