An acquaintance was in the 3rd batch of founders and turned me on to the ecosystem and community here. Around that time, I was a few years out of high school and working for minimum wage at a pizza shop.
I was experimenting with web design, making a few extra dollars running google ads on phpBB forums, and learning to code in the process. I never realized my geeky side could translate into something entrepreneurial until I started spending time here. Tracking the progress of my friend and this community planted a seed that turned into a dream of someday being a founder.
Today, my two business partners and I have been running a successful software business for almost a decade. We were distributed before it was mainstream. We're in the WordPress space and have a team of 20+ people all over the globe. I've had the opportunity to travel, meet investors, smoke cigars with business heroes, sleep in if I want to, and enjoy an exciting and fulfilling life.
I still find myself regularly googling about issues that arise in my company with "hacker news" appended to the end of the query. The stories here helped us navigate a very stressful M&A process and countless other "business stuff" hurdles that we encountered over the years (ie business insurance "hacker news").
YC provided me with direction and inspiration when I was floundering around in my early years. The simple ideas that you don't need an MBA to start a business and being an odd duck is a valuable entrepreneurial trait were life-changing. The community and discussions here are where I come to learn and be inspired. I sincerely hope it continues to be that for myself and others for many more years to come.
Had a few friend sleep over. They experienced the same problem. I feel bad you missed your flight. My girlfriend and I always joke about the importance of "the small things." Apple really let a bunch of people down.
I am 25 and I learned to program in 7th grade, when I was 12 years old. I joined a "Warez" group on AOL that distributed pirated software and Mp3s. This was pre-napster era by the way. At the time, it just seemed like a cool group to join. I was a really curious kid and I did not realize the illegality of it all.
I was mentored by others in the group. I learned HTML and Web design. Also, I learned to program AOL add-ons using Visual Basic 6.0 and the good ole' Win32 API. I could have knocked my dad over with a feather when I told him I was learning to program. He was so excited. He is also a techy and a bit of a hacker.
I made a bunch of AOL add-ons like chat room macros, trivia games, and auto instant message responders. But, my fondest project was a chat room e-mail server. It would parse an AOL chat room for requests. Then, it would forward the appropriate message (with the software attached) via e-mail to the requester. I called in to AOL's customer support line and told them I ran a popular newsletter. I was able to whitelist my AOL account. This way, I would not be limited by their daily e-mail limit. They bought it.
After repeatedly punting and then TOSing a classmate, and having their account shutdown. AOL caught on to my nefarious ways. They terminated my families AOL account, and blacklisted our credit card. My mother, who used AOL to chat with grandma and browse the internet, was furious. My dad went along with my mom. But, later in life, told me how proud he was of me and how he told all of his friends at work. He used to joke, "Yea, AOL refuses to take my money after Robby got done with em."
"Geographically, the Silicon Valley encompasses all of the Santa Clara Valley including the city of San Jose (and adjacent communities), the southern Peninsula, and the southern East Bay." - Wikipedia.
I hope this resource fills out. I work at the YMCA in Palo Alto and I meet a lot of people as they move in to the area. I will have to introduce them to this wiki.
An acquaintance was in the 3rd batch of founders and turned me on to the ecosystem and community here. Around that time, I was a few years out of high school and working for minimum wage at a pizza shop.
I was experimenting with web design, making a few extra dollars running google ads on phpBB forums, and learning to code in the process. I never realized my geeky side could translate into something entrepreneurial until I started spending time here. Tracking the progress of my friend and this community planted a seed that turned into a dream of someday being a founder.
Today, my two business partners and I have been running a successful software business for almost a decade. We were distributed before it was mainstream. We're in the WordPress space and have a team of 20+ people all over the globe. I've had the opportunity to travel, meet investors, smoke cigars with business heroes, sleep in if I want to, and enjoy an exciting and fulfilling life.
I still find myself regularly googling about issues that arise in my company with "hacker news" appended to the end of the query. The stories here helped us navigate a very stressful M&A process and countless other "business stuff" hurdles that we encountered over the years (ie business insurance "hacker news").
YC provided me with direction and inspiration when I was floundering around in my early years. The simple ideas that you don't need an MBA to start a business and being an odd duck is a valuable entrepreneurial trait were life-changing. The community and discussions here are where I come to learn and be inspired. I sincerely hope it continues to be that for myself and others for many more years to come.
Thanks YC!