maxprogram

The market isn't vegetarians/vegans. Their ultimate goal is reduction of environmental damage and greenhouse gases. Why try to sell to someone who already doesn't eat meat? The company is mission-driven and it wouldn't contribute to their cause.

The market is also too small. Reminds me of the apocryphal story of the 2 shoe salesmen in Africa: 1 says bad news, no one wears shoes. The other says good news, no one wears shoes.

Poor Charlie's Almanac -- can't beat Charlie Munger when it comes to explaining how the world works.

Fooled by Randomness, Black Swan, Antifragile -- Nassim Taleb reviles lots of new ways to think, first in finance, then everything in later books.

The Origin of Wealth -- Similar to Antifragile with a lot of mental models packed in on many different subjects: economics, business, biology, ...

The Design of Everyday Things -- the bible of design. Read it to know why everyday frustrations with tech are probably not your fault. His book Emotional Design is a good compliment.

The Essential Drucker -- "essential" reading for anyone in management or scaling a startup.

History, and why the world is the way it is today:

Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari

Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond

The Birth of Plenty, William Bernstein

They Made America, Harold Evans -- fantastic history book with each chapter telling the detailed story of a businessperson or inventor in U.S. history

Mashgin Inc. (YC W15) | Computer vision engineer | Palo Alto, CA | Full-time onsite

At Mashgin, we apply advanced computer vision to real world problems, starting with retail checkout. Our kiosk uses computer vision to scan multiple items at once without barcodes or RFID, reducing checkout time by 10x. But that’s just the beginning -- we’re building the future of machine vision for all businesses.

We’re looking for someone with serious engineering skills that can help us fulfill the promise of computer vision in the real world. You should have experience writing vision algorithms in C++. Bonus points if you’ve worked with 3D cameras, multi-cam scene reconstruction, or machine learning. As the first non-founding engineer you’ll get the chance to shape the foundation of Mashgin.

We’re a team of 3 with previous experience in machine learning at Facebook and Microsoft, and computer vision for humanoid robotics at Bell Labs and Toyota. We’re well funded from top investors following YC W15, and are working hard on getting our machines production ready for our first customers.

Right now we’re in a small office in downtown Palo Alto. But we plan on growing fast so things will change quickly. Uncertainty abounds: “...constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.” (You'll be well compensated with a competitive salary and equity-based upside, comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage. But yeah... honor and recognition, too.)

We have big ideas for where Mashgin is headed and we would love for you to be involved. If you’re interested in joining the team email us at: [email protected]

Mashgin Inc. (YC W15) | Computer vision engineer | Palo Alto, CA | Full-time

At Mashgin, we apply advanced computer vision to real world problems, starting with retail checkout. Our kiosk can scan multiple items at once without barcodes or RFID, reducing checkout time by 10x. But that's just the beginning -- we’re building the future of machine vision for all businesses.

We're looking for someone with serious engineering skills that can help us fulfill the promise of computer vision in the real world. You should have experience writing vision algorithms in C++. Bonus points if you've worked with 3D cameras, multi-cam scene reconstruction, or machine learning. As the first non-founding engineer you’ll get the chance to shape the foundation of Mashgin.

We're a team of 3 with previous experience in machine learning at Facebook and Microsoft, and computer vision for humanoid robotics at Bell Labs and Toyota. Mashgin is well funded from top investors following YC W15, and we're working hard on getting our machines production ready for our first customers.

Right now we're in a small, scrappy office in downtown Palo Alto. But we plan on growing fast so things will change quickly. Uncertainty abounds: "...constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success." -- Ernest Shackleton

If you're interested in joining the team email us at: [email protected]

I've found a good rule of thumb in business is that you can only be successful in the long run if your value proposition is a win-win-win for you, your suppliers, and your customers.

When a majority of your customers are being unknowingly screwed over as you reap a huge amount of unnecessary producer surplus, it's a losing proposition in the end. Companies like Herbalife can just do it on a scale where it takes a long time to fizzle out.

Unrealized losses over a short time period have nothing to do with being "right" or "wrong" about a stock investment.

Fluctuations of investor expectations (i.e. stock price movements) have especially nothing to do with this article's analysis. It presents data and comes to a pretty reasonable conclusion from it. Whether you wan't to call it a "pyramid scheme" or not is semantics, the conclusion speaks for itself.

Short-term investors can make money betting in the opposite direction of long-term investors who will also eventually make money. Herbalife can be a pyramid scheme and short-term investors can make money as the stock price rises -- the 2 aren't mutually exclusive.