Hacker News: jpastika

New comment by jpastika in "IdeaPaint allows you to write all over the wall"

jpastika — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 12:22:42 +0000

Clear-coat is an awesome idea! I remember seeing this a while back, but only white was available. My kids are going to love this.

New comment by jpastika in "The 18-Year Side Project: Why I Built and Sold The First Fantasy Basketball Site"

jpastika — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 14:00:03 +0000

"I can't say it made me the coolest kid in school, but it was fun. Don't worry, I still got chicks because I played trombone and was in advanced math." <-- I can relate (except I played trumpet)

I enjoyed reading your story. Always inspiring to see someone with a passion just go out and build something themselves. You weren't building a business you were scratching your own itch. Congratulations on the sale.

New comment by jpastika in "What's so special with minimalweather.com?"

jpastika — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:24:04 +0000

I think the value here isn't really displaying weather. I believe the author effectively demonstrates an interesting technique that non-native apps can utilize to make them feel more native.

As far as awesome and simple non-native weather apps go, check out: http://pattern.dk/sun/

New comment by jpastika in "Sortfolio lives"

jpastika — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 11:52:41 +0000

Am I the only one here on HN that finds the whole 37Signals vs HN battle entertaining? DHH makes a direct (sometimes arrogant) comment, HN jumps all over him, Jason "clarifies", and HN hugs Jason. DHH and Jason seem to have contrasting personalities which is probably an important contributing factor to their success. DHH says what he thinks, whether we agree with him or not isn't the point. Jason calms the storm. I'm happy for the Sortfolio customers who see value in the service continuing. I'm also glad that 37Signals shared at least some of the details behind the sale and the process. But most of all, I'm entertained!

New comment by jpastika in "Show HN: HireHand Makes Hiring for Skilled Positions Easier"

jpastika — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:09:23 +0000

How is this better/different than using a recruiting service?

New comment by jpastika in "When startups compete, no one wins"

jpastika — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 19:57:09 +0000

I'm having a difficult time getting past the image that the author wants startups to sit around a campfire and hold hands chanting "we're all in this together". That is not the reality of business. Today it seems that the entrepreneurial spirit is being watered down, because it is considered "ok" to create a service with no monetization strategy or goal and simply hope for an acquisition. I believe competition breeds innovation as well as better businesses. It isn't about startup vs startup, it's about business vs business. Personally, I'm not building a company to see how many "friends" I can make (and subsequently share random thoughts and photos with). That being said, I do agree with the author's sentiment that in business relationships, just as in personal relationships, we have the opportunity/choice to do the right thing even when it doesn't necessarily make the most business sense.

New comment by jpastika in "Show HN: Action.io - 0 to Rails in 60 seconds in your browser"

jpastika — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:14:07 +0000

I really like what you have done. Having transitioned from a Windows/Visual Studio .NET application development environment to an OS X and Rails development environment within the last year, this would have been very useful.

New comment by jpastika in "A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for"

jpastika — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:47:21 +0000

You made me laugh this morning, thank you. Should have added a "" in front to make the snark complete. Adding the smiley face on the end was a nice way to soften the blow.

New comment by jpastika in "Google SketchUp and Team Being Acquired by Trimble"

jpastika — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:22:23 +0000

Trimble has a large office in Westminster, CO, which is just outside of Boulder.

New comment by jpastika in "Google SketchUp and Team Being Acquired by Trimble"

jpastika — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:19:36 +0000

Actually, Trimble's focus is not on consumer GPS, it is on machine control (heavy equipment GPS guidance), survey, and build construction. I'm familiar with the machine control hardware through my involvement with a Trimble distributor. The accuracy, especially vertical, achieved through Trimble's machine control is incredible. However, that accuracy is only achieved through the use of a static "base" and mobile (attached to machinery i.e. bulldozer) "rovers".

I do agree that the technology has become much cheaper over the last 10 years, while Trimble's pricing has not fallen at the same rate.

New comment by jpastika in "Google SketchUp and Team Being Acquired by Trimble"

jpastika — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:52:00 +0000

I wouldn't expect much in the way of improvements (read additional functionality) because of the acquisition. Google is a company for the masses, Trimble is sector and market specific. The only changes I would expect for a while are integrations with Trimble's current software and hardware.

New comment by jpastika in "Google SketchUp and Team Being Acquired by Trimble"

jpastika — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:01:40 +0000

I have worked with a Trimble distributor for many years, and find this acquisition interesting. Over the last few years Trimble, traditionally a hardware company, has been acquiring various software companies. Internally, they are developing a virtual jobsite platform and I can see SketchUp fitting in with their other BIM technologies. Saying that though, I think the real motivation here is a talent acquisition.

Google SketchUp and Team Being Acquired by Trimble

jpastika — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:27:26 +0000

Article URL: http://sketchupdate.blogspot.com/2012/04/new-home-for-sketchup.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3894670

Points: 70

# Comments: 30

New comment by jpastika in "How I Tricked Myself Into Being Awesome"

jpastika — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:02:35 +0000

Congratulations, you are awesome! Not only did you accomplish your goal, but you have tangible evidence of your achievement. Your name is on the cover of three books, and no one can ever take that away. So what now? Does the bar get raised. Are you saying to yourself "Wow, I can't believe I did that, what else can I do?" The difference between success and failure is ambition. You sir have tapped into your inner ambition. Harness it, focus it and you are unstoppable. You've inspired me. Thank you!

New comment by jpastika in "9 year old's DIY Cardboard Arcade gets Flash mobbed: Video"

jpastika — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 20:03:25 +0000

This is a great story. There is a website for the arcade http://www.cainesarcade.com. They are accepting donations for a scholarship fund for Caine and so far has received over $85,000! It's nice to see that not all kids are glued to the TV or video games.

New comment by jpastika in "Getting to 'No'"

jpastika — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:38:20 +0000

I recently began experiencing and practicing exactly what this post describes. The startup I co-founded began receiving leads and of course not all leads are a good fit for our product. I'm a developer and have never been in a sales role previously, but when you are the only salaried employee and a co-founder, you do what needs to be done. So I've been following up with the leads and in a five minute conversation it becomes clear if our solution is the best solution. When I started, I made the mistake of trying to convince everyone that our product could do everything they wanted. Then I realized this tactic was not only exhausting, but ultimately would lead to dissatisfied, short-term customers. Once I made the switch to using the same techniques the OP describes, not only was the sales process far less stressful, but I found myself enjoying talking to people and just trying to help them. If our solution is a good fit, great, but if it isn't, I'm not going to BS you. I have been thanked over and over for being transparent and honest, something people apparently aren't generally used to when dealing with sales people. At the end of the day I'd much rather be a helpful person than a sales person.

Ask HN: Event or Data Driven Email Service

jpastika — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:22:03 +0000

I'm trying to find a way to send out nicely formatted email to a single user based on an event or data change. For example, send a reminder when a user's trial period is 10 days from expiration. I could roll my own, but right now I believe my time is better spent on functionality for my application. Down the road I would like to automate the process of sending out such emails, but for right now we have very low traffic, so I can check for events and send the messages myself. I've looked into options such as MailChimp and Campaign Monitor, but those seem to be tailored for newsletters or sending to lists. I am hoping there is a service where I can create a template, fill in some user specific data, and send the email manually (an API for later automation would be great). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3647867

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

New comment by jpastika in ".NET: So long and thanks for all the fish"

jpastika — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:01:39 +0000

Funny to say you miss "compilation errors", but as someone who works with ASP.NET MVC during the day and RoR at night, I know what you mean.

New comment by jpastika in ".NET: So long and thanks for all the fish"

jpastika — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:58:13 +0000

Two years ago I began developing a large web application and I had to choose a language and stack. Having built applications on .NET and PHP most recently, I knew I could fall back on either and be safe. I decided to investigate RoR and .NET MVC. For whatever reason, RoR felt strange and I knew it would have a steeper learning curve initially, but probably be more efficient to develop with in the long run. On the other hand, .NET MVC felt a bit more familiar, and had many attractive qualities that "appeared" to mimic RoR. I went with .NET MVC. Now 2 years later I find myself spending my day job in .NET MVC and my side projects are all RoR. I found that .NET MVC was a great bridge from regular .NET to RoR. I am frustrated that I didn't pursue RoR harder 2 years ago, but hind sight is 20/20. I am extremely happy to be working on side projects in RoR because honestly it is more fun. Don't get me wrong, RoR isn't all roses, I'm just finding fewer weeds!

New comment by jpastika in "Weave: a Web-based Analysis and Visualization Environment"

jpastika — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:14:26 +0000

There is a "Demos" section on the http://www.oicweave.org/ page with a few working examples.