Top all-time · #3795
Daniel Tillett
Personal blog · tillett.info · on HN as danieltillettstartupsphilosophyeconomics
Daniel Tillett's personal blog at tillett.info covers startups, philosophy and economics. Since 2014, 20 different Hacker News readers have linked it 72 times, most often “A Good Idea Checklist”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (6) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN commenters link Daniel Tillett's posts for a claim that Dyson spheres can evade infrared detection, a COVID-19 vaccination plan, and challenge trials for SARS-CoV-2. The comments only cite the posts.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 6 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- A Good Idea Checklist5 people · 9 mentions · first linked 2016-04-14
- A (possible) solution to Covid-195 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2020-04-06
- Carnot Efficient Dyson Spheres Are Undetectable by Infrared Surveys (2016)4 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2016-08-03
- Execution is just the multiplier of ideas (2015)3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2016-05-10
- Daniel Tillett – Why I kept my startup in Australia and why it was crazy2 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2016-04-03
- Ideas are not cheap2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2015-11-30
- Ebola: What needs to be done right now2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-10-11
- /2020/04/24/it-is-unethical-to-not-search-for-an-attenuated-sars-cov-2-strain/2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-04-28
- Let’s kill the term “lifestyle business” for founder-focused startups2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2015-08-14
- A possible solution to Covid-19, part 2: how would it work in practice2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-04-12
What Hacker News says?
This is as good excuse as any to link to my rant post that we need a new term for startups that are not focused on VC funding. 1. http://www.tillett.info/2014/11/24/lets-kill-the-term-lifest...
Comment linking /2014/11/24/lets-kill-the-term-lifestyle-business-for-founder-focused-start-ups/
on “Startup Playbook”Submitted A (possible) solution to Covid-19 as a story · 716 points
HN discussionA prison is very much like a cruise ship from a viral perspective. We know from the cruise ship data like the Diamond Princess that most people had no symptoms initially, but overtime most people became symptomatic [1]. Of course if we are really lucky and the prison was infected with a naturally attenuated strain we should make use of it [2]. 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7078829/ 2. https://www.t…
Comment linking /2020/04/12/how-would-a-search-for-a-natural-attenuated-sars-cov-2-strain-work-in-practice/
on “In 4 US state prisons, 3,300 inmates test positive, 96% without symptoms”Submitted There are many SARS-CoV-2 strains with gene deletions as a story · 183 points
HN discussionYes it is crazy to run a technology company in Australia [1]. The problems are many and advantages (outside of lifestyle) few. 1. http://www.tillett.info/2015/06/24/why-i-kept-my-startup-in-...
Comment linking /2015/06/24/why-i-kept-my-startup-in-australia-and-why-it-was-crazy/
on “Atlassian files for IPO”Submitted Ideas are not cheap as a story · 95 points
HN discussionApparently Dyson spheres can be undetectable with IR telescopes: https://www.tillett.info/2016/08/03/carnot-efficient-dyson-s...
Comment linking /2016/08/03/carnot-efficient-dyson-spheres-are-undetectable-by-infrared-surveys/
on “I’m Convinced We Found Evidence of Life on Mars in the 1970s”Submitted Carnot Efficient Dyson Spheres Are Undetectable by Infrared Surveys (2016) as a story · 44 points
HN discussionIt is a long, long story [0]. 0. https://www.tillett.info/2015/06/24/why-i-kept-my-startup-in...
Comment linking /2015/06/24/why-i-kept-my-startup-in-australia-and-why-it-was-crazy/
on “Ask HN: My startup has basically failed. What now?”Submitted A Quick and Dirty Analysis of Apply HN as a story · 18 points
HN discussionWell I work hard, but I live a very good life. I enjoy my work (well most of it as I am not too keen on accounting and taxes). I get to work and live in a very nice (if expensive) part of the world so I have nothing to complain about. I can say it took me a long time to get to where I am now and I had quite a few detours along the way. I wrote up the history of my business a while back if anyone is interested [1]. B…
Comment linking /2015/06/24/why-i-kept-my-startup-in-australia-and-why-it-was-crazy/
on “Twitter Plans Hundreds More Job Cuts as Soon as This Week”Submitted A possible solution to Covid-19, part 2: how would it work in practice as a story · 17 points
HN discussionI got bit by this problem before. I wrote a one liner to avoid generating passwords where the keyboard might be an issue [1]. 1. http://www.tillett.info/2013/05/29/letters-to-avoid-in-creat...
Comment linking /2013/05/29/letters-to-avoid-in-creating-passwords-for-non-english-keyboard-layouts/
on “I included emoji in my password and now I can't log in to my Account on Yosemite”Submitted A possible solution to Covid-19 as a story · 9 points
HN discussionThere is a lot of information out there on this topic in both the scientific and patent literature (search on google scholar). On this topic it would be great if someone could take my idea for solving GHG emissions via some simple financial engineering and flesh out the concept [1]. Glory awaits :) 1. https://www.tillett.info/2015/12/13/preventing-global-climat...
Comment linking /2015/12/13/preventing-global-climate-collapse/
on “Ask HN: What should we fund at YC Research?”Submitted A possible solution to Covid-19 as a story · 6 points
HN discussionNo it isn't [0]. 0. https://www.tillett.info/2015/08/30/ideas-are-not-cheap/
Comment linking /2015/08/30/ideas-are-not-cheap/
on “Finding Profitable Startup Ideas”Submitted A Good Idea Checklist as a story · 4 points
HN discussionNothing that I could not re-license again later. I lost the patents in progress as I didn’t have the resources to continue with them, but this was actually a blessing in disguise. Rather than protecting the IP by patents I was forced to concentrate on trade secrets which if you have the choice is a much better way to go. If anyone is interested in learning more I wrote a rather long blog post about the whole experie…
Comment linking /2015/06/24/why-i-kept-my-startup-in-australia-and-why-it-was-crazy/
on “Advice for companies with less than 1 year of runway”Submitted Execution is just the multiplier of ideas (2015) as a story · 4 points
HN discussionI am going on a rant, but can we stop using the term lifestyle business for non-VC startups? Almost anything would be better - I came up with the term founder focused as an alternative [1], but almost anything would be better than the term lifestyle. A serious business is a serious business no matter the funding source. 1. http://www.tillett.info/2014/11/24/lets-kill-the-term-lifest...
Comment linking /2014/11/24/lets-kill-the-term-lifestyle-business-for-founder-focused-start-ups/
on “Stop Looking for a Cofounder”Submitted Damnatio memoriae as a story · 3 points
HN discussionDerek I think you are right about why none of these ideas have been stolen :) As a general rule you don’t have to worry about your ideas being stolen unless you are lucky enough to have a truly brilliant idea [1]. The chance that you have a brilliant idea is very low. 1. By brilliant I mean an idea that checks more than 10 off my list. http://www.tillett.info/2015/08/30/ideas-are-not-cheap/
Comment linking /2015/08/30/ideas-are-not-cheap/
on “I Open-Sourced All My Business Ideas”Submitted Execution-is-just-the-multiplier-of-ideas as a story · 3 points
HN discussionWe are not going to get anywhere until those that benefit from any action pay. Those that will benefit from any action are mostly not even born yet. Imagine if the people of the future living in a trashed world could travel back in time and pay us to do something now. How much would they be willing to pay? Probably far more than it would cost to fix. All they would need to do is invent a time machine and they could…
Comment linking /2015/12/13/preventing-global-climate-collapse/
on “Major Climate Report Describes a Strong Risk of Crisis as Early as 2040”Submitted Carnot Efficient Dyson Spheres Are Undetectable by Infrared Surveys as a story · 3 points
HN discussionHere's a plan to wipe out covid 19 with a version that's proven to be safe. https://www.tillett.info/2020/04/05/a-solution-to-covid-19/
Comment linking /2020/04/05/a-solution-to-covid-19/
on “Getting Back to Work”Submitted Dead simple CentOS server monitoring with Monit and Pushover as a story · 3 points
HN discussionGreat guide. If you are into these sort of guides of how to deal with the US government I have written a couple for the W8-BEN-E form [1] (you need this if you have any US customers) and also for registering to do business with the US government [2]. These are biased towards Australians, but they should be helpful for others too. 1. http://www.tillett.info/2015/06/20/how-to-complete-w-8ben-e-... 2. http://www.tillet…
Comment linking /2015/12/01/how-to-register-an-australian-company-for-business-with-the-usa-government/
on “How to submit an app to Apple’s App Store when it uses encryption”Submitted Let’s kill the term “lifestyle business” for founder-focused startups as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
