I remember when LIFX launched on KickStarter last year, there was a storm of comment on HN, basically saying that it was a scam and shouldn't be allowed anymore. It did seem to kick off changes to KickStarter's policies which were probably well overdue.
Anyway, I defended them at the time (disclaimer, I know two of the founders), it's great to see them do what everyone thought they couldn't and bring a product to launch within all the relevant legislation.
Full disclosure, Karina is my wife talking about my (ex) start-up, Trunk.ly.
Yes, I quit my job (Director at PwC) and took the family on quite a ride, including uprooting them from family and friends to move to the Valley.
I've been incredibly fortunate to have one person who has always believed in me. I don't think we hear from the person behind the founder often enough. I'd love to hear and read more tales from startup wives.
NB The choice of phrase "startup wife" was deliberate - there are many wonderful female founders who also have the man behind the woman. We spoke about it and Karina felt Startup Partner was too boring and confusing. She's happy to be the startup wife and chose those words. Two weeks into her first real blog, she's also learning the value of a catchy title!
I know three of the LiFX guys personally - they're all well connected and respected in the Melbourne startup scene.
Are they naive to the challenges of deploying a hardware project? At least some of them are, but the lead engineer has been in this field for a long time. Are they trying to defraud anyone? Absolutely not.
I hadn't heard of this project until I read this article, but knowing the team involved there's just no way these guys are putting their reputation on the line over something they don't personally believe can be done.
Must have missed the memo where the Hacker News community collectively decided to stop seeking funding and shooting for the stars. Reading the tone of these comments, we should now only tackle the problems that we... sorry, you the commentator... 100% know can be solved.
If they're "naive to the challenges" (even some of them) then the chances of success are even lower than for companies who have vast expertise in this area. That they're trying to do it on a shoestring makes it even less likely to succeed - people are right to be critical.
Also, I think the major difference between funding in the usual HN startup sense and funding via Kickstarter is that startup funding is almost always classical investment whereby you get a share in the company and the rewards of their hopeful success - but Kickstart funding could well be money for nothing.
This is awesome. I ran my own server for several months for a bunch of 10 year olds. But it was a pain in the butt. Keeping it up, paying the bills and so forth. Minefold solves the problem brilliantly.
The kids (or their parents) each pay their own way, they can choose to pay (and play) as much, or as little as they want. Dave and Chris have been fantastic and the service is continually improving.
I wish them well, it's solving a real problem for me and every parent I've introduced to the service has had no problems paying for their kids to use it.
The other thing I've noticed is that the kids love cloning servers too, so they can easily find maps they like, clone it then blow it up without needing to be invited.
I discovered the service here a few weeks back and I've been using it ever since, great to see them launch now into the "wild" as well.
I love these posts by Matt - big data exploration and statistics for nothing more than the joy of it. Great stuff! In this one Matt explores terms that frequently occur together like "Darth Vader".
I've at least partially answered my question - it looks like all my old links were brought in as "private". That's why the public API won't return them.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4537340
Anyway, I defended them at the time (disclaimer, I know two of the founders), it's great to see them do what everyone thought they couldn't and bring a product to launch within all the relevant legislation.
Congrats!