Top all-time · #686
Charlie O'Donnell
Personal blog · thisisgoingtobebig.com/blogstartupsbusiness
Charlie O'Donnell's personal blog at thisisgoingtobebig.com covers startups and business. Since 2007, 93 different Hacker News readers have linked it 168 times, most often “What Diaspora Should Do with their Newfound Money”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (8) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Charlie O'Donnell's blog for startup and fundraising advice, including posts on pitching VCs, recruiting, and the early days of Diaspora, and one lists it among favourite newsletters.
- Recommended for · 1 comments
- One commenter says they like the blog and lists it among favourite newsletters and blogs for a hardware startup.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 8 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Personal blog on startups, venture capital, entrepreneurship, etc. of Charlie O'Donnell of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures
Most-linked posts?
- What Diaspora Should Do with their Newfound Money3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-05-13
- Why the job space is a bad neighborhood2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-03-21
- Startup Recruiting Hacks2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-01-24
- Multiple passes at the target -- when should you talk to the investors?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-07-01
- The Hook: The most important part of a pitch2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-07-18
- Why Paul Graham is wrong about New York City2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2008-05-28
What Hacker News says?
I think it speaks to the support network available for entrepreneurs in NYC. Charlie O'Donnell of First Round kicked it off, from what I recall, with this post advising Diaspora on how to make it through the immediate chaos and get to building. Many people spoke up via blog posts and tweets to suggest simply getting to work as quickly as possible and to not set the vision too high yet. http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.…
Comment linking /blog/2010/5/13/what-diaspora-should-do-with-their-newfound-fuckyoufacebook.html
on “Diaspora Developer Release”Submitted How your startup is getting lapped by companies who know how to hire as a story · 117 points
HN discussionoriginal article http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/blog/2010/5/13/what-diaspo...
Comment linking /blog/2010/5/13/what-diaspora-should-do-with-their-newfound-fuckyoufacebook.html
on “What Diaspora Should Do with their Newfound Fuckyoufacebook Money”Submitted Tattoos and Y Combinator Demo Day as a story · 84 points
HN discussion"As I write this, all in all I have received: 266 emails and 96 voicemails. This roughly equates to 12.7 emails and 4.3 voicemails per workday." I just went through this myself and it was nuts. The phone rang from 8 am - 6 pm almost every 30 minutes for a week when I updated my resume on monster. My skills are back-end Ruby and SQL, both seemed to be high in demand in Chicago last month. I didn't capture detailed no…
Comment linking /blog/2011/3/21/five-reasons-why-the-job-space-is-a-bad-neighborhood.html
on “What It's Like to be Recruited”Submitted Why Paul Graham is wrong about New York City as a story · 62 points
HN discussionWhat I like most about this service is that I doubt they took an out of the box approach towards this problem. The founders seems to have a consulting background and the case studies ( http://www.canopylabs.com/casestudies.php ) seem to indicate a service oriented approach towards solving the problem. This is a good approach IMHO instead of overbuilding and solving imaginary problems. Similar to Buddy Media ( http:/…
Comment linking /blog/2012/6/19/from-agency-to-enterprise-software-the-evolution-of-buddy-me.html
on “Canopy Labs (YC S12) Unveils A Self-Serve Approach To Customer Modeling”Submitted Anything is Possible (in a Startup) as a story · 49 points
HN discussionGreat points. VCs (and larger angels) will tell you all day long that there's no such thing as pitching too early (cf. http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/blog/2009/10/19/never-too-... ). It's simply not true. As Rand mentions the power dynamics in those talks are entirely one-sided (not your side). This isn't black and white and investors are great at playing the game. Often they'll send an associate your way in the…
Comment linking /blog/2009/10/19/never-too-early-to-talk.html
on “What I Learned About Sales But Foolishly Forgot When Raising VC”Submitted If your marketing strategy relies on being at TechCrunch 50 or Demo, you've already failed as a story · 45 points
HN discussionThe list ("standout posts" are according to Forbes): 1. On Startups (onstartups.com) 2. For Entrepreneurs (forentrepreneurs.com) 3. Steve Blank (steveblank.com) 4. Startup Lawyer (startuplawyer.com) 5. Rock the Post (rockthepost.com) 6. Venture Hacks (venturehacks.com) 7. Dutiee (dutiee.com) 8. Chris Dixon --> standout post ( http://cdixon.org/2013/06/01/some-thoughts-on-mobile/ ) 9. Quora (I mean, Quora's awesome,…
Comment linking /blog/2013/7/18/the-hook-the-most-important-part-of-a-pitch.html
on “100 Best Websites For Entrepreneurs”Submitted I'll take "Sticking it to United" for $49 as a story · 42 points
HN discussionI like my weekly email from Medium about what's popular. As a hardware startup, my favourites are the HAXLR8R newsletter and the Bolt/Dragon Innovation blogs. I also like blogs by VCs Gil Dibner http://yankeesabralimey.tumblr.com and Charlie O'Donnell http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Which newsletters do you think are indispensable?”Submitted The other side of Paul Graham's Coin: Ideas on the kind of VC we'd like to get funded by as a story · 38 points
HN discussionDepends on your goal. NYTM is the biggest monthly event but is hard to physically attend due to space limitations (there's a simulcast at NWC with a more manageable crowd). Queens Tech Meetup has taken off as well as the Enterprise Tech Meetup. There's a lot of smaller (<100-150 people) meetups organized on specific topics (cloud, languages, industries). This week is @shakeshack 5 (recap of year 3: http://www.thisis…
Comment linking /blog/2010/10/4/shakeshack-3-recap.html
on “Ask HN: What are the best tech/startup events in NYC?”Submitted Why aren't you striving to be a leader in your field? as a story · 34 points
HN discussionSubmitted Sell product, not equity. as a story · 32 points
HN discussionSubmitted Revenue Snobs as a story · 31 points
HN discussionSubmitted Delicious Closing Leaves a Bad Taste in My Mouth as a story · 28 points
HN discussionSubmitted Tradeoffs in Innovative Careers as a story · 24 points
HN discussionSubmitted Tech people can't sell as a story · 21 points
HN discussionSubmitted Conspiracy Theory:The real story behind PlentyofFish as a story · 20 points
HN discussionSubmitted Fuck Facebook Conversion: Be platform agnostic and use your own APIs. as a story · 18 points
HN discussionSubmitted Umair is wrong: Entrepreneurs are the problem, not VCs as a story · 15 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why trying to Out-Google Google is a search for FAIL (and how to actually do it) as a story · 14 points
HN discussionSubmitted 25 Things that make hiring technical talent much easier as a story · 13 points
HN discussionSubmitted What's missing from most entrepreneur pitches as a story · 13 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why being a VC sucks. Advice to anyone who wants to get into venture capital as a story · 12 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Amazing Disappearing Angel Round—and why it’s worth preserving as a story · 11 points
HN discussionSubmitted Learn to code? How about learn to sell as a story · 9 points
HN discussion
