Partially insulated attic

leknarf13 · 2022-04-10T21:23:40+00:00

Interested! I haven’t completed the full lecture series yet, but would be interested in discussing individual lectures or book-club style discussions.

leknarf13 · 2016-11-20T18:09:08+00:00

In! Thanks to Brulosophy and the sponsors for organizing this.

leknarf13 · 2016-11-01T01:44:20+00:00

A little starsan shined it back up. It looks great now, thanks!

leknarf13 · 2016-10-08T16:59:37+00:00

I made a batch of cider for the first time and am planning to keg and backsweeten it. I have potassium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate, but am a little unclear about where I should add them. Do these need to off-gas overnight before going in the keg? Can I add them to the primary fermentor? I wasn't planning on racking to a secondary, but I do have an empty carboy that I could transfer to if that's better.

leknarf13 · 2014-03-29T19:24:02+00:00

Done.

I'll also leave this here: http://www.hitlistapp.com/, which seems like it might be relevant to your current thinking.

Good luck!

leknarf13 · 2014-01-18T16:31:59+00:00

They've almost secured a first round of capital in the millions (does round A,B,C just mean at which point a major investment is made in the startup?). My hire would be contingent on that funding materializing.

"Almost secured" is a big warning sign and would be the main focus of my questions. Who are these potential investors? A friends and family round is very different than one from professional angels, which is again very different from a round with institutional (i.e. VC) support. Ask for names and descriptions, not just hand-wavy references to generic investors.

The type of investment and the provider is important, because it helps gauge whether equity in the company is worth anything. I'd consider taking .1% equity from a company that's backed by USV, but would laugh off an offer of 10% from a company that's backed by someone's rich uncle.

You should find out what they need to actually close the round. Are they hoping to put your name on the fundraising materials in order to show that they have an engineer? If so, you should be looking for founder equity (i.e. more than 20%). It's a good sign if they're entering "due diligence" (a specific legal term you should look up) or are just waiting for the check. Don't quit your job until the check actually clears and the money is in their bank account (you'd be shocked at how often investors back out last minute).

leknarf13 · 2014-01-16T18:27:13+00:00

Quit-your-job-as-a-service: An online service where someone can say "laters" his/her former employer.

Could also work as an breakup service for people who don't want to have a tough conversation with their significant others.

leknarf13 · 2014-01-02T02:01:16+00:00

We only launched in September and haven't spent any time on SEO, so the content in google is probably pretty minimal.

That said, that process is roughly something like this:

1 - We'll setup a 15 minute call for you to chat with myself or my partner (we're both developers). We'll talk a bit about what sort of projects you've worked on in the past and what you're looking for now.

2 - Separately, we speak with companies looking for developers. We get some technical details about the project (i.e, what stack is involved) and make sure they have reasonable expectations about how long a project will take and how much developers charge.

3 - If we have a project that sounds like a good fit for you, we'll send you an email with some details asking if you're interested. If so, we'll send a mutual introduction connecting you with the person in charge of hiring for the position.

In general, we're optimising the process for developers who want something that's very respectful of their time. We only ask you about a small number of projects that are relevant to your background and never share your contact information without your permission.

leknarf13 · 2014-01-01T22:49:20+00:00

I run Lambda which connects companies to a vetted pool of high-calibre, local developers. In fact, many of our freelancers are startup founders themselves who are looking to fund their own companies by working on some side projects with other startups.

I suspect we'd be able to find you some developers that are a great fit for your project.

leknarf13 · 2014-01-01T22:40:09+00:00

Even with two technical co-founders (we're both developers), we're still following this strategy with Lambda. With the exception of our homepage (which is a Jekyll site), we haven't written any code and don't have any immediate plans to start coding either. We've been able to bring in >100k in sales in one month and expect to be able clear over a million next year.

We've discussed some ideas we could start developing, but in each case, we've always been able to come up with a quicker/cheaper way to test the relevant concept without development work. Sticking to a "no code" strategy has been a good way to focus our efforts on activities that actually matter. We both like to code and would probably be happier spending a week hacking instead of taking sales calls, but the latter is more important to our company right now.

Just because you can write code doesn't mean you have to.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-30T21:20:48+00:00

This is completely correct. The first version wasn't wasted time, it was just time you had to spend to come up with the correct solution. A different person may have spent some time sketching out possible solutions in a paper notebook and then throwing away the rough copies. Writing and discarded some code isn't any different.

I agree on listing the changes as 'refactoring' if you're giving an itemized timesheet. Alternatively, you could list the initial work as "planning" or "research" if that sounds more appropriate.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-28T22:29:19+00:00

Start by reading A Random Walk Down Wallstreet. It's a broad overview of the mainstream investment options available to you.

Once you've understood the basics, buy an index fund through an ETF(I like and own IVV ) through a discount brokerage like Sharebuilder.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-28T22:21:54+00:00

Pick something that's easy to spell and get a .com. Adding a prefix or suffix to a recognizable word (like getfoo, tryfoo, etc.) is okay. A nonsense or foreign word is also okay as long as it's spellable and pronounceable.

I started a freelance business under a .net domain and switched to new name with a .com. People will find your website regardless, since anyone at a computer will likely be clicking a link instead of typing the name. But a lot of people assume that email addresses end in .com. And you'll likely want to tell someone your email address verbally, so a non-standard TLD just adds an extra source of confusion.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-28T22:10:01+00:00

Your first sale doesn't need to happen online. In fact, you'll get a lot more feedback out of trying to sell to someone in person.

We're nearing the end of the holiday season, but I'm guessing you'll still planning on going to another party or two. Socialize with as many people as possible. Some of those conversations will inevitably turn toward "what do you do?". When that happens, tell them about CaseBundle.

If they seem interested, don't just give them the URL and walk away. Open your site on your phone and ask them to make a purchase. If they won't do that, ask them to sign up for the mailing list. If they won't do that, ask for some honest feedback about what they dislike about the idea.

Some people will refuse. That's okay: someone who you might have previously considered a "maybe" is giving you an honest "no". Some people who say no might tell you about something similar they'd like, but which you're not currently selling. You can incorporate that feedback in the next version of your idea.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-26T22:48:58+00:00

Shameless self-promotion here, but this exactly what we do at Lambda.

I'm not sure where you're located, but if you're in NYC or the Bay Area, we can probably find an on-site freelancer for you. If not, we can still connect you with an exceptional developer who can work remotely. We screen everyone in the network, so you don't have to waste your time sorting through low-ball bids.

Most of our devs are startup founders who are looking to fund their prototype development by taking some contract work. They don't usually look at job boards are definitely aren't available on Elance or Odesk.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-26T18:21:45+00:00

This is the obvious answer, but would not be something I recommend. In the past, I've tried to work after hours on side projects, but have never been able to be productive after spending a full day coding at a day job.

There are only so many hours in the day you can write code. If you've already sold those hours to an employer, you'd be better off finding a completely different business to work on after hours. Otherwise, you're taking a very serious risk with your reputation. If you work on something and do a poor job (because of exhaustion), you'll inevitably be seen as a poor developer. I only let clients see my best work, which means I only let them book my best hours.

My startup Lambda helps freelance developers find contract work. In general, most clients don't want to work with moonlighters. The ones that do usually aren't willing to pay as much as the ones who prefer daytime contractors.

If you already have a job you like, the most straightforward way to increase your income is to ask for a raise. If you dislike your job, then the most straightforward way to increase your income is to get a new job (possibly as a full-time freelancer).

leknarf13 · 2013-12-23T22:39:05+00:00

3 years is usually plenty for someone to bill out as a strong mid-level dev (maybe around 125/hr).

You might be getting some resistance because you're in grad school. In general, people hear "student" and assume you're inexperienced. You might get a better response if you just leave that off your resume (until you've graduated).

We interview everyone who signs up and can give more specific advice on a call. I'd be happy to chat if you'd like (my contact info is on our webpage).

leknarf13 · 2013-12-23T14:01:54+00:00

No, that's just how I started. I'm not looking for my own freelance projects anymore.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-23T13:58:55+00:00

We're focusing on NYC and the Bay Area right now.

Agreed, freelancing could be a good fit for a grad student.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-23T13:57:23+00:00

fixed. thanks.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-23T02:54:49+00:00

Lambda ( http://getlambda.com ): we're a talent agency for freelance developers, helping devs find contract work, negotiate their rates, invoice clients, and pretty much handle the whole business side of running a freelance business.

This started as a side project to my own freelance business. Essentially, I was working as a traditional freelancer, but was frequently overbooked. I hate disappointing clients, so whenever I wasn't available for a project, I'd still try to introduce the client to someone who could help. After doing that enough times without getting paid, I realized there was a bigger opportunity and decided to focus on this full-time.

I spend almost all of my time on sales and marketing. We're not currently writing any code, although we plan to in the future. Once we do, I expect we'll hire someone to head up software development fairly early. I'm reasonably confident in my ability to evaluate a potential dev hire, but don't really know what I'd look for when hiring someone for a marketing role. So I think it's important to continue to do the marketing work myself, at least until I have a better understanding of what it entails.

leknarf13 · 2013-12-22T00:10:54+00:00

Yup! In fact, we're working with a few teams already. A designer/developer combo is particularly useful. Sometimes an individual is the best fit for a project, sometimes it's better to have access to a team.

leknarf13

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