Top all-time · #2093
Aaron Harris
Personal blog · aaronkharris.comstartupsbusiness
Aaron Harris's personal blog at aaronkharris.com covers startups and business. Since 2010, 34 different Hacker News readers have linked it 54 times, most often “Presumption of stupidity”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-02-04, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (14) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Essays by YC partner Aaron Harris on startups, investors' incentives, single-channel risk and productivity. HN readers link them as background on startup failure, fundraising and procrastination.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 14 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
The website of a person.
Most-linked posts?
- Presumption of stupidity5 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2015-08-10
- When SEO Fails: Single Channel Dependency and the End of Tutorspree4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2014-01-07
- Advice on pitching3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-08-13
- Asking Questions3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-03-30
- Investor Updates2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-07-01
- Things that aren't progress2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-11-12
- Carts without horses2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-06-02
- Investors and their incentives2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-06-22
- Cofounder management2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-01-29
What Hacker News says?
I not only had zero connections to YC.. I actually had zero connections to silicon valley! We (RedCarpet.Cash) are a India-based fintech startup - IMHO the third to ever get funded by YC. We were also unusual because we are probably the first Indian YC startup with on-ground operations. We went through 3 rounds of YC interviews (not just the one!) .. because the interviewers had to learn about India. Our first inter…
Comment linking /carts-without-horses
on “YC Changes”Submitted Presumption of stupidity as a story · 510 points
HN discussionThis is essentially the definition of survivorship bias. http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671172/how-a-story-from-world-w... "In WWII, Allied bombers were key to strategic attacks, yet these lumbering giants were constantly shot down over enemy territory. The planes needed more armor, but armor is heavy. So extra plating could only go where the planes were being shot the most."... "[A guy in charge] said the military di…
Comment linking /when-seo-fails-single-channel-dependency-and-the-end-of-tutorspree
on “We’re Fucked, It’s Over: Coming Back from the Brink”Submitted We need to rethink employee compensation as a story · 481 points
HN discussionThe first item I was taken to on that list is this: https://readsomethinginteresting.com/a/baa96b89 Which takes me to a broken article: https://www.aaronkharris.com/asking-questions
Comment linking /asking-questions
on “The OG Social Network: Other People’s Websites”Submitted Raise Less Money as a story · 288 points
HN discussionYC partner Aaron Harris had a similar problem with his first startup[1], and is a lesson for all startups: It's risky to rely on one customer for the majority of your revenue. 90% of PriceZombie's revenue was dependent on affiliate revenue, and thus Amazon. Similarly, virtually all of TutorSpree's revenue was dependent on SEO, and thus on Google, and when Google changed their algorithm, they saw a similar fate. [1]…
Comment linking /when-seo-fails-single-channel-dependency-and-the-end-of-tutorspree
on “PriceZombie is shutting down”Submitted How to create good outcomes when negotiating as a story · 185 points
HN discussionYes, I think. See http://www.aaronkharris.com/things-that-arent-work and http://www.aaronkharris.com/things-that-arent-progress for similar thoughts.
Comment linking /things-that-arent-progress
on “How to minimize procrastination”Submitted Bad Terms as a story · 171 points
HN discussionI believe his point is that although it is useful to analyze someone to see what they're doing wrong (so that you don't repeat the same mistake), it would be more useful to study what they are doing right so that you can apply those lessons to your situation. The former is quite easy to do and runs the risk of lulling one into complacency and a false sense of security, while the latter exercises your brain and deman…
Comment linking /presumption-of-stupitidy
on “Doctors in China Lead Race to Treat Cancer by Editing Genes”Submitted Cofounder management as a story · 151 points
HN discussionIt seemed to me their rejection grew out of Aaron Harris's experience with Tutorspree: http://www.aaronkharris.com/when-seo-fails-single-channel-de...
Comment linking /when-seo-fails-single-channel-dependency-and-the-end-of-tutorspree
on “Y Combinator Interview: Our Experience”Submitted Things that aren't progress as a story · 143 points
HN discussionI wrote a post about it here: http://www.aaronkharris.com/post/1000816766/wehaveactoandsoc... I kept meaning to post that to HN, but never actually got around to it. Always happy to answer more questions.
Comment linking /post/1000816766/wehaveactoandsocanyou
on “Tutorspree (YC W11) Is An Airbnb For Tutoring”Submitted Things that aren't work as a story · 136 points
HN discussionI've been / I am in similar place right now. Since I don't have anything solid as an answer. Few comments. Please read this. http://www.aaronkharris.com/investors-and-their-incentives As few people noticed, The content of the question displays way of thinking that is incompatible with VC. My approach right now is to find an angel investor who could spend reasonable amount of time with me. Effectively a mentor, to he…
Comment linking /investors-and-their-incentives
on “Ask HN: Did anyone's life ever gotten more comfortable after accepting funding?”Submitted Carts without horses as a story · 120 points
HN discussion> I'll add that my own experience of licensing (my own) IP from a top-25 university TTO has been interesting In my experience, there's a lot of variance between universities, and even between tech transfer officers within a given university. Another complication: at Harvard/MIT, where professors may have cross-institutional appointments, you need to nail down exactly who you'll be dealing with (for example, the Broa…
Comment linking /presumption-of-stupitidy
on “Sam Altman Is Bullish on Biotech Startups”Submitted Someone else had your idea first as a story · 109 points
HN discussionFacepalms all around. Supply chains are hard, and the idea that you can just write software to "solve" them is a level of hubris that defies description. Supply chains aren't a problem you can solve with big data. They aren't a problem that be solved with machine learning. In fact, you could combine the worlds top researchers in Computer Science, Economics, Operations Research, Mathematics, and Statistics, put them…
Comment linking /presumption-of-stupitidy
on “Why $53M Wasn't Enough to Scale Good Eggs”Submitted We're all communication hoarders as a story · 105 points
HN discussionTook a while to find but I think this might be what you were after? "Small children are great at asking questions. Their questions are simple, direct, and utterly without ego. If you spend time with 2-5 year olds, you’ll find yourself answering a near infinite series of progressively more challenging questions. This is one of the main paths by which children learn about the world. Adults are generally bad at asking…
Comment linking /asking-questions
on “Ask HN: Essay on adults being bad at asking questions?”Submitted Asking Questions as a story · 93 points
HN discussionPrevious Discussion (~2 years ago) here: http://www.aaronkharris.com/presumption-of-stupitidy
Comment linking /presumption-of-stupitidy
on “Presumption of Stupidity”Submitted Investors and their incentives as a story · 84 points
HN discussionBlogspam of http://www.aaronkharris.com/cofounder-management
Comment linking /cofounder-management
on “Cofounder management”Submitted Fundraising isn't predictable as a story · 77 points
HN discussionSubmitted The importance of honoring pro-rata agreements as a story · 71 points
HN discussionSubmitted I and We as a story · 60 points
HN discussion
