Top all-time · #713
Swombat
Personal blog · swombat.com · on HN as swombatstartupsbusiness
Swombat's personal blog at swombat.com covers startups and business. Since 2009, 90 different Hacker News readers have linked it 334 times, most often “Modafinil and Startups”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Sometimes recommended · 7 of 30 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Swombat for startup advice: how to launch on HN, validate an idea, and a founders' library. Posts on delegation, fundraising and Modafinil are cited too.
- Recommended for · 7 comments
- Called 'very good', 'very comprehensive', 'useful' and 'awesome'; 'a pretty complete answer' on HN; told to read it.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 30 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Modafinil and Startups5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2012-02-27
- Swombat's Founder's Library - Excellent Resource for Entrepreneurs4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2011-04-22
- Paulina Sygulska on: How to network effectively4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2011-02-24
- How to get your startup on Hacker News3 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2011-01-13
- How to write good startup advice articles3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2011-01-20
- How to use metrics in a startup3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2011-02-10
- Investment as a cushion or a springboard3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2011-12-08
- Idea reach and the cofounder myth3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-01-19
- Bushido: the future of hosting3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-04-12
- How to evaluate and implement startup ideas using Hypothesis Driven Development3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-01-07
What Hacker News says?
It's still a tricky choice though. By going with Flash you're tying yourself into a dying technology which may not be such a hot choice if you're building a business [1] I'd still try to go with js/html and shim away as best I could for older IEs. [1] http://swombat.com/2011/12/7/picking-technologies
Comment linking /2011/12/7/picking-technologies
on “Hello Chrome, it’s Firefox calling”Submitted The Bomb That Changed My Life as a story · 460 points
HN discussionActually, given his influence, yeah, it kind of is. The fact that you bump into articles about him everywhere (even on my blog! http://swombat.com/2011/10/6/steve-jobs ) kind of demonstrates that.
Comment linking /2011/10/6/steve-jobs
on “Daring Fireball: Universe Dented, Grass Underfoot”Submitted Successful people are successful as a story · 295 points
HN discussionMy guess as to why is here: http://swombat.com/2010/12/8/salesforce-buys-heroku (in short, Salesforce is looking to make a credible entry into the "public IT cloud provider" sector - much like they signalled with database.com yesterday)
Comment linking /2010/12/8/salesforce-buys-heroku
on “Salesforce Buys Heroku (YC W08) For $212 Million In Cash”Submitted Money and wealth as a story · 268 points
HN discussionPerhaps a bit of context might make it seem less like I’m being unempathetic. TL;DR: I was caught in the London tube bombings in 2005 and I believe it changed my life for the better. http://swombat.com/2011/12/19/bomb-changed-my-life
Comment linking /2011/12/19/bomb-changed-my-life
on “The screen that set off the ballistic missile alert on Saturday”Submitted How to hack the beliefs that are holding you back as a story · 264 points
HN discussionVery good article. Posted my response here: http://swombat.com/2014/1/31/let-me-know-if-i-can-help
Comment linking /2014/1/31/let-me-know-if-i-can-help
on “The email line that's client repellent”Submitted The bomb that changed my life (2011) as a story · 226 points
HN discussionI covered my thoughts on the difference between startup founders and entrepreneurs in this article, if you're curious... http://swombat.com/2013/6/4/startup-founders-vs-entrepreneur...
Comment linking /2013/6/4/startup-founders-vs-entrepreneurs
on “Autopsy: Lessons from Failed Startups”Submitted Modafinil and Startups as a story · 217 points
HN discussionWoah: I never called anyone a liar. Product business and service business are fairly common labels. http://swombat.com/2011/4/26/services-products http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/24/what-should-you-do-with-you... So I don't think they're made up at all, seeing as how they're in common use. It's probably true that there is not a black or white line between the two, and both can be good businesses, but I did think it fa…
Comment linking /2011/4/26/services-products
on “37signals Earns Millions Each Year. Its CEO’s Model? His Cleaning Lady”Submitted My life in Accenture before startups as a story · 214 points
HN discussionI'm not sure if @Bubs will ever read this, but I found this was a deeply interesting article, that hits close to home. If you are reading this - thank you. There is so much to say on this subject, from various perspectives. Me, I'm stuck in Europe (offers-a-plenty, no chance for a visa). I am a founder of a start-up here, and I cannot complain about how it currently runs - but the things I've been through to get her…
Comment linking /2013/2/21/truth-failing-startup
on “If you ever feel alone in this...”Submitted Entreporn: Learning vs doing vs wasting time as a story · 206 points
HN discussionSorry to see you go! I hope you're not leaving the IRC channel though :-) For what it's worth, for those who feel HN is a bit too engaging but still want to read the best, most useful startup articles every day (according to who? according to me!) do follow http://swombat.com as a low-engagement substitute. Swombat.com will never take over your life - you can't even comment there! :-) (Email subscriptions are coming…
Comment linking /
on “ So Long and Thanks for all the Bits”Submitted Investment increases your risk as a story · 194 points
HN discussionMaybe. Although there are some (very good) VCs and investors in Europe, especially in London. But it's often overlooked that actually, maybe you don't need a VC/Angel to run/setup your company. It mostly increases your risk, and I concur with Swombat's views on this: http://swombat.com/2013/12/27/investment-increases-risk So given that you can (and people do) get serious cash outside the US, and everything you've sa…
Comment linking /2013/12/27/investment-increases-risk
on “Why you might not want to incorporate in the USA”Submitted What will kill Facebook? as a story · 189 points
HN discussionI agree that software solutions can be leveraged for more financial success than (say) hardware solutions. I also decided to switch focus (at least temporarily) from what would have been a medical devices startup to software for that reason, among others. But I think an entrepreneur's skill set is more of a limiting factor in the type of startup he/she can decide to pursue. After all there are problems that are pote…
Comment linking /2012/1/19/idea-reach-cofounder-myth
on “How the medical supply industry blocks device startups from selling to hospitals”Submitted Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work) as a story · 172 points
HN discussionSomehow people are surprised that Facebook (a company that makes most of its revenues from advertising and is competing for "Top internet dog" spot) and Google (a company that makes most of its revenues from advertising and is competing for "Top internet dog" spot) are not in harmonious agreement when it comes to having each other's ads on their properties. Seems pretty predictable to me. Facebook will do whatever i…
Comment linking /2011/3/5/facebook-predictably-bans-adsense-applications
on “Facebook bans Adsense in all applications, driving Google out of Facebook.com”Submitted Silence: Because I talked so rarely, people took the time to listen to me as a story · 169 points
HN discussionThere's different versions of "the cloud". See my article here: http://swombat.com/2010/12/8/cloud-computing-services In short, "cloud" services (aka Software as a Service in the cloud) are brilliantly useful. No one will seriously question the usefulness of Dropbox, for example. Platform-as-a-Service is also obviously useful. Google App Engine is qualitatively different from running your own hardware. Infrastructur…
Comment linking /2010/12/8/cloud-computing-services
on “Why We Moved Off The Cloud”Submitted Is it OK to Want to Make Money? as a story · 163 points
HN discussionGreat post. Much more eloquent than Mark Suster's[1]: Yes, I know it’s my job as the CEO to be the coach for people and that’s fine. But if everybody is looking for me to make their decisions we’ll never get anything done. And makes a nice complement to Swombat's Making all the decisions yourself [2], and to Ben Horowitz CEOs Should Tell It Like It Is [3]. Also the same point of Delegate or Die [4] [1] http://www.bo…
Comment linking /2011/7/13/taylor-drucker
on “The Management Team - Guest Post From Joel Spolsky”Submitted How to get your startup on Hacker News as a story · 160 points
HN discussionI almost agree I actually think it takes three years to build an entrepreneur. My thoughts in more detail here: http://swombat.com/2011/10/14/three-years-business (not going to repost it in full, since it's quite lengthy).
Comment linking /2011/10/14/three-years-business
on “It takes three years to build a business”Submitted The myth of the serial entrepreneur as a story · 156 points
HN discussion
