Top all-time · #11987
Jack Gavigan
Personal blog · jackgavigan.comstartupseconomicspolitics
Jack Gavigan's personal blog at jackgavigan.com covers startups, economics and politics. Since 2013, 6 different Hacker News readers have linked it 25 times, most often “What would a disruptive bank look like?”. The last post was in 2016, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Linked for posts on startups and banking technology, including a 2012 piece on MBAs as a negative hiring signal for startups and a post on startup banking's competitive landscape.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- What would a disruptive bank look like?3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2014-04-16
What Hacker News says?
We've had a serious problem with policy-making in this country for a loooooong time, stretching right back to when RIPA was drafted, nearly three decades ago. With a few notable exceptions, the level of knowledge, expertise and understanding amongst government advisers and policy makers is abysmally low. c.f. https://jackgavigan.com/2015/11/23/how-well-advised-was-the-...
Comment linking /2015/11/23/how-well-advised-was-the-government-when-it-drafted-the-investigatory-powers-bill/
on “UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US”Submitted Towards an Open Banking API Standard as a story · 136 points
HN discussion> ..marker D is a story about how Foursquare resorted to raising debt financing to avoid a down round. Keith Rabois has hinted that they did do a down round: http://jackgavigan.com/2013/03/17/foursquare-does-a-down-rou...
Comment linking /2013/03/17/foursquare-does-a-down-round/
on “Graph of Foursquare's Popularity After Removing Check-Ins”Submitted The State of the Blockchain in 2015 as a story · 35 points
HN discussion> ..the battle will end up being who can scale globally faster. I think there's more to it than this. The cost of switching from one payments provider to another is decreasing all the time. Competition appears to have driven costs (i.e. the fee/commission per payment) down to roughly the same level for everyone. There's some room for differentiation on the product (not so much ease of set-up - which is a one-off thi…
Comment linking /2013/03/12/how-paypal-makes-money-on-cross-currency-payments/
on “Stripe: Marketplaces”Submitted Why I think TheDAO is a Success as a story · 28 points
HN discussionI dug up the original chart, before Tradebot was removed: http://jackgavigan.com/2014/06/30/barclays-smoking-chart/
Comment linking /2014/06/30/barclays-smoking-chart/
on “Barclays Not Smart”Submitted What would a disruptive bank look like? as a story · 8 points
HN discussionThis is very similar to an idea I came up with in 2006, for decentralised financial trading, with counterparties trading directly with one another and trust provided by central counterparties who would novate the trade. Details here: http://jackgavigan.com/?attachment_id=796
Comment linking /?attachment_id=796
on “Inside the ‘DarkMarket’ prototype, a Silk Road the FBI can't seize”Submitted Brexit’s Impact on London’s Tech Startup Sector as a story · 3 points
HN discussionTo-Do Lists is one of those things that bugs me a lot. There are hundreds of apps out there but none of them seem to do them particularly well. I think the perfect To-Do list would have - the ability create (and allow others to create, subject to black/white-listing) a task by sending an email to my list - the ability to delegate tasks to others (whether they're users of the app/service or not) - order in a way that…
Comment linking /1tray-concept/
on “The Search for the Perfect To-do List”Submitted What would a disruptive bank look like? (2014) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionMaybe I misread your blog ( http://jackgavigan.com/about/ ), but it seems all your startups have failed? So how did your "few classes in strategy and marketing" work out for you?
Comment linking /about/
on “Why having an MBA is a negative hiring signal for startups (2012)”Submitted What would a disruptive bank look like? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionVesting is absolutely essential. Just Do It. http://jackgavigan.com/2014/04/23/vesting/ For lawyers, you need someone who's familiar with how startups operate. Lawyers specialise in different things, just like doctors and engineers do. Would you go to a neurosurgeon if you had a problem with your prostate? Or to an electronic engineer if you needed a bridge built? You want to find a firm that has had lots of experie…
Comment linking /2014/04/23/vesting/
on “We picked the wrong lawyers for our first startup”Submitted “Explain to me how Bitcoin works.” as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI'm not sure that Groupon ever had - or ever will have - a viable business model. It raised enough money when it IPO'd to keep it solvent but that safety net appears to be on the verge of running out - http://jackgavigan.com/2015/11/04/is-groupon-on-a-glide-path... I'd love to know whether Mason and Lefkofsky ever genuinely believed they had created a viable company or whether they knew they were riding an unsustain…
Comment linking /2015/11/04/is-groupon-on-a-glide-path-to-bankruptcy/
on “Why root for Groupon?”Submitted London and Silicon Valley: No Longer an Either/Or Choice as a story · 2 points
HN discussionJack Gavigan took a shot at a high-level picture a year or two ago - http://jackgavigan.com/2014/04/14/disruptive-bank/ And Microsoft publish a "reference architecture" - http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/5/F/C5FCCA52-1056-4...
Comment linking /2014/04/14/disruptive-bank/
on “Mondo – A “Full Stack” Mobile-First Bank”Submitted UK Government Outlines Support for FinTech and Digital Currencies as a story · 2 points
HN discussion(Disclaimer: I am not a developer but I did drop out of university and ended up getting work doing web design and network/sys-admin work.) Firstly, freelance is not your only shot. It's entirely possible that there is a company out there looking for a junior web developer, so don't discount that possibility. Secondly, try to find some more experienced web developers to advise/mentor you. Where are you located? There…
Comment linking /contact/
on “Ask HN: I dropped out of school at 17. Freelance is my only hope. Advice?”Submitted How well-advised was the UK govt when it drafted the Investigatory Powers Bill? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionIt's funny. This post, and the post it references[1], gloat about technology but they don't speak much at all about the value provided to bank customers, which, by the way, are a very diverse group. It's very "if you spend countless of millions of dollars to build it, they will deposit." I don't think anyone would argue that technology doesn't have the potential to be used as a competitive differentiator in the cons…
Comment linking /2014/04/14/disruptive-bank/
on “Startup Banking’s Looming Leviathan”Submitted Uber and London as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Let’s Make Sure That 2013 Is Better Than 2012 as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
