Top all-time · #4192
Buford Taylor
Personal blog · siliconvict.comcareerstartups
Buford Taylor writes Buford, a personal blog at siliconvict.com about career and startups. Since 2021, 18 different Hacker News readers have linked it 31 times, most often “Lessons starting a $500M and a $5M company in 5 years”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-17, and you can follow it by feed.
Engineer, founder, dad, expat. Formerly homeless, convicted felon (pardoned). Retired at 38.
Most-linked posts?
- Lessons starting a $500M and a $5M company in 5 years5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2022-03-31
- How to Hire Good Engineers5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2022-04-16
- Choose Money First (2020)5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2022-06-02
- Choose Money First4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2022-01-19
- Twitter Ads vs. Using Twitter for Ads2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-07-07
What Hacker News says?
Hi, comment OP here. I decided to blog about this. It's cheeky, apologies. https://siliconvict.com/articles/6-how-to-hire-actually-good...
Comment linking /articles/6-how-to-hire-actually-good-engineers
on “When hiring developers, have the candidate read existing code”Submitted How to Hire Good Engineers as a story · 64 points
HN discussionI also do the same as the author, but I only build websites with a clear monetization model. Every project I've done after my first successful one as been in an adjacent audience. Doing roughly $700k revenue yearly right now over the 2 main projects. Hopefully with a 3rd coming this summer. https://siliconvict.com/projects
Comment linking /projects
on “I spent two years launching tiny projects”Submitted How to hire good engineers (2022) as a story · 5 points
HN discussionhttps://www.siliconvict.com These days I just tinker with projects which are listed in that site. Taking a couple years off while I look for the next big thing.
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on “What software engineers can learn from the rapid collapse of Fast”Submitted Interview technique – just ask them to walk you through their own code for 90min as a story · 5 points
HN discussionGot such a kick out of https://siliconvict.com/articles/5-lessons-starting-a-500m-a... Congrats on the whirlwind of success. Well deserved!
Comment linking /articles/5-lessons-starting-a-500m-a-5m-company-in-5-years
on “Ask HN: Share your personal site”Submitted Choose Money First as a story · 5 points
HN discussionhttps://siliconvict.com I was a homeless, convicted felon turned financially independent retired early via Silicon Valley. I mostly write about goofy business lessons and my failures.
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Share your personal site”Submitted Lessons starting a $500M and a $5M company in 5 years as a story · 3 points
HN discussionHere's the specific article: https://siliconvict.com/choose-money-first
Comment linking /choose-money-first
on “Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2022 – Show and tell”Submitted Lessons starting a $500M and a $5M company in 5 years as a story · 3 points
HN discussionhttps://www.siliconvict.com
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on “Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2022 – Show and tell”Submitted How to Hire Good Engineers as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThis advice of "make money first, then you can have time for your real passion" definitely reminded me of this blog post I read: https://siliconvict.com/articles/1-choose-money-first
Comment linking /articles/1-choose-money-first
on “Wealth as a predictor of whether an person pursues a creative profession (2019)”Submitted Lessons starting a $500M and a $5M company in 5 years as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI don't write often, but when I do I share it here: https://www.siliconvict.com
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on “Analyzing Indie Hacker Products with Verified Revenue”Submitted Choose Money First as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI wrote about this extensively here: https://siliconvict.com/articles/5-lessons-starting-a-500m-a... It took me nearly a decade to get to where I am today ($700k / year), and half of that time I had a full-time job. The most important thing to keep in mind is not to stop.
Comment linking /articles/5-lessons-starting-a-500m-a-5m-company-in-5-years
on “Analyzing Indie Hacker Products with Verified Revenue”Submitted Reflecting on what it takes to raise $20M from A16Z as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIrrespective of what you think of Levels, he's shown me that it's a case of keep trying. He has 215k followers, has tried 70 different things, and only done well with 4 of them [1]. I'm in the same boat - I've tried many things, and most have failed. I currently have a side project with 1k users making no money, and I'm going to try monetise it - but I expect it to most likely fail. And I'm okay with it. There's joy…
Comment linking /articles/5-lessons-starting-a-500m-a-5m-company-in-5-years
on “I am done. I give up”Submitted Choose Money First (2020) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI enjoy the concept of Ikigai, but I think it's appropriate for most people to start with Money and then work your way into other categories, otherwise they might be innaccessible: https://siliconvict.com/articles/1-choose-money-first
Comment linking /articles/1-choose-money-first
on “Photography and Ikigai”Submitted Twitter Ads vs. Using Twitter for Ads as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Choose Money First as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Choose Money First (2020) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Choose Money First as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Choose Money First as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Twitter Ads vs. Using Twitter for Ads as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How to Hire Actually Good Engineers as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
