Hacker News: admoin

New comment by admoin in "DreamIt Ventures Announces Its First Batch Of NYC Startups"

admoin — Tue, 10 May 2011 01:14:37 +0000

Maybe a problem a few years ago, but certainly not in this kind of environment. Congrats to all the recipients.

New comment by admoin in "Ask HN: Recurring (but not periodic) User Payments?"

admoin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:37:54 +0000

Very hesitant to write code for this, given the risks of handling customer payment info, security issues, etc. Would definitely much prefer some sort of off-the-shelf solution, and focus on the other elements of the product.

The second point is definitely a huge issue - I'm sure it's why we haven't seen much in this market.

Ask HN: Recurring (but not periodic) User Payments?

admoin — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 03:42:29 +0000

I am thinking about a project where users could rent items (e.g. expensive electronics or watches) for limited time for a relatively low cost, but would agree to be charged for the full value of the item if it is not returned within x days (think Rent the Runway, or Netflix after a user cancels an account). Is there a simple and elegant service that allows for this kind of payment pattern? PayPal Subscriptions seems to work fine for automatic recurring payments, but not subsequently allowing you to charge a user if something is not done. Would this require a bespoke solution?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2473215

Points: 1

# Comments: 2

New comment by admoin in "Business Grads Look Beyond Wall Street"

admoin — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:42:17 +0000

It's interesting that they chose to focus on undergrad business students rather than MBAs. I would guess that undergrad biz majors are going to be more flexible about career options than MBA students.

New comment by admoin in "[dead]"

admoin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:45:40 +0000

watch out for those pesky time zones!

New comment by admoin in "Ask HN: "Y Combinator for people?""

admoin — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:55:07 +0000

Maybe I read this too quickly, but the vast majority of people you'd want to lend this kind of money to are either (a) not going to want to borrow money at 20% interest, or (b) have access to far lower interest sources of funding, even in the unsecured context. This idea doesn't make much sense to me.

New comment by admoin in "Swiss to end secret bank accounts"

admoin — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:16:13 +0000

The main reason for this major change is that even in the presence of information-sharing provisions of treaties, Switzerland refused to provide any information on most account holders that were evading US (or other countries') taxes, on the rationale that evading non-Swiss tax was not a criminal offense in Switzerland. Cooperation was virtually nil, especially in the tax arena.

Depending on the scope of the changes, this could be huge news.

New comment by admoin in "Maybe Google Should Pay a Dividend"

admoin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:21:57 +0000

...except provide companies with the equity financing they need to survive (especially in a frozen credit environment) for nothing more than a junior level claim on their residual earnings.

New comment by admoin in "Maybe Google Should Pay a Dividend"

admoin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:18:36 +0000

1) Qualified dividends are taxed at long-term capital gains rates. At the moment there is no differential.

2) There is no economic difference in retaining the earnings because although undistributed earnings defer shareholder-level tax, the income from those earnings will remain subject to current corporate-level tax and will still eventually be subject to shareholder-level tax. On a net present value basis, the result is the same. I agree it's counterintuitive.

New comment by admoin in "Dawdle Invites Game Resellers To Set Up Shop"

admoin — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:45:13 +0000

That's pretty impressive. I will check out your site some more.

New comment by admoin in "Dawdle Invites Game Resellers To Set Up Shop"

admoin — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:46:32 +0000

Except they process CC payments at no additional cost, have a more streamlined interface, and give you access to millions of potential buyers.

New comment by admoin in "Dawdle Invites Game Resellers To Set Up Shop"

admoin — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:29:50 +0000

Cool site, interface, and idea, but their rate is surprisingly high for what they are offering.

New comment by admoin in "Ask YC: Cars?"

admoin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 21:49:11 +0000

a good option. can't really go wrong with a popular honda or toyota model- reliable and extremely easy to find a place for repairs.

New comment by admoin in "Diary of a Failed Startup: Aftermath"

admoin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:05:20 +0000

congratulations on the new job!

New comment by admoin in "Seth's Blog: The first law of mass media"

admoin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:18:57 +0000

blah blah blah. More meta-blather.

New comment by admoin in "Google's Wikipedia clone Knol launches."

admoin — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:06:28 +0000

What is to stop people from ripping articles from wikipedia and posting them en masse to earn adsense revenue?

New comment by admoin in "How To Earn Your First Love Dollar"

admoin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:37:27 +0000

I would also add that one of the worst aspects of this post is that it encourages people to bug/annoy other people to pay you for things in awkward contexts.

New comment by admoin in "How To Earn Your First Love Dollar"

admoin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:08:26 +0000

blah blah blah. this is barely a step up from the meta-blogging about blogging about blogging that gets posted every day. although very good writers, I'm getting sort of sick of the general platitudes coupled with anecdotes that I read from guys like pavlina, godin, et al.

New comment by admoin in "The Black Swan and You"

admoin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:26:38 +0000

I'm not sure what the point of that blog post is, or if it even has any coherent thesis.

New comment by admoin in "Diary of a Failed Startup"

admoin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:04:21 +0000

Thoroughly enjoyed this post, especially since I remember a lot of these events as they happened. I was peripherally involved in the startup also for a good amount of time, and absolutely agree with everything he's said. I would also add that a big reason we had trouble getting off the ground was that Jon was really the only serious coder we had. The rest of us involved in the startup had skills in other areas (marketing, graphic design, etc), which although useful, were really NOT what the project needed at that point.

I would also say we probably fell in love a bit too much with our first idea, and probably held onto it too long.

Oh, and think (1) low cost, (2) sustainable, and (3) ability to monetize. We had #1 and #2 down pretty well, but had absolutely no real concept of how this thing could possibly make money. Most startups are NOT going to get taken over, so unless you are in it for non-$$$ reasons, it is probably a good idea to at least come up with some way you can profit if you manage to attract an audience but not a buyer.