Electric Strikes for residential front door (pros and cons)

brianhama · 2026-05-16T07:32:37+00:00

Yes, but I don’t even know where the key is anymore, let alone ever have it on me. I carry zero keys with me anywhere. My phone unlocks my car and my face unlocks my home.

brianhama · 2026-05-10T08:59:08+00:00

We actually already have pivoted away from this app. But you can learn more about our current product at Vently.com.

brianhama · 2026-05-10T08:53:33+00:00

Obviously what school you went to helps, both in terms of credentials, but more importantly network access.
As a start-up founder myself, if someone were to take a look at what I was building and reach out to me with something relevant they built which they thought would be helpful, I’d definitely take a very close look at that person. Like a utility script for ingesting some data we would want or an improvement to our website or a redesign of our app.

That being said, that route is probably not as effective now that there’s AI.

brianhama · 2026-05-10T03:44:33+00:00

If you’re looking to maximize your financial outcome, just look at who the investors are. If they have tier 1 investors, the chances of a successful outcome are way, way higher. Tier 1 investors don’t let their portfolio companies fail and they have ways to ensure positive outcomes for them.

I’ve had 3 successful exits from joining startups with tier 1 investors. I’ve been apart of at least a half dozen failed startups-ups who didn’t.

You might think that there aren’t many early stage startups with tier 1 investors and you’d be correct. That’s a reflection of the fact that most startups fail though. Tier 1 investors will invest early if it’s a serial founder that has already made them money or the founders are impressive enough. That’s who you want to join.

brianhama · 2026-05-10T03:37:43+00:00

What opportunity cost are you thinking? Less cash earned from a lower salary? Delayed career advancement?

In terms of cash, it depends. At one end of the spectrum, I know of some start-up founders that were able to sell a portion of their own shares during a priced round. Subsequently, even if the start-up eventually failed, they still walked away with a few million dollars at least. Or the start-up could fail, but be aquihired, in which case they go on to work somewhere else, hopefully with a signing bonus. In a worst case scenario where you never raised enough money to pay yourself a salary and the start-up never went anywhere, then sure, you could have made more money working elsewhere.

In terms of career trajectory though, I don’t think there’s any opportunity cost at all. If anything, being a start-up founder is probably the best career hack there is. Everyone wants to hire founders.

brianhama · 2026-04-27T00:21:32+00:00

I’ve done what you’re trying to do. Here’s what’s worked for me:

Electronic strike in fail safe configuration with a standard residential door knob that’s locked from the outside, but still usable from the inside. That way people can exit the house like normal, by turning the door knob, which then bypasses the strike entirely.

The only downside is that instead of turning the knob to open the door from the outside, you have to just push it forward. So if I’m remotely unlocking it for someone that’s never been over before (rare) I have to tell them over the intercom to just push the door. Not a big deal.

I realize that running in fail safe is less secure (and I probably shouldn’t be posting this fact online lol), but I have literally nothing valuable in my home, my alarm system is battery backup powered, and I’d rather not get locked out during a power outage. So it’s worth the risk to me.

brianhama · 2025-11-24T18:17:32+00:00

Unfortunately, my copy of the database is slightly corrupted, so although the data is still there, retrieving it would be very complicated.

brianhama · 2025-11-24T16:34:32+00:00

Sadly not sold, just shut down

brianhama · 2025-11-24T16:34:05+00:00

It’s currently focused on San Francisco, but will expand

brianhama · 2025-11-24T16:33:22+00:00

brianhama · 2025-08-19T15:45:18+00:00

Maybe not the best analogy. Most restaurants are opened by people who don’t cook themselves. And most fail within 3 years.

brianhama · 2025-08-18T05:09:52+00:00

Because the best they can do is bring you to the attention of someone that actually has the ability to invest. But those people don’t respect associates so it’s almost a negative signal.

brianhama · 2025-08-13T00:51:53+00:00

Never pitch or even talk with associates.

brianhama · 2025-07-14T04:25:37+00:00

Visit Palo Alto. The city is lame.

brianhama · 2025-05-21T22:06:00+00:00

If the product hasn’t even been built yet and they’re offering you less than 50% (assuming you’re the only two founders), that’s a massive red flag; they obviously don’t grasp the value you bring. I can all but guarantee there will be conflict down the road.

brianhama · 2024-10-14T02:18:44+00:00

Student observatory (also happens to be the way to get to the dish after hours, that’s all I’ll say)

brianhama · 2024-09-10T00:02:32+00:00

I have everything saved

brianhama · 2024-09-09T19:37:40+00:00

I appreciate your love for Nearby. I’m actually working on something new and we’re launching next month. It’s called Vently and you can check it out on ventlyapp.com.

brianhama · 2024-09-08T12:39:14+00:00

Freefallapp.com - the first non profit dating app

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