“People seem to have forgotten how crazy 1998 and 1999 were. My recollection is that people at that time expected to work for two years and then retire! The market was unbalanced in favor of employees to a degree that was unhealthy, because businesses were constantly confronted with unpredictable escalations in salaries, unexpected losses of key staff, uncontrollably high turnover. There was so much chaos in the job market that businesses had difficulty finding time to actually focus on their business.

“It’s hard to close down unnecessary bureaucracies. It’s easy to admit that a government program has drawbacks, but many won’t seriously consider whether it does more harm than good.

“Start with *brevity*. Add other dimensions (features, speed, coding time, flexibility) as required by testing.

“Are we negotiating?
Always.

“..people who are depressed spend more time focused on negative images..

“Time in a startup. Our series A took five months start to finish.

Money in a startup. Angel round, series A, office lease, immigration, contracts, we’ve spent nearly $90,000 on legal fees this year. A good startup founder can create $50/hr in value. If you spend an hour saving $20 on a $100 graphics card, you’ve wasted money.

Hiring in a startup. We’ll do whatever it takes to get a good employee: $1,200 last-minute flights, $3,000 referral bonuses, 20% annual salary in recruiter commissions. Running a startup consumes your life. It is important to surround yourself with fun interesting people at work because work becomes your life.

“..by downloading an anti-phishing toolbar, you’re currently making yourself more vulnerable than if you had never downloaded it at all.

“We have to manage our own past [on the web] just like ancient egyptions had to manage their sarcophagus and afterlife.

“We’re on to something really cool that doesn’t fall into the same trap that blog comments have, and we promise you’ll be playing with it soon.

“Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble met the Indian board president and conveyed their wish to be coached by a foreigner.