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myoung8
On Pricing Strategy
rrival
1. Go out and tell your customers "I have this product, it does X, Y, & Z" (make sure you use the present tense).2. Tell them it costs $D3. Observe4. Change D as necessary5. Repeat until the reaction you consistently get is "Wow! That's awesome, what's your website, I'm going to buy it when I get home."Market research is the best way to figure prices out. Alternatively, as yubrew said, comparables works. Think outside the box when you're trying to come up with indirect competitors. We are building a subscription-based web app, but an alternative to our service could be a book. That books costs a certain amount of money. Thus, we can charge at least that amount, plus a premium because, well, our service is a lot better.
I'm working on a business model that requires charging something for a web-based service (not consulting/nothing hourly). I've never known where to begin the process of arriving at the 'right' price. Clearly, there are marketing/customer perception implications to:1) providing something on a free trial basis initially 2) increasing the cost of a service later 3) charging too little and being deemed insignificant "How could $5/month give me that much value?" 4) charging too much and being seen as a ripoff, leaving room for others to step in. I know it's easy enough to arrive at or at least be aware of a market price (median/average) if there's enough competition in the space to do a back-of-napkin statistical analysis. I'm not sure how that carries over into concepts with a 'first mover' advantage, or markets where competition is light.I know there must be theory relevant to this (probably volumes). Can anyone recommend a place to start? How have you dealt with pricing your startup's services?
0
7
2007-08-14 18:03:59 UTC
42,301
42,238
ph0rque
On Pricing Strategy
rrival
To add to all the extremely good suggestions here: try out 3[1] prices in parallel: set up different websites pointing to the same content, just use different css's. Then go with the one that works best.1. 3 is an arbitrary number; pick whatever works for you.
I'm working on a business model that requires charging something for a web-based service (not consulting/nothing hourly). I've never known where to begin the process of arriving at the 'right' price. Clearly, there are marketing/customer perception implications to:1) providing something on a free trial basis initially 2) increasing the cost of a service later 3) charging too little and being deemed insignificant "How could $5/month give me that much value?" 4) charging too much and being seen as a ripoff, leaving room for others to step in. I know it's easy enough to arrive at or at least be aware of a market price (median/average) if there's enough competition in the space to do a back-of-napkin statistical analysis. I'm not sure how that carries over into concepts with a 'first mover' advantage, or markets where competition is light.I know there must be theory relevant to this (probably volumes). Can anyone recommend a place to start? How have you dealt with pricing your startup's services?
5
7
2007-08-14 18:04:01 UTC
42,306
42,276
nostrademons
Group-O-Matic (My Startup Launch!)
epi0Bauqu
This is a nifty idea, one that I could see myself using if it became popular. Unfortunately, you've got a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem: there are currently no groups or events in my zip code (Boston), which means I'm not likely to visit the site regularly. I know that others will have the same reticence towards regular visits, so when I have an event or group, I'm more likely to post it where people are actually watching. I know that group starters will reason that way, and so I have no reason to keep visiting the site. And so on. It's all game theory.You've gotta break the cycle somehow and make this useful to small groups of people that are already in close contact with each other. Maybe you can convince people to organize the next news.YC meetup on it. Or maybe you can feature in some sort of asynchronous time-shifting: let people indicate their interests now, and then as groups and events appear, give them notification.A couple specific comments/suggestions:I like the design of the site. Clean, minimalist, and directs you to things you can do with it.It's really nifty that you go straight from search results to a "get new results by RSS" link. But add an e-mail option too! It may seem hard to believe, but not everybody uses RSS, particularly outside of tech circles. Keep the UI simple - just have someone enter an e-mail address and it'll email you when a new group appears in your location.It'd be nice to be able to filter searches/subscriptions by keyword as well. For example, I'm interested in startup & programming groups in Boston. I'd like to be able to say "Show me all the startup organizations in Boston", and if there are none, I want to be able to type in my e-mail address, get notified when new ones appear, and otherwise forget about the site.If you do this, you might want to show off popular subscriptions (location + keywords) on the front page. Aside from indicating that people are listening for new groups, it also could show people what interests are hottest. This could be a good signal for which groups people may want to start.I personally would not care all that much about message boards, at least not until the site gets a lot of traffic. Then it'd be nifty, but not essential.Rename the Help link to Help/Feedback or Help/Contact or just Contact to indicate that you're receptive to suggestions.
I am launching my startup today. All comments/questions/feedback, however harsh/cynical/insightful, will be greatly appreciated. Short version: free site to help people form local groups for regular events. Even shorter version: free alternative to meetup.com. There has not been a private or public beta. Group-O-Matic has been released with a minimum feature set I thought would be useful. I'm coding message boards right now, to be released shortly.
0
15
2007-08-14 18:11:10 UTC
42,308
42,276
nreece
Group-O-Matic (My Startup Launch!)
epi0Bauqu
Just curious, how is it different/better than say MeetUp.com?
I am launching my startup today. All comments/questions/feedback, however harsh/cynical/insightful, will be greatly appreciated. Short version: free site to help people form local groups for regular events. Even shorter version: free alternative to meetup.com. There has not been a private or public beta. Group-O-Matic has been released with a minimum feature set I thought would be useful. I'm coding message boards right now, to be released shortly.
5
15
2007-08-14 18:16:39 UTC
42,324
42,317
donna
Hacker News
pg
Thanks for putting in the time and effort to express the site's intention. My experience on YC News has been extremely satisfiing re tech and creativity discussions.
null
6
150
2007-08-14 18:51:07 UTC
42,327
42,317
henning
Hacker News
pg
I've been wanting this for a long time.programming.reddit is occasionally pretty good, but sometimes there's just something interesting which isn't strictly programming per se. This fills that gap perfectly.also: "Most forums degrade over time, but we don't think that's inevitable."it isn't, it just requires eternal vigilance on the part of moderators/editors. the SomethingAwful forums are in the 10s of thousands and they're still quality because of Lowtax's willingness to ban people.
null
4
150
2007-08-14 18:53:26 UTC
42,329
42,317
mojuba
Hacker News
pg
I'm glad Reddit is back - well, in a way. And thanks to the Hacker News team.
null
19
150
2007-08-14 18:56:37 UTC
42,331
42,317
vlad
Hacker News
pg
I don't think you mentioned the number one reason why you did this... to reach out to programmers in general and then trick them into wanting to do a startup via peer pressure, so we have more founders and you have more options to invest in. ;)
null
9
150
2007-08-14 18:58:12 UTC
42,335
42,317
Jd
Hacker News
pg
Love the idea. Very curious to see how it will play out.One concern is that the trolls will upmod all stories that are already upmodded (for instance, automatically upmodding all comments and links posted by PG) in order to increase their vote's worth. One observes similar things on reddit already. It is much easier psychologically to jump on a trend than to do something truly interesting, but the truly interesting and innovative is rarely awarded immediately with recognition.
null
15
150
2007-08-14 19:01:14 UTC
42,337
42,336
jey
Bayesianism: The Rationalist's swiss army knife, power saw, and flamethrower
jey
You should read the introduction at http://yudkowsky.net/bayes/bayes.html first if you aren't familiar with Bayesian reasoning. The introduction is a bit repetetive, so skip over parts of it once you understand the idea.
You should read the introduction at http://yudkowsky.net/bayes/bayes.html first if you aren't familiar with Bayesian reasoning. The introduction is a bit repetetive, so skip over parts of it once you understand the idea.
0
8
2007-08-14 19:02:35 UTC
42,340
42,317
ivankirigin
Hacker News
pg
This sounds like something I would pay attention to even more than news.yc. Awesome.I especially love the innovative karma policy.
null
23
150
2007-08-14 19:06:22 UTC
42,342
42,317
mhartl
Hacker News
pg
This is great (hacker) news. Thanks!
null
29
150
2007-08-14 19:07:51 UTC
42,343
42,338
nostrademons
Number Systems and Data Structures [pdf]
nostrademons
I'd also recommend Chris Okasaki's book Purely Functional Data Structures if you want to learn more. He has a whole section that goes in depth about the equivalence and has several examples, including implementations in Ocaml and Haskell.
null
0
1
2007-08-14 19:07:54 UTC
42,348
42,317
eposts
Hacker News
pg
"We're going to have a group of human editors who train the system in what counts as a good story"A knowledge based system - I am eagerly awaiting the new voting system.
null
16
150
2007-08-14 19:12:10 UTC
42,351
42,317
byrneseyeview
Hacker News
pg
How mean is "mean"?Would the new news.yc ban richardkulisz or pica (assuming they both stayed on topic)?
null
26
150
2007-08-14 19:16:58 UTC
42,354
42,317
palish
Hacker News
pg
Random thought: this shows the importance of choosing good names. If they had called it "startup.ycombinator.com" to start then they couldn't rename it to "hacker news" now. Same is true in programming.
null
20
150
2007-08-14 19:27:09 UTC
42,355
42,317
aston
Hacker News
pg
Cool. Who are these oracles judging good vs. bad stories going to be?
null
21
150
2007-08-14 19:27:56 UTC
42,358
42,317
darragjm
Hacker News
pg
I look forward to seeing where this idea leads the site, but I do have one suggestion...While I'm interested in all things hackerly, I first started visiting this site for tips and stories specifically about startups. My point being: while most people here are all for changing the focus to anything hacker-related, I'm sure there are many newcomers who are looking specifically for startup-related info. Perhaps we can retain a sub-site, startup tag or filter that will show only startup news for those people?
null
3
150
2007-08-14 19:29:39 UTC
42,367
42,317
jsjenkins168
Hacker News
pg
I like new name, but honestly dont think the content itself will change very much. I've noticed most submissions are generally hacker-centric anyway, although having the name of the site reflect this probably more accurately hones the focus. I think generally the content being submitted will be a reflection of the type of users using the site, regardless of the official mission statement. Manually moderating only goes so far...Considering that, I would personally like to see this site make a conscious effort to remain "grass roots" rather than focus on growth. I love this forum because of the relatively high concentration of smart people who post here. I doest look like PG has any monetary objectives with this site (hence no ads), so I think simple word of mouth between hackers rather than deliberate promotion will keep content quality higher going forward.The proposed rating system is brilliant.. I give props to whoever thought of that one!Edit: I just realized that the new weighted voting system could have an unintended chilling effect on voting.. If smart users worry that placing a vote might adversely affect their "vote weight" on a post deemed by the admins as a dumb story, they might just refrain from doing so all together.
null
1
150
2007-08-14 19:46:55 UTC
42,369
42,317
vegashacker
Hacker News
pg
Will we be able to see our "voting power" number? I'm assuming no.
null
12
150
2007-08-14 19:50:19 UTC
42,374
42,317
Keios
Hacker News
pg
Glad you expanded, now I can read some more interesting stuff...
null
22
150
2007-08-14 19:52:56 UTC
42,380
42,276
mdakin
Group-O-Matic (My Startup Launch!)
epi0Bauqu
Nice work! I had not associated you with your username here until now.
I am launching my startup today. All comments/questions/feedback, however harsh/cynical/insightful, will be greatly appreciated. Short version: free site to help people form local groups for regular events. Even shorter version: free alternative to meetup.com. There has not been a private or public beta. Group-O-Matic has been released with a minimum feature set I thought would be useful. I'm coding message boards right now, to be released shortly.
8
15
2007-08-14 19:58:55 UTC
42,381
42,317
mattculbreth
Hacker News
pg
This is good, I think. If it avoids the problems that Reddit ran into it's wicked cool.However, doesn't this go away from the ideas of the social network, user-driven, "wisdom of crowds"? Do you have the problem now of the group not choosing which stories are good vs. which are agreeable to the human editors?
null
8
150
2007-08-14 19:59:02 UTC
42,383
42,276
rokhayakebe
Group-O-Matic (My Startup Launch!)
epi0Bauqu
Good. Simple and straight fwd. You will see a 15% growth once you add other features (maybe Gmap, Google calendar syncrho, etc...) and you will see a 90% growth once you read and apply this http://particletree.com/features/the-importance-of-design-in...
I am launching my startup today. All comments/questions/feedback, however harsh/cynical/insightful, will be greatly appreciated. Short version: free site to help people form local groups for regular events. Even shorter version: free alternative to meetup.com. There has not been a private or public beta. Group-O-Matic has been released with a minimum feature set I thought would be useful. I'm coding message boards right now, to be released shortly.
9
15
2007-08-14 20:01:29 UTC
42,384
42,317
dfranke
Hacker News
pg
Thanks. My productivity just went into a corner and shot itself.
null
2
150
2007-08-14 20:02:05 UTC
42,388
42,276
alex_c
Group-O-Matic (My Startup Launch!)
epi0Bauqu
I like the design. It's refreshing to see a startup that's not gradienty/shiny/stripy. :)
I am launching my startup today. All comments/questions/feedback, however harsh/cynical/insightful, will be greatly appreciated. Short version: free site to help people form local groups for regular events. Even shorter version: free alternative to meetup.com. There has not been a private or public beta. Group-O-Matic has been released with a minimum feature set I thought would be useful. I'm coding message boards right now, to be released shortly.
2
15
2007-08-14 20:15:45 UTC
42,393
42,391
epi0Bauqu
Website Statistics?
palish
In the past, I've set up MRTG (http://www.mrtg.com/) graphs of things important to the site/business, e.g. new users, new posts, purchases, etc.
What sort of site statistics do you all collect on your websites? I'm gearing up for my site launch and I have the usual view count per page plus IP address logging, but I'm wondering if there's any other interesting statistic gathering I could be doing.So what do you do?
0
1
2007-08-14 20:19:57 UTC
42,394
42,317
iamwil
Hacker News
pg
I've been reading less of ycombo news lately since it was just mostly articles on how to get VC funding and recent hoopla, and not really interesting things on the edges/fringes of markets, society, and technology. Imo, those are what you have to pay attention to, in order to have any type of gauge as to the probable direction of the future. I've submitted a share of "interesting" things, but they're usually drowned out by "easy reading" Hopefully, the human editor factor will allow the proposed indirect control of the swarm.I've had some interesting discussions over at octonews--but it's a different niche--hardware/sci/tech/health. I'd love it if yc.news is able to turn itself into hacker news. I had missed the mid 2006 reddit, and hearing great insight is often more valuable than the actual article itself. Not that how to fill out a term sheet, analysis on facebook, or top ten things to get started on your startup isn't interesting, but one can only take so much of that in the last 3 months. I cheer the new direction
null
0
150
2007-08-14 20:20:38 UTC
42,402
42,317
trekker7
Hacker News
pg
Awesome move. One thing I always missed on early reddit and Startup News was Slashdot's comment-tagging system; comments are not only voted up and down but tagged with "interesting", "funny", "insightful", etc. Also, there's an absolute score on Slashdot comments (1 -> 5) so it's easy to see off-hand what the really good comments are.In general, my point is that on social news sites, the comments are often just as interesting as the stories themselves. This is why (at least I think) Slashdot is so great. More software and techniques to organize and enhance comment browsing would be really cool.
null
10
150
2007-08-14 20:34:33 UTC
42,403
42,398
nostrademons
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
I always thought that this would be a really interesting plot for a novel. Sophie's World kinda did it already, but it dropped the ball by having the recursion level stop at 1. I was kinda hoping that at the end of the book, Sophie would pick up a pen and begin to write a book about a guy named Jostein...
null
4
57
2007-08-14 20:34:37 UTC
42,411
42,317
inchforward
Hacker News
pg
What is a slashdotting from Hacker News called?
null
24
150
2007-08-14 20:47:25 UTC
42,418
42,371
crxnamja
Facebook entrepeneur event: 2-day conference on social network platforms
andrewmobile
Hack away.
null
0
6
2007-08-14 20:59:32 UTC
42,421
42,317
Readmore
Hacker News
pg
So I should find the stories that PG votes up and then vote them up so I get a 'louder voice'? Sounds good to me ;)
null
25
150
2007-08-14 21:07:48 UTC
42,423
42,222
aston
Luck and the entrepreneur, part 1: The four kinds of luck
eposts
I always appreciate it when folks admit that their success is not completely due to their personal greatness. Humility's one of those signs of 'good people' I really believe in.
null
2
43
2007-08-14 21:12:00 UTC
42,429
42,428
dpapathanasiou
Nasdaq's New Portal Market: IPO Alternative for Startups?
dpapathanasiou
The benefits of an IPO w/o the regulatory burden?Here's an overview:Any private firm can list on Nasdaq's new platform ... [any firm that does list] would remain private and not have to make public their financial statements or submit to federal regulation, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accountability law.
null
0
16
2007-08-14 21:23:50 UTC
42,434
42,336
jaggederest
Bayesianism: The Rationalist's swiss army knife, power saw, and flamethrower
jey
I thought that Perl was the swiss army chainsaw? Now I'm all confused.
You should read the introduction at http://yudkowsky.net/bayes/bayes.html first if you aren't familiar with Bayesian reasoning. The introduction is a bit repetetive, so skip over parts of it once you understand the idea.
1
8
2007-08-14 21:33:03 UTC
42,435
42,398
myoung8
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
I've thought about a similar phenomenon many times--that the Earth is nothing more than an atom floating around in the body of some greater being.But to see something like this published in the NYT...that was a bit surprising. Interesting, though.
null
6
57
2007-08-14 21:36:20 UTC
42,436
42,317
edu
Hacker News
pg
sweet news.
null
31
150
2007-08-14 21:37:14 UTC
42,439
42,431
run4yourlives
The Trouble With Enterprise Software
davidw
A good read, but ultimately disappointing, since it offers no real advice on correcting the issue, spare "CIO's must get educated".Question for all of you hackers: Do you have examples of companies that have realized the issues in the article and then successfully implemented strategies (no matter how crazy) that solved the problem?Off hand, my opinion of enterprise systems and the "solution" to them is close to what DHH (of rails fame) thinks: nuke 'em all and get little apps to do little things. Are there other examples of different approaches?
null
0
4
2007-08-14 21:45:48 UTC
42,441
42,433
twism
Whoah, new comment sorting?
aston
i thought they've always been sorted by popularity (the score per time elasped)
I noticed this on http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42317. It looks like top-level comments aren't being sorted outright by score. Porque no?
0
3
2007-08-14 21:45:55 UTC
42,447
42,067
sbraford
Why Apple doesn't sell to the enterprise market
nostrademons
Luckily PC snobbery has been on a steep decline for some time now.Intel/MS people still love to deride osx/apple market share, missing the point entirely.Does BMW try to be the Ford Taurus of the automobile market? No, that would of course be ridiculous. /end speaking to the choir =)/
via Raganwald's submission on Programming Reddit
3
23
2007-08-14 21:53:00 UTC
42,449
42,428
kingnothing
Nasdaq's New Portal Market: IPO Alternative for Startups?
dpapathanasiou
Strange.I just tried to submit this same article, and now I can't vote this one up. What's the deal?
null
3
16
2007-08-14 21:54:00 UTC
42,458
42,398
Tichy
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
My favorite variant of this is a story from Stanislaw Lem's book "Star diaries", written decades ago. I chose my nickname from the name of the hero of that book, Ijon Tichy ;-)
null
7
57
2007-08-14 22:20:38 UTC
42,462
42,398
jey
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
Professor Nick Bostrom's site on the Simulation Argument: http://www.simulation-argument.com/He also has some other cool stuff, like this "Letter From Utopia": http://nickbostrom.com/utopia.html
null
8
57
2007-08-14 22:36:09 UTC
42,463
42,406
Tichy
Potato powered webserver
Keios
Creepy: it seems only a small step to replace the potatoes with human beings and launch head on into a Matrix scenario...
null
0
15
2007-08-14 22:37:32 UTC
42,469
42,317
dood
Hacker News
pg
Thinking aloud:Something about the idea of oracles makes me recoil. The obvious problem is that this approach may reinforce groupthink, both algorithmically and socially. And groupthink is already a considerable problem in these sort of systems. But then... this solution almost represents an acceptance of the inevitability of groupthink, kind of an attempt to steer the groupthink. Hmm. Perhaps this method would work best by working specifically with edge-cases - the best and worst posts, gently massaging out the toxic before it gets a chance to grow roots. It may not even be necessary to include good posts, since the actual problem to be solved is keeping out the crap. But I am excited to see this kind of community flourish again, whatever shape it takes!
null
13
150
2007-08-14 22:56:32 UTC
42,470
42,428
chadboyda
Nasdaq's New Portal Market: IPO Alternative for Startups?
dpapathanasiou
Sounds like a very welcomed alternative.
null
2
16
2007-08-14 23:02:13 UTC
42,473
42,283
AF
Dumb But Profitable. 10 Million Dollar Ideas That Shouldn't Have Worked
nickb
This is why if you have an idea you might as well do it. There's just no telling if it will be a success or not.
null
3
11
2007-08-14 23:14:06 UTC
42,474
42,468
pg
How to game the new voting power system
dfranke
Obviously we're going to weight it by how early votes are.
Just upvote all the stories that are already near the top. If the system works at all, then these will consist disproportionately of "good" stories, thus increasing your voting power.One way to combat this would be to give much larger voting power bonuses for "discovering" good stories while they're still only visible in the new queue.
1
1
2007-08-14 23:14:55 UTC
42,475
42,398
portLAN
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
This also explains the Fine-Tuned Universe.An interesting property of a simulated brain is the simulation can take an arbitrarily long amount of time. You can update in virtual "Planck timesteps", even if in real time this takes a million years. Any simulated brain won't be able to tell, because it doesn't get any updates in between these steps. Time becomes a property of the system you're simulating... Just like in reality. It might take until the Sun goes Red Giant to run your single lifetime simulation.The speed of light is a convenience for updating the simulation in discrete steps. Particle/wave duality "deciding" upon observation is just lazy evaluation, like in Haskell. Quantum entanglement is no mystery when distance is virtual. A Universe where the speed of light is a hard limit can still contain a simulated Universe where it isn't.Why do we want virtual worlds? Properly implemented and convincing, we can do away with suffering altogether. We can "live" in a world that seems fully real, but in which no-one is actually suffering because everyone else is simulated. All our needs are met and all our desires are fulfilled.The mistake we keep making is that in order to create convincing AIs to inhabit the world with us, they actually become as sentient and conscious as we are; being virtual is no barrier to feelings or emotions! [1]Thus our creations want to create a simulation to live in themselves, so they won't suffer, either, and so it goes like a perpetual zoom on a fractal set.[1] To convince yourself of this, consider a matter replicator that copies every single atom in your body. You'd create a clone. It would be thinking and feeling just as you do. Now consider a computer simulation of a single atom; if that can be done, then by extension, it would be possible to simulate anything made of atoms. A simulated clone of you would also behave the same. The neurological activity that occurs in your "real" brain when you feel or think would also occur across the virtual atoms in the brain of your virtual clone. In fact, that would involve real electrical activity taking place among real atoms making up the RAM chips and CPUs "containing" the simulation of the virtual clone. Thus any simulation at the same scope or nesting level as yourself is as real as you are and therefore its feelings are just as valid. [2][2] By further extension, if your simulations are as real as you are, then your simulation's simulations are as real as it is, and thus a simulation at any nesting level is as real as one at any other -- a simulation inside a simulation is still running on real atoms with real electricity!
null
1
57
2007-08-14 23:15:35 UTC
42,476
42,433
pg
Whoah, new comment sorting?
aston
Nothing has changed.
I noticed this on http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42317. It looks like top-level comments aren't being sorted outright by score. Porque no?
1
3
2007-08-14 23:16:21 UTC
42,477
42,428
zach
Nasdaq's New Portal Market: IPO Alternative for Startups?
dpapathanasiou
Will there be a Portal index? I wonder how long it'll be before there's a Portal Market ETF, for that matter.
null
1
16
2007-08-14 23:17:24 UTC
42,479
41,716
michaelneale
Am I the only one who doesn't care about Facebook?
henning
I got sucked in by my non geek friends (all my geek friends I was already connected to). If nothing else it has been good for keeping in touch with past friends. Kind of overhyped for that purposes, but it works for me, but its nothing profound.
All the social networks look like boring walled gardens/roach motels to me. Great if you can get in on the ground floor for the next big one, lousy for all the users.I'm not willing to buy into an application platform that isn't open and vendor-neutral. For networking, I think there are better ways, like plain old face to face talking: the "hallway track" in conferences is often better than any of the talks.I don't get it. And Zuckerberg stole the idea anyway.
14
36
2007-08-14 23:29:48 UTC
42,484
40,524
temporary
Is a PMP valued in IT?
motivi
PMP only works if you're building a "Building". It was made for PM's who were engineers that made structures like dams and roads. The tools supporting this like MS Project work great in that role but are terrible for tracking software projects.The Project Management Institute created a path for IS PM's as a response to the market where 90% or more IS/IT project failed and management in large companies were screaming for some kind of control to the "out of control costs". If you work in the corporate world It can work to advantage to become certified. That is only if you're interested in management. Just remember that you need 4yrs of PM experience with a bachelors or 10yrs without just to take the test. http://www.pmi.org/CareerDevelopment/Pages/Obtaining-Credent...
I see many people getting a PMP, is there market demand for it? Do startups look for PMP candidates? Do big companies hire PMPs? I have heard that a PMP in IT does not do as much a PMP in contruction. What do you think?
0
2
2007-08-14 23:44:40 UTC
42,485
42,238
rokhayakebe
On Pricing Strategy
rrival
IF your customers are the everyday internet consumers then forget charging, unless you want to turn into a call center.
I'm working on a business model that requires charging something for a web-based service (not consulting/nothing hourly). I've never known where to begin the process of arriving at the 'right' price. Clearly, there are marketing/customer perception implications to:1) providing something on a free trial basis initially 2) increasing the cost of a service later 3) charging too little and being deemed insignificant "How could $5/month give me that much value?" 4) charging too much and being seen as a ripoff, leaving room for others to step in. I know it's easy enough to arrive at or at least be aware of a market price (median/average) if there's enough competition in the space to do a back-of-napkin statistical analysis. I'm not sure how that carries over into concepts with a 'first mover' advantage, or markets where competition is light.I know there must be theory relevant to this (probably volumes). Can anyone recommend a place to start? How have you dealt with pricing your startup's services?
8
7
2007-08-14 23:45:00 UTC
42,488
42,448
RyanGWU82
Anyone going to BarCamp this weekend?
sbraford
Where's it located?
null
1
2
2007-08-14 23:54:41 UTC
42,493
41,685
joe
Where is your startup? (for me Atlanta)
rokhayakebe
Dubuque, Iowa
null
47
21
2007-08-15 00:06:37 UTC
42,497
42,448
zcoelius
Anyone going to BarCamp this weekend?
sbraford
Palo Alto, Ought to be good
null
0
2
2007-08-15 00:12:49 UTC
42,502
42,468
ivankirigin
How to game the new voting power system
dfranke
I love how people that use this site love the exercise of thinking of ways to game the karma system. Hacker News indeed.
Just upvote all the stories that are already near the top. If the system works at all, then these will consist disproportionately of "good" stories, thus increasing your voting power.One way to combat this would be to give much larger voting power bonuses for "discovering" good stories while they're still only visible in the new queue.
0
1
2007-08-15 00:27:15 UTC
42,503
42,222
staunch
Luck and the entrepreneur, part 1: The four kinds of luck
eposts
Many intangible things are as important as they are difficult to discuss. An invisible ingredient in success. "You make your own luck".PG in "Hardest Lessons" described some of it here:"If you lack commitment, you'll just find that for some mysterious reason good things happen to your competitors but not to you. If you lack commitment, it will seem to you that you're unlucky."I've had a hell of a time trying to convey this kind of stuff to other people. I've even doubted whether it's possible to convince someone who doesn't "get it". I love Andreesen's post myself, but I fear it's still to abstract to forward to the people I would like to convince.
null
0
43
2007-08-15 00:31:35 UTC
42,510
42,398
rokhayakebe
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
You guys make me feel soooo not smart at this point.
null
17
57
2007-08-15 01:07:25 UTC
42,513
42,465
bootload
Linux.com: Spreading Python applications
omouse
release some .py code? repeat after me 'import disutils' and fill in the rest of the details... You'd be surprised at the number of python apps that don't bother creating a setup script. It's a pain having to write them for third party apps. So I automated it with a simple form.
I submitted this a week ago to programming.reddit but I know not everyone is signed up on reddit. So here it is, a quick tour of distutils.
0
2
2007-08-15 01:17:02 UTC
42,515
42,398
jsmcgd
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
The theory becomes is even more convincing if you realise and accept that it needn't just be humans that have to create sufficiently powerful computers. We could be part of a program running on some alien planet. Planet Earth, human beings and all that we've ever known and loved, don't need to have ever existed. All it requires is for some intelligence, somewhere to build a pretty ultimate PC/Mac, whatever.
null
11
57
2007-08-15 01:19:43 UTC
42,517
42,468
mcxx
How to game the new voting power system
dfranke
PG-related questions/stories attract karma, so just upvote them early.
Just upvote all the stories that are already near the top. If the system works at all, then these will consist disproportionately of "good" stories, thus increasing your voting power.One way to combat this would be to give much larger voting power bonuses for "discovering" good stories while they're still only visible in the new queue.
2
1
2007-08-15 01:23:01 UTC
42,521
42,398
vlad
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
I've thought about this 6 years ago. The sim could even be paused and resumed by the creator whenever he wanted, and we'd never be able to tell there were actually many gaps in our lives that range in billions of creator-life-terms.
null
9
57
2007-08-15 01:47:11 UTC
42,525
42,524
rasel4all
Enveluv.com
rasel4all
Enveluv.com is a new site, going to start their beta service from next month in Malaysia. Its a free web to postal service to send a physical greetings card or a letter to anyone in Malaysia.
null
0
1
2007-08-15 02:03:16 UTC
42,526
42,317
nickb
Hacker News
pg
Why is YCNews trying to be programming.reddit? I think there's plenty of "Hacker News" websites out there and there's no investor/entrepreneurship/startup news sites. The focus of the site will be lost now :(
null
7
150
2007-08-15 02:12:47 UTC
42,527
42,457
kirse
First Google Health Screenshots
dawie
<Insert generic Do no Evil complaint here>Of course, it's not like I don't trust Google with my email, search history, office documents, website stats, blogs, travel planning, financial info, and now... private health information?I think they're still missing my face to face conversation. Can we get a Google Bluetooth adapater that I can wear everywhere?
null
0
18
2007-08-15 02:13:41 UTC
42,529
42,398
euccastro
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
42. Yes, guys, it was me all around. Funny that it took you so long to find out. I kickstarted this big simulation as a weekend hack and let it evolve for a month, so I could come and play as Warren Beatty.Can we now, as a universe, move on? * * * This is not science; it's religion, philosophy, or abuse of language. You could never prove anything about this kind of stuff either way, and IMHO throwing around probabilistic estimates is 'not even wrong'. The scientist quoted in the article admits such estimates are only 'hunches', so I guess only the reporter is to blame for placing this stuff under a 'Science' header.Now, I'm not protesting that we talk this. It's fascinating stuff. It's funny to recognize in this thread some of the same crazy ideas that would get people shuffling away from me at parties, like 'what if our whole known universe is but an atom inside other universe, which in turn [...]?'Re: worlds simulated inside worlds, aka the Matrix, aka Plato's cavern- when I did work on a MMOG we had this conversation once or twice that if we gave our non-player characters ability to learn and communicate for an arbitrary length of time, eventually they'd come up with theories like "Every object in the universe has an unique ID, which is a 64-bit integer". And they'd wake up after a downtime and comment things like "gee, finally capacitor recharging is fixed!", and then stop and wonder about the deep meaning of that.Re: internet and cybernetic consciousness: when I first learned about the internet, one of my first thoughts is that the interconnected computers would create a new consciousness, or an ecosystem of competing consciousnesses. Not that it would be pursued, but that it would happen spontaneously, just like life evolved out of the primordial soup.Then I thought that something similar would happen as a result of connecting so many people. Now, it's been always like that to some extent (cultures, memes, ideologies, etc. can be thought of as supraindividual consciousnesses), but the instant communication would make it more ostensible and powerful. Just like oxidation and explosion are instances of combustion, yet the difference in speed makes it counterintuitive for us to recognize any sameness between them.Fast-forward to 2007: for about a year, the global hivemind has been thinking intensely about cats with captions. Who knows what deep intentions hide behind this?
null
0
57
2007-08-15 02:16:11 UTC
42,535
42,398
extantproject
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
I don't mind.
null
15
57
2007-08-15 03:22:41 UTC
42,536
42,508
omouse
Can software start-ups succeed with non-programmer founder(s)?
NoMoreSnow
I would say no because the founders would be managers who would have to direct things. The programmers they hire probably will not be 100% behind the project.Non-programmer founders for a software startup can be seen as middlemen. Why should VCs pay a middleman when they can find any old programmer themselves to implement the idea?
Can non-programmers have success at raising money for a software start-up?Also, do you know of any success stories(received more than angel funding) where the founder(s) were not programmers?Thanks, NoMoreSnow
2
11
2007-08-15 03:24:11 UTC
42,538
42,537
jamongkad
Zed Shaw: Kitchen Sink
jamongkad
As you can see I'm a big fan of Zed Shaw and of his eccentricities. If there was one person I would love to work on a open source project with. It would be him.
null
1
5
2007-08-15 03:30:27 UTC
42,544
42,317
rams
Hacker News
pg
Paul, it would be good, if at this point, you make the Hacker News Karma rules transparent. It would be good to have a page that explains how the Karma works and the other rules as well. It was one of the most irritating things with reddit, and the irritation only increased when they got sold ;-)
null
5
150
2007-08-15 03:50:31 UTC
42,548
42,508
mikesabat
Can software start-ups succeed with non-programmer founder(s)?
NoMoreSnow
I'm not sure what you mean by a software business, but I am not a programmer and I'm starting an Internet company. We are definitely software based and web 2.0.There is no way that I could start this business without a programmer on board, but if this company was started solely by hackers it would not be nearly as good.
Can non-programmers have success at raising money for a software start-up?Also, do you know of any success stories(received more than angel funding) where the founder(s) were not programmers?Thanks, NoMoreSnow
5
11
2007-08-15 04:02:23 UTC
42,550
42,508
bootload
Can software start-ups succeed with non-programmer founder(s)?
NoMoreSnow
"... Can software start-ups succeed with non-programmer founder(s)? ..."Well lots of startups succeed already with non-dev founders. But they also most likely have hackers on the founder team. Could a software startup be successful with all founders not being programmers, hackers or without the ability to write code? I imagine not many. I can't think of any startups without a single programmer/hacker founder, anyone else?
Can non-programmers have success at raising money for a software start-up?Also, do you know of any success stories(received more than angel funding) where the founder(s) were not programmers?Thanks, NoMoreSnow
0
11
2007-08-15 04:08:41 UTC
42,555
42,398
andreyf
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
Posthumans? What? Since we're thinking in realms of "probabilities", what is the probability that the super-reality we are simulated in resembles our own reality? Why do we assume the agents that designed our reality are anything like us? Keeping in mind that we can't begin to imagine most of what is the reality around us (the "really big" or "really small"), what makes us think we can imagine what life of agents in a super-reality would be like? How broadly do we define "computer"? This article seems like a dumbed down version of stoned CS majors ramblings... bah.
null
5
57
2007-08-15 04:21:44 UTC
42,557
42,551
dfranke
Request: simple story promotion algorithm
zemaj
PG recently posted the algorithm that news.yc uses:http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38704
Hi all,I recently added a karma-like voting system to posts in a phpBB forum that was having some problems with spam (we have an point incentive system that users use to bid for real items - now instead of rewarding points for posts, they're now awarded for votes).My question is; does anyone know a simple algorithm that can get a list of the "best-recent" posts based on votes. So simply if an item has a certain number of positive and negative points with each vote point made at a certain time, how can I combine that to get a list of highly voted, recent posts.I could obviously research and come up with something myself, but there's probably quite a few people here who have experience in this area, so I thought it was worth a post!Thanks, James
0
4
2007-08-15 04:23:03 UTC
42,558
42,317
thomasswift
Hacker News
pg
I feel cooler reading 'Hacker News', but where are the hacks?
null
28
150
2007-08-15 04:28:47 UTC
42,560
42,508
rickcecil
Can software start-ups succeed with non-programmer founder(s)?
NoMoreSnow
I don't know of any examples of successful startups who didn't have at least one hacker founder, though I hope that changes in the near future.Neither my partner nor I are programmers--we're both researchers/designers (certainly not managers!). We're both willing to bootstrap an initial prototype--and maybe even up through the first phase. We'd like to take on a tech lead partner, though still wouldn't expect him to do all of the programming--would want someone to contribute financially and serve as a Tech Lead. If there's anything I've learned in all my startup research, it's that if people tell you something can't be done, it probably can.As far as VCs finding other programmers to do your project: VC's are in the investment business, they aren't entrepreneurs themselves. Otherwise, they'd just be taking all the ideas and implementing them themselves: why share ownership with anyone when you can pay programmers to build it for you?Ultimately, I realize that I did not answer your question, but I say go for it. What have you got to lose?
Can non-programmers have success at raising money for a software start-up?Also, do you know of any success stories(received more than angel funding) where the founder(s) were not programmers?Thanks, NoMoreSnow
1
11
2007-08-15 04:38:20 UTC
42,563
42,283
zach
Dumb But Profitable. 10 Million Dollar Ideas That Shouldn't Have Worked
nickb
I started a comment and it grew into a blog post:http://zachbaker.com/articles/2007/08/14/learning-from-goofy...
null
1
11
2007-08-15 04:43:59 UTC
42,564
42,398
asdflkj
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
Just what exactly is an "ancestor simulation"? To simulate human minds, you have to simulate the universe, since that's where human minds get input. And you can't simulate a universe within a universe that's just like it. Not in 50 years, not in any number of years. Most crankbabble of this variety manages to at least be "not even wrong", but this is just plain-old wrong. Shame on NYT.
null
14
57
2007-08-15 04:48:10 UTC
42,568
42,457
avehn
First Google Health Screenshots
dawie
this is a hypochondriac's dream. finally they can find all the ailments they've been missing with Google's helpful auto-fill.Seriously though I think this is pretty cool as you don't have to drive back to the state you just left because you forgot to get your medical records from your previous physician.
null
1
18
2007-08-15 05:25:12 UTC
42,572
42,567
dfranke
What does your favorite text editor say about you?
nickb
In my case, I piss off zealots of all stripes by using both vi and emacs: vi when I just need to do a quick edit, and emacs when I need to get real hacking done. On rare occasions, namely when I'm logged in to another system where I don't have my (voluminous) emacs customizations and vi isn't vim, I'll use ed.
null
0
4
2007-08-15 05:31:43 UTC
42,582
41,685
bosky101
Where is your startup? (for me Atlanta)
rokhayakebe
bangalore ,india
null
52
21
2007-08-15 05:53:18 UTC
42,583
42,581
dfranke
This patent application seems coherent. Then, a dedication to 50 Cent. Then...
zach
Looks original and non-obvious to me.But seriously... has the PTO simply given up trying?
Scroll down to see the description.
1
3
2007-08-15 06:00:41 UTC
42,586
42,398
LaurieCheers
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
> It's also possible that there would be logistical > problems in creating layer upon layer of simulations. > There might not be enough computing power to continue > the simulation if billions of inhabitants of a virtual > world started creating their own virtual worlds with > billions of inhabitants apiece.What a ridiculous conclusion. It seems to me, the logical way to handle this is to simulate an entire universe, galaxies to atoms.That might sound like it requires an impractical amount of processing power... but only to us _inside_ this universe. If you think about it, it's obviously impractical to simulate an entire universe within the universe itself.In our parent universe, this wouldn't be an issue. Their speed of light must be faster, their atoms smaller. Moore's Law continues apace for them, and they can build computers that seem unthinkably powerful to us.And the weirdness of quantum physics shows the kind of hacks they've made to get it to run.I'm thinking about writing a short story where a guy implements a universe in 7 days...
null
3
57
2007-08-15 06:34:04 UTC
42,589
42,551
niels
Request: simple story promotion algorithm
zemaj
I use an algorithm where recent votes and posts has more weight:(votes from the last two hours times 1) + (votes from the next two hours times 0.75)... and so on. Do the same for posts. Because it's expensive to calulate these values, I have a cron job that updates the scores every fifteen minutes.
Hi all,I recently added a karma-like voting system to posts in a phpBB forum that was having some problems with spam (we have an point incentive system that users use to bid for real items - now instead of rewarding points for posts, they're now awarded for votes).My question is; does anyone know a simple algorithm that can get a list of the "best-recent" posts based on votes. So simply if an item has a certain number of positive and negative points with each vote point made at a certain time, how can I combine that to get a list of highly voted, recent posts.I could obviously research and come up with something myself, but there's probably quite a few people here who have experience in this area, so I thought it was worth a post!Thanks, James
1
4
2007-08-15 07:35:49 UTC
42,592
42,591
RyanGWU82
BarCampBlock in Palo Alto - this weekend - anyone attending?
RyanGWU82
I just found out about this a few minutes ago. I'd kinda like to go but it's rather late notice, I already had plans for this weekend. Are any of you going?
null
1
9
2007-08-15 07:43:41 UTC
42,594
42,317
vikram
Hacker News
pg
I can't doubt the motives. But I have a theory on why some days there isn't much to read and why reddit had great links in 2006.At that time people put the best of their bookmarks on reddit. Later there wasn't much good content left in the stash. IMO link submissions are unlikely to change. No matter what you do.I think one way we can have interesting dialog on the site is by asking really good starting questions. Most questions so far have been about asking for feedback. Which are interesting for the people asking for feedback and the people giving feedback, but not that great for the rest.
null
14
150
2007-08-15 07:58:11 UTC
42,605
42,509
LaurieCheers
Discussion about the new voting system
mcxx
Interesting. So can you increase your voting power by simply upvoting stories that are already popular?Or does the system favour people who upvote good articles _before_ they become popular?By the way, I don't bother upvoting articles that already have huge scores (because really, what's the point?) Will this have a negative impact on my voting power?I suggest the "good voter" system should ignore upvotes on articles that are above a certain threshold.
PG, what exactly is "a louder voice"? If an article will be raised up by two or more points by a person with bigger voting power will its submitter get an adequate karma raise? Is there a limit? Is there a bonus for the up-voter? Do you take into consideration current karma? Does voting power apply to down voting (I assume it does)?I think there will be a temporary higher amount of voters on the New queue, seeking for a bigger voting power, which is a good thing because the good stories will get to the main site faster. Maybe it won't be temporary as newcommers will strive for power and the easiest/only way is voting the good stories soon.However, consider this situation: A speculator comes around, voting up at random (thinking "someone will have to raise this one up") and then another one appers, seeing that a story already has 2,3 or 4 points, he could raise it up to just because it will earn him a better voting power... Will the system be able to deal with this (altough I'm not really sure this is a real threat)?
2
6
2007-08-15 10:26:54 UTC
42,606
42,540
staunch
Does your project need a Cool Cam?
dood
One of the huge advantages of doing your own projects is you can focus on real value and not the shiny things that make a suit's eye light up.This "Cool Cam" story has a lot in common with the Bike Shed story. In both cases the no-vision executives latch onto small mostly-pointless things they can understand. Real users are much smarter.
null
1
31
2007-08-15 10:49:38 UTC
42,609
42,398
sgraham
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
The "20%" hunch kind of made skim from then on, but:What's the definition of computer, exactly? Even without any magical circular reasoning, the computer built on atoms and physics that we're being simulated in is just as deterministic as the computer I'm using, so I'm not sure I even see a difference.
null
13
57
2007-08-15 11:03:53 UTC
42,611
42,540
bootload
Does your project need a Cool Cam?
dood
I own that game and I can't seem to remember all the faults as mentioned. I do remember the "cool cam" which was featured in demo mode. But far from being the technical failure looking at how the graphics have been upgraded and mods contributed I'd say this game is a roaring success. Maybe there's a lesson there to learn. Don't believe all you read. As a user the bugs mentioned did not distract from the game & game play. And just because there are some failures in the product doesn't mean you can't make money off it.Check the Hi-Res terrains in the link below.- http://www.xmission.com/~mmagleby/eaw/downloads.htm- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Air_WarMakes me want to find the disks right now to use the mods and look for those pesky bugs!
null
0
31
2007-08-15 11:19:38 UTC
42,612
42,585
davidw
JavaScript:The World's Most Misunderstood Programming Language
mk
I think Tcl is certainly a competitor in the 'misunderstood' category:http://antirez.com/articoli/tclmisunderstood.html
null
0
13
2007-08-15 11:22:55 UTC
42,613
42,570
epi0Bauqu
Introducing the YUI Compressor - new JavaScript minifer/compressor
nickb
Their name is somewhat misleading, because it does not appear to be from the YUI (Yahoo) Javascript API team.
null
0
3
2007-08-15 11:35:41 UTC
42,617
42,398
robg
We are living in someone else's computer simulation
mhb
Finally something I know a bit about...I think where it's easy to believe the simulation theories is where they're so in line with what our brains do on an everyday basis. We simulate reality when we're getting ready for the day and deciding what to wear. Or when our stomach rumbles for lunch and we mentally compare General Tso's finest masterpiece against the toasty cheese of Quizno's. Indeed, I'd argue that the human brain is at it's best as a simulation engine - predicting the future and understanding the present based on past experiencesDon't fall for the 90% myth. We can't be sure where it came from, but it simply isn't true. The brain is a simple organ only in the sense that if you don't use it, you lose it. Consider: You were born with 10x the number of cells you end up needing. The ones that survived are ones that found connections and strengthened them with their neighbors.Indeed, that's what makes "mind transplants" so difficult to pull off. Your mind is a unique product of your development.Now, neural implants for boosting abilities and restoring function after damage....
null
2
57
2007-08-15 11:54:13 UTC
42,620
42,276
comforteagle
Group-O-Matic (My Startup Launch!)
epi0Bauqu
Good itch I wanted scratched. I started a group.
I am launching my startup today. All comments/questions/feedback, however harsh/cynical/insightful, will be greatly appreciated. Short version: free site to help people form local groups for regular events. Even shorter version: free alternative to meetup.com. There has not been a private or public beta. Group-O-Matic has been released with a minimum feature set I thought would be useful. I'm coding message boards right now, to be released shortly.
7
15
2007-08-15 12:12:46 UTC
42,622
42,509
euccastro
Discussion about the new voting system
mcxx
Heh, will we end up with a full stock market, where you invest your karma in stories/comments hoping they will go up in popularity? That would discourage upvoting stories that you think may have already peaked in popularity. You'd be better off upvoting the stories/comments that you feel are most underrepresented. The challenge about implementing something like this would be to keep the UI simple.This would lead to uniformization of discourse, but I'm afraid any global opaque karma system will do that. If I was to do a news system, I'd make it so you could somehow select people so their ratings have more weigth in your view. So content would be rated on an affinity graph that is personalized for each user. A way to do this without complicating the UI is to just derive your affinities from your votes. Now this would be an incentive to vote on the stuff you find interesting, rather than on the stuff you think will be popular.
PG, what exactly is "a louder voice"? If an article will be raised up by two or more points by a person with bigger voting power will its submitter get an adequate karma raise? Is there a limit? Is there a bonus for the up-voter? Do you take into consideration current karma? Does voting power apply to down voting (I assume it does)?I think there will be a temporary higher amount of voters on the New queue, seeking for a bigger voting power, which is a good thing because the good stories will get to the main site faster. Maybe it won't be temporary as newcommers will strive for power and the easiest/only way is voting the good stories soon.However, consider this situation: A speculator comes around, voting up at random (thinking "someone will have to raise this one up") and then another one appers, seeing that a story already has 2,3 or 4 points, he could raise it up to just because it will earn him a better voting power... Will the system be able to deal with this (altough I'm not really sure this is a real threat)?
0
6
2007-08-15 12:28:31 UTC
42,625
42,537
zem
Zed Shaw: Kitchen Sink
jamongkad
He should fork Oz :)
null
2
5
2007-08-15 12:36:43 UTC
42,628
42,567
euccastro
What does your favorite text editor say about you?
nickb
It doesn't exist yet.
null
1
4
2007-08-15 12:47:57 UTC