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I remember your website. I was at a hedge funds that used your service. I had a few conversations by email and by phone with your partner too (nice guy and went to a good MBA school if I remember). I understand why there were maybe bigger and better opportunities vs return on time needed to keep doing your activist short site going as it is quite niche. Are you involved in the space at all any more?

For others reading here and in case curious, the hedge fund I was working at wasn't interested in paying for access to tracking of activist short campaign data for the short trade ideas themselves. There is little interest in copying or jumping onto another's trade like that. The real interest the hedge fund wants to get alerts and track these campaigns was to keep an eye on what other hedge funds are doing - it was more about competitor and industry colleague research than securities research.

Hey Michael, nice article. I saw in a comment you said students frequently ask you "how do I come up with a good startup idea?" and I know in the article you also included "This by no means the only path to an MVP...but it is a path that I’ve seen work for a number of YC companies."

I wanted to share something tangential that has worked for me as I also speak to students regularly and get the exact same question every time. My response includes the standard "Is there a problem you are passionate about?". But I've also observed how many students don't see problems as "problems" when asked to brainstorm about it and many would-be entrepreneurs end up left out of the process and discussion. I'm not sure all the reasons why but maybe a pain point isn't significant enough for them to label it a "problem" in their head when asked ("oh that's just an inconvenience not a real problem"). Or maybe their personality leans toward accepting status quo without realizing it can be changed and they can be the ones to change it. Or maybe they are too shy or introverted at first to describe and complain of a problem out loud.

So I've modified my response to students a bit to include: I have seen startup ideas come from 1. An idea for a solution to a problem and 2. An idea for something "that would be awesome" if someone created it but no one has yet or at least not done a good job of it. Here's what I mean by "that would be awesome" ideas, to take the example of Justin.tv, it leads to the same startup being created but 2 different types of entrepreneurs might get there by thinking:

1. What's a problem you experience and want to solve: "TV used to be entertaining but TV shows now feel stale, boring and with writing that feels so formulaic."

2. What is something "that would be awesome" if someone created it: "I love TV and movies, The Truman Show is one of my favorite movies, it would be awesome if someone made a TV show for based on following someone's life similar to The Truman Show but for real and with real people not actors".

Same startup. Two ways to get there. Hopefully this all makes sense. I've had good results engaging with students by adding the "that would be awesome if that existed" to the ways to think of startup ideas. This especially true with students who are shy or less likely to complain about problems out loud for some reason as well as for students who know how lucky they are to be at a fancy university in a first world country and they feel guilty describing anything as a problem worth solving if it isn't on the level of world hunger or similar (in which case I encourage those students to go solve world hunger if that's what they want to do).

Also one more thing. In my opinion the real major problem for aspiring entrepreneurs, bigger than coming up with a problem to solve, is how to brainstorm!

Most people assume brainstorming is just "sit and think". And it can be that and some people are very good at that (and other people aren't good at sit and think brainstorming at all but they just get lucky and a good idea pops in their head one day). But there's a lot of literature out there with research on effective brainstorming as well as tips and tricks to get one's brain into a better brainstorm mode (hint there's a reason why so many people say their best ideas come while showering or jogging). I am outside the valley so your mileage may vary over there but I see guided brainstorming sessions work much better than the usual casual 'shoot the shit type brainstorming' for the majority of people as brainstorming doesn't come naturally to them. Hence everyone has 99 problems and no good ideas.

The most popular thing I do when talking to students is a class discussion to come up with a problem and get the entire group of students brainstorming and iterating solution ideas together, with the goal being "find the first 5 feasible but bad solutions" (Asking them to come up with a "good solution" is too much pressure and then no one wants to raise their hand to say an idea others in the group might think is bad, so it helps to make clear it's OK we don't need good ideas at this point). Another thing that helps is I hand out index cards to start things and get students to anonymously write down one "problem to solve" idea or one "That Would Be Awesome" idea. I collect the cards and pick the idea that best facilitates brainstorming and discussion to start things off and then do guided brainstorming together. Most students have never been part of a real brainstorming session beyond some brainstorming how to do a group school assignment that gets an A and isn't too much work for everyone and that really they don't care about. Real brainstorming is hard and they have never done it for real in a group setting.

Sorry for the long comment. Just wanted to share something that has worked for me getting more students more involved in entrepreneurship, especially for the types of students who currently are under-represented among the population of founders these days for whatever reasons. Yes. Also shout out to my fellow shy introvert founders and anyone who doesn't walk around all day thinking about problems or like complaining about them. It's OK to start a company with the goal to make something awesome a reality, everyone has 99 problems and zero good ideas, try thinking up something awesome instead.

That link is not to the Price is Right TV show. The "Price is Right" brand has a traveling live theater production as well called Price is Right Live. Tickets to that cost money. Tickets for the real TV show in Los Angeles are free. Thanks for playing.

Our website promoting local short-term small businesses like popup shops and food trucks and "summer businesses" launches January 1.

Our first feature story is an article and podcast interview about the Christmas tree store popup business.

We are working on several feature stories about "summer businesses" that people like school teachers start and run during summer holiday months before going back to their "real" job in September.

The contestant selection for the Price is Right television show isn't random. You're spot on, a producer selects the contestants based on a quick interview with each audience member before the show. Even if the selection process has changed recently this story is from 2008. The article is wrong. And this website appears to be spun click traffic farming site, way to go Hacker News.

Nice read, thanks.

No. The price never reached a 570% gain so your "most likely" is impossible. The error in the article confusing percentage and multiples is one of a common math errors and the most likely explanation. 382 is 5.7x the price paid or (382/67). That's not 570%. It's 470%.

The most likely explanation is the majority of bloomberg reports know almost nothing about finance or math. Unfortunately and sadly it's still some of the best finance journalism available as there's little competition.

Hope. Hope is a two sided coin.

Yes gamblers or speculators or whatever they may be called could go to casinos in person. Or gamble via online poker. Or go bet on a horse race. Or on sports via a bookie. Or trade bitcoins from their phone. Just different games for different tastes and currently legal.