hugo31370

The idea that fundraising now is easy is a myth. I'll give you that it's as easy as it's ever been but it's not easy. It requires a lot of prep work, time, and full time dedication. And unlike 10 years ago, it now requires a prototype of some sort.

If he was going around with an idea asking for money, that would be a tough sell. If you're going around asking for him, that's an impossible sell.

Here are some red flags for investors: - Do I want to invest in someone who's risk averse and will likely give up when things get tough? (and things will get tough) - What's his track record for product execution and how can he prove he can build a product in a reasonable amount of time? (i.e. not two years) - What's his team or reference that can confirm the genius behind the man?

It sounds like your friend is more of an employee #1 person than a founder, which is fine. Maybe instead of looking for money you should be looking for someone who can kick off the prototype and can later help with the fundraising process. In any case, your friend needs to be the one speaking.

Good luck!

thanks! I'll try that

thanks

They accepted Greplin and Daniel is Swiss.

Thanks! Do you know anyone in particular?

I've used mechanical turk in the past for easy tasks. This one requires a little learning and I feel people get a lot faster even after 1 day. My concern with Mturk is having different people all the time, which is a lot less efficient. To give you a number, right now it takes me 1-2 minutes to add a line, whereas for someone new it takes him 5-8 minutes. That's the kind of learning curve I'm hoping for if I hire the same person to do this for 2-3 weeks.

Do you know if Mturk can offer this? Thanks a lot!

I believe it has to be a person. I've used Mechanical Turk in the past and it's great for easy, simple tasks. This one requires a little learning, which means sticking to one person/team would be best because they can quickly get faster and more efficient.

I'm looking for advice on companies or people you've used in the past that you liked. Thanks!

Let me just add a different perspective here. To me there are 3 things I think about when picking the technology: 1. cost 2. scalability - how big do you want to be and does the stack you pick scale? 3. talent - how easy is it to hire top talent going forward

Other than that, I agree with all the comments here. Users couldn't care less about your technical decisions.

Every time a person talk of hours of work as a requirement or measurement a puppy dies. I think she's trying to convey that passion and dedication are key, but the 90 hours reference is unfortunate. Why 90 and not 100 or 80?

Efficiency is they real metric. I know people who can do in 2 hours what for others would take 4 or 5 hours.

Now, I do think if you're passionate about your idea, you're constantly thinking about it, and you're going to spend a lot of sleepless nights in order to build it. I think passion and dedication is a requirement but I don't like the hour mark.

spoiledtechie, I worked in the media business (Nielsen) before I started my last 2 companies (Piictu, Easy Vino) and your speech sounds familiar but too generic. The broadcasting business is so ripe for disruption but it does have a lot of tricks. Your question lacks too much info to give you a good recommendation but at first sight I'd say NO! Don't take money from other broadcasters/competitors. But we should probably talk about it more. If you want, shoot me a skype call (hugo.bernardo). Just to make sure, I have ZERO interest in that space right now. Just curious...

Most likely you won't be able to get in the IPO so the question is whether or not you should buy FB stock once it's public. I'd say probably not immediately. My guess is that the stock is going to sky rocket the first few days (weeks?) and then people will cash out. That's when you should buy.

Then again, if you can get in this round, I'd buy.