Coming from NYC, one of my irrational peeves is men in sandals or barefoot when not at the beach. Every time I walk around SF I can't stop noticing slobby looking men with their toes on display. How hard is it to put on a nice pair of shoes?
If a Hacker News comment is not good enough to post with your regular account, it's probably not good enough to post at all. That's not always true, which is why we don't ban throwaways. But it is certainly true in this case.
I personally think this is a cool concept. It's ballsy, but not provocative. That's a sign of a solid person with confidence, which obviously would help your overall pitch. I love the product, too. Best of luck to y'all :)
Ask yourself. 'What is the most important thing I have to say here?' And from what I've read, being barefoot is not one of them. As PG says, 'Yes you can be barefoot.', but that's not the story. And not knowing the difference says only one thing to me - Beginner. But we all have to start somewhere. Might as well be barefooted.
What's the risk of disabling damage in going barefoot?
If I wasn't balancing damage to spine et. al. with risks to my feet, I'd wear boots suitable for combat, as I did in high school were combat wasn't out of the question. Strong hiking boots, actually, to protect from getting stomped on, and as an implicit message of how I might reply to an assault.
Post-high school, when that would have been clear cut criminal assault, and mobility became more important for avoiding criminal elements, I switched to New Balance 9x9s (high quality running shoes, although I don't run), which I still wear 3+ decades later. Although not around the house.
Anyway, my point is, that as an potential investor, I'd be concerned about your balance of risk and reward; do you feet get dangerously hot that such a risk is reasonable? Severe foot injuries can cascade to death (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Tappan, albeit I'm sure he was older than you). It would be a factor in my making a decision, even though I've known plenty of people over the years who don't meet my standard of foot protection, including going barefoot, without noticeable harm.
Yes the point is, we take risk if we think it makes us execute better. If you're an investor who appreciates that culture you'll gravitate to our company. If you're traditional and prefer to be proper all the time, you'll be turned off. That was the opportunity we took, to help our investors decide if they like it or not before even reaching out to us to find out more.
Don't think I'd invest in someone who's reading comprehension is so poor they'd mistake a discussion about safety for one of propriety. Those who do not track reality tend to get, shall I say, stomped by it.
I've seen the advice that musicians should never go barefoot at concert venues/clubs, given nontrivial risk of incorrectly grounded amps and PA's, but i can't find a source on googles 1st 10 results ("musician barefoot, electrocution, incorrectly grounded PA").
Below link is similar advice: don't plug in amp while kneeling on wet ground, essentially, don't complete a circuit through your heart
Yeah, I had at least one friend in college who'd been a ham before, and who was still alive because he'd followed the rule of keeping one hand in his pocket while the other worked on hot equipment. A bit limiting, but worth it for him!
Since hearing that I've tried to follow the rule, still do to this day.
I took notes on every presentation at Alumni Demo Day, and one of my notes for yours was specifically "founders seem very good" (both your backgrounds and delivery/confidence during the presentation), so this clearly seems to have worked for you. (I'm pretty sure I saw you doing a run shortly before the presentations started in the afternoon and you seemed much more nervous.)
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 45.8 ms ] threadIf I wasn't balancing damage to spine et. al. with risks to my feet, I'd wear boots suitable for combat, as I did in high school were combat wasn't out of the question. Strong hiking boots, actually, to protect from getting stomped on, and as an implicit message of how I might reply to an assault.
Post-high school, when that would have been clear cut criminal assault, and mobility became more important for avoiding criminal elements, I switched to New Balance 9x9s (high quality running shoes, although I don't run), which I still wear 3+ decades later. Although not around the house.
Anyway, my point is, that as an potential investor, I'd be concerned about your balance of risk and reward; do you feet get dangerously hot that such a risk is reasonable? Severe foot injuries can cascade to death (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Tappan, albeit I'm sure he was older than you). It would be a factor in my making a decision, even though I've known plenty of people over the years who don't meet my standard of foot protection, including going barefoot, without noticeable harm.
Below link is similar advice: don't plug in amp while kneeling on wet ground, essentially, don't complete a circuit through your heart
http://www.noshockzone.org/stopping-hums-buzzes-and-shocks-o...
Since hearing that I've tried to follow the rule, still do to this day.