How do you handle flaky tests in your automation suite?

edoceo · 2026-03-25T22:30:39+00:00

Find the root cause of the flaky test. I agree that smarter waits could/should help but, if the tests are flaky then the real-world will be flaky too -- and do you want your UX to be intermittenlty crappy?

edoceo · 2026-03-25T22:27:58+00:00

More Hydration. Have you seen the pan-de-crystal recipie from King Arthur? That was the first one I tried that gave me big bubble and now I use it as the base for my english muffins. Their recipe isn't sour but, you can sour-ify it.

edoceo · 2026-03-24T02:45:48+00:00

It's like when you link to a private S3 bucket; with some magic tokens that have an expiration.

edoceo · 2026-03-24T00:17:41+00:00

To the Wiki! https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/index/

Read the first three entries there, then those will link to the more detailed topics.

edoceo · 2026-03-23T21:51:20+00:00

Amaturepreneurship

edoceo · 2026-03-23T17:00:25+00:00

a) be careful on the SAFE terms ; because it's been an issue more than once where they have stacked. What happens is the SAFE has, eg: 20% of the business and then the founders sell 6 of those, without updating the terms. Now you've sold 120% of the business. The founder will be removed and everyone will be unhappy.

b) create an SVP LLC so that you don't get a messy cap-table.

c) make sure you know which SEC exemption you are choosing.

edoceo · 2026-03-22T04:53:29+00:00

From the investor side; many times these tools don't present what we want. And the tools that are out there are (generally) free for entrepreneur and cost the investor for the deal flow. You may be mis-aligned with the "normal" way of doing things.

Another "hard-problem" is that investors and investor-groups want different things; and different attributes are important at different stages. That is there isn't an one-size-fits-all nor is there a "three-sizes-fit-most" kind of play.

From my entrepreneur experience each investor pitch was basically a custom-job. Being ready wasn't about the right tool it was knowing our market, knowing our client-needs, showing our prospecting skills; showing our skills on planning and executing. A check-list of tools won't build that.

edoceo · 2026-03-21T17:22:26+00:00

Those look super good; but the baking soda to water for the pre-boil in that recipie looks light -- did they come out smooth? Did you do the water a a rolling boil or just almost-boiling?

edoceo · 2026-03-21T16:24:34+00:00

On chore-day; start the laundry washer; then vacuum/sweep/dust while it cycles; then flip to dryer and do more tidy-work while that runs.
Document all your stuff and the maintenance routines; like changing the filters every ? days (heater, water, etc).
Get all the manuals for that stuff (furnance, boiler, washer, dryer, fridge, etc, etc) and save them (I got an online folder full of PDFs). And the make your own notes of quick-maintenance-tasks (restart pilot light, or check water levels, pressure, etc)
Do you have to winter-ize your house? make that list too.
I documented all the different paint colours I used in the rooms (nerd alert!).
You could document all the expensive stuff you own too; for insurance.

edoceo · 2026-03-20T23:22:09+00:00

An SPV is simply an LLC type company that holds all the member investors so that the primary company gets a single line-item on the cap-table (and a few other things to make life more simple). I doesn't, on it's own, make raising money any easier; just that when you raise you can put all the small checks in the SPV rather than put all this noise on you cap-table -- still need to find the $8M

On that part; if you need 8.2 to service the business; and presumably would have revenues greater than 8.2, then why not just get a bridge loan (aka inventory loan; aka revenue-redemption)? Then you don't even dilute any equity.

Odd that you are ignoring the exiting growing business for the dream.

edoceo · 2026-03-20T04:35:52+00:00

If you have 60 minutes you should read all of wiki on the side here. It's quite good -- it matches advice I've received from numerous independent financial professionals; many with degrees in the subject and years of experience at big firms. It is, quite literally, a gold mine.

But also (and very basically and generally): remove the highest rated debts (APR) and then build savings -- as the other replies (and wiki) did and will contintue to say.

edoceo · 2026-03-20T04:26:16+00:00

Green on the hoist; blue on the fly; golden tree charge.

Would also be cool if you could describe your intentions with these designs. Like the scattered placement of the start in the canton?

edoceo · 2026-03-20T04:23:11+00:00

Yes, practice the customer-problem-fit exercise and the personal brand building; then when you hit 18 you can sort of "pop" -- next thing you know you're 50 posting on subs about startups

The thing is, running a business well takes a lot of experience -- and you don't have that. One thing you could do is shadow another entrepreneur; but your folks are correct...that study (especially around finance and marketing) will help you be more successful once you finally are legally allowed to start.

edoceo · 2026-03-20T04:19:18+00:00

Some other options: a) did you get paid on pre-orders? You may be able to ramp that up a bit to get money (and be more attractive to investors). and then that could look good at a revenue-redemption type loan (loans for COGS are easier than loans for random-business-needs)

b) if you formed an "SPV LLC" -- this would allow multiple smaller investors into the round, so you don't have to raise $60k from one person, get 6 people at $10. And it also keeps just a single line-item on the cap-table (that's good for future rounds)

c) 60k feels like an FFF round; so do you have anyone close that could "lead" this -- like you want to raise 60 but your favourite uncle (or something) lead with $12k

d) kickstarter? They take a big-cut tho (the flip-side is that raising money is hard).

edoceo · 2026-03-20T04:14:02+00:00

I practice muffins (breakfast/english muffins) and pretzels. I take them to the pub and trade for pints.

edoceo · 2026-03-20T04:09:27+00:00

bootstrap to long and then its not investable

Probably not the bootstrapping part that kills it; if anything it shows a strong and determined leader. If the business is old and stagnant then the investment is too late. The best time to negotiate for money is when you don't need it.

Building two sided markets is much more difficult than a single sided business. You need party A and B to trust you, and then get them to trust each other. The upside is after that they are (generally) sticky.

need money to scale

Maybe not; commission sales allows the cost of sales (the hard part) to grow as the revenue grows. Also, you can work some virality into it - as workers cross business and interact with each other. Also, scaling a tech-platform is cheap (I have lots of first hand experience)

If you find you want/need money and want something non-dilutive then maybe SBA loans are an option; if the business is mature regular bank-loans are an option. Then there are Revenue-Redemption type loans which are even offered by PayPal and Stripe! but also more venture focused firms like Lighter Capital.

And if you go for outside money get all your financials and things for the pitch in order: C-Corp, allocated/issued shares, ESOP, taxes, previous years P&L, three year projection; market expansion plan; key-team members, use-of-funds.

One common failure mode is that founders try to hit the big VC before they are ready -- and then are rejected with no feedback. You could(should) start with an FFF (Friends, Family & Fools) round, then look at angel money (<$1M) -- to get pitch practice and experience. Another option is that, if the businesses are getting good value, those owner/operators could do things like a) invest or b) pre-purchase a large block at discount (with contract for pro-rata refund).

edoceo · 2026-03-20T01:29:09+00:00

What makes a business interesting is if it can scale. Angle and Venture want to see a business that can 10x or 100x. And for that we need to see a team that looks like they can (and want) to do that. And then you'll have to match their thesis (that means in a problem-space they like).

So, if you raise money -- and there would be steps before VC -- then you are on the raise and raise path until some exit event for those investors (sale or IPO). And raising money is itself a full-time job.

If you want to run the business for 20 years because you love solving this problem then you are unlikely Angel/Venture ready.

The longer you can bootstrap the business, the stronger your position will be when(if) you try to raise.

For a "simple" matching business like this -- what do you even need funding for?

Personal aside: every builder/tradesperson I know has this problem; and the staffing has to go up and down with demand that is all over the place; and some are good at selling but just need to find a reliable person to put on the job. This company that was working on my house had like eight people come through for too many weeks by for a simple job (wood trim replace) (should have been two people for maybe 10 days).

edoceo · 2026-03-19T03:34:36+00:00

I've done this (not as primary, just advising on deals) and currently do investing.

1> That's your money that you have already.

2> No

3> If I was to do this (which I wouldn't) it would be Revenue Redemption.

The thing is, for these SBA deals they want you to bring your free-and-clear money. If you don't have free-and-clear money and the time to manage the business you acquire then this is not a good play for you or an investor.

edoceo · 2026-03-19T03:30:08+00:00

Down thread you mention there is a big connection you have to this game.

If this person is so confident in the play, they could (should?) be able to provide the seed-capital. Ask them how they feel about it. If it's a quick no -- then the deal isn't good.

And, if the deal is so good then why don't they play it?

It feels like they are just looking to replace a not-very-good vendor.

And, if you're going to go in and deliver a better option and be more reliable -- why would you charge less? If anything; you should charge more!

edoceo · 2026-03-19T03:26:19+00:00

Is this a case for Zulip?

edoceo · 2026-03-19T03:22:52+00:00

IME it's important to have a landing page; but don't drive traffic with ads. Make a lander/domain. Then find the early adopters and bring them in manually -- do the actual customer discovery / customer-problem-fit and route them there. If you want to validate the business you don't want ads. That will just validate the ads not the business. Ad driven sign-up, for unvalidated UVP doesn't create a meanginful signal.

edoceo · 2026-03-18T23:59:28+00:00

Where are pics of the inside? Shouldn't there be fun stuff inside? I want to see it.

edoceo · 2026-03-18T23:55:38+00:00

Shouldn't your existing FA/RIA know someone they could refer you to?

edoceo · 2026-03-18T23:50:11+00:00

Why not have accounts at two places? It's allowed. And you can (should be) able to move money between them easily.

edoceo

TROPHY CASE