int3rnaut

Would anyone be interested in disrupting this space? My friend and I have been working on something we quite like that deals with subjectivity/ethics concerns, but it's a tough space to be in, and we'd love some help. If you want to get in touch, email us at questionasker[at]liveDotCA

Be positive. Stay determined. Keep Hustling.

It sucks to be rejected with anything in life, but you only truly fail if you give up. You all seem smart and there are some great ideas here; don't give up and I am sure I'll be hearing about you all in the future. :)

"Once that barrier is gone I think it can create a much more immersive gaming experience that would benefit all gamers."

I wonder about this. I think the lack of tactile feedback as well as the higher intensity play style will never sit right with all games or gamers, but I do think there will be genres that become synonymous with the Kinect and become better than they ever were--and more than dancing and fitness. What I hope is that developers recognize this and don't just shove kinect down our throats but use it when it makes sense to do so.

It's important to be social (people want to work with social and nice* people) but it's probably not important to be a socialite--you know what I mean. Just remember that life is a social event; you're going to meet people all the time. And like with anything in life, you get out, what you put in. So don't be afraid to put in a little work in all avenues of your upcoming venture.

Be nice to everyone you meet; niceness should not be underestimated. Even if it's not important to your company, it's important to you.

I remember stepping outside of a tech 'mixer' packed head to toe with millionaires, and seeing a bottle picker, he asked me what was going on and I told him, and we chatted about our 'entrepreneurial spirit' and he gave me some wisdom on the art of hustle--he was by far the most influential person I'd meet that night. You never know, who'll help you on your way, or who you can help--so always be social, and always be nice.

"Programming has never been a strong passion of mine", if you look at the real successful people--the people that are happy, they do things that they are passionate about. If you're not passionate about programming or being a hacker--why put yourself through it? What ARE you passionate about?

I want to prelude my question with my own personal belief: I think Paul Graham and company are not only ethical, but good human beings.

Is there ever a risk of unintentionally assigning one of the ideas of a lesser group to one of these "All-star" groups without an idea? Like in a brain-storming session, who gets the embers going? I know there's a statement about this on the application (if you're worried about copying not to apply) but it would be interesting to know.

For those struggling with privacy concerns, I have a very workable (albeit ugly) simple solution to this problem that actually works: Create a second Facebook account.

You'll likely have to make other provisions--but if it's really a big deal, it's not that difficult or taxing, really. Plus you can have a bit of fun creating your fake you for these types of things.

A lot of book publishers now use facebook likes as a way of determining whether to buy manuscripts from specific authors--which is ridiculous because of things like fivver. I've studied this stuff for a while--I'm a bit dubious in that regard-- to see how such things can be exploited for benefit and it's a tremendous span--so many industries are trying to be web savvy and latching onto things like likes and views, and favourites--but all of these are as demonstrated in this post are fairly easily exploitable.

Yep, it has to do with Canadian law and the desire to retain a Canadian Cultural identity (thus we protect our Cultural industries). I don't think that applies any more though--or at least since 2010 when Amazon was permitted to open up a local shipping distribution center by essentially buying out our cultural protection laws with a couple tens of million (I think it was 20 mil).

Books were the first step, and if you notice other departments have started to be available on our .ca-- I assume it's just a logistics issue before they establish a near identical system.

In some ways it's kind of sad, because I do think it will hurt the Canadian arts in the same way Canadian film and television has become second-rate American entertainment-- but the damage is done and with the way things are set up and have been established over the last 20 years, it's inescapable.

I'm not a scientist, and this is perhaps irrelevant to this thread, but since Jayzee is here, I just wanted to say how much I admire the charming video they've had on their site. Not to be negative, but it's not the most artistic or beautiful explanatory video out there, but that's why I like it; it's the embodiment of the Lean Startup approach, and how you don't have to have to spend loads and be a master at that particular craft to put something out there to explain your product. For the longest time I was unsure if I should make my own or pay for someone to do it (not sure what you guys did but I assume it wasn't one of those $10,000 videos a lot of "starups" have.) but seeing this gave me inspiration and the realization that this isn't some blockbuster movie, it's supposed to explain the product--and well, you got me moving and learning animation and some other neat skills in my spare time--and you showed me a great lesson...so thanks!

Hope things continue to go well.

I've noticed a few teams in the NHL use iPads on the bench-- besides tracking ice time, and perhaps monitoring heart rate (I think the Sabres are the only ones who monitor this during games so far) what are some of the more obvious benefits of having a device at hand that isn't already accomplished from the pressbox and relayed down to the Assistant coaches?

Kaleidoscope is going to be massive! I told my sister about it this morning, and within an hour all of her non-Iphone friends were using it. I think you really stumbled onto something huge here Ryan.

I'm really curious though--How and why do you go into something so fashion-centric (I'm assuming to be a bit out of your comfort zone) with such a high barrier of entry? Obviously it's in the e-commerce sector, but fashion is it's own beast.

Good luck and congratulations.

Do you think there is ever a risk to being "over-funded"? I know it sounds stupid, but it's an honest question.

There was a great comment in the VB comments about how the ads are more distinctly targeted--and that makes a lot of sense and is reason enough to pay a bit more per CPM, but in no way should it be a 100x type situation that is going on. Oddly enough, there was a post the other day featured on HN about how not to get into "local" because of issues like Small Business Owners were not likely to adopt-- I can't help but think part of the reason there is this apathy at that level is because all of these titans of this industry are sucking their early adopters dry with reckless cost demands.

I think the smart money is probably to pay off your debt, but I'm going to repeat what an older gentlemen once said to me, because it meant so much to me.

  "Sooner, rather than later, Invest in yourself."

 I don't know if that will really help you with your predicament, but truly, sometimes the best thing you can do in life when the chips are down is just to bet on you.