Top all-time · #1169
Garry Tan
Personal blog · blog.garrytan.com · on HN as garrystartupsbusiness
Garry Tan writes garry's posthaven, a personal blog at blog.garrytan.com about startups and business. Since 2012, 58 different Hacker News readers have linked it 69 times, most often “Travel planning software: The most common bad startup idea (2012)”. The last post was in 2020, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (21) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Garry Tan's posts on startups, especially his argument that travel planning software is a common bad startup idea, and his advice on keeping application answers concise.
- Recommended for · 3 comments
- Called one post a classic, said to read another, and praised its advice for crisp, edited writing.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 21 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
garry's posthaven
Most-linked posts?
- Travel planning software: The most common bad startup idea (2012)8 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2021-09-10
- Travel planning software: The most common bad startup idea (2012)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-10-07
- Defending A16Z3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2015-05-01
- How anti-competitive lawsuits by incumbents are killing early stage startups2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-08-16
- Survey says Facebook still in use by young, but Snapchat/Instagram are real2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-01-08
- Downsides to working at a tech giant2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-12-23
- Last Minute Advice for YC Applicants2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-03-18
- Lessons from 2^5 that I wish I knew at 2^42 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-03-22
- APIs are eating software 2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-12-31
- Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-08-05
What Hacker News says?
That's true! However, another quote that I thought was relevant to this same way of thinking: (this was just posted today on HN, and I thought, exactly!) “Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning. But fear is your best friend. Fear is like fire. If you learn to control it, you let it work for you. If you don’t learn to control it, it’ll destroy you and everything around you. “You think you know the difference betwe…
Comment linking /
on “What I Didn't Say”Submitted Downsides to working at a tech giant as a story · 700 points
HN discussionIt wasn't mentioned specifically, but I assume this post was written as a general response to "Working for Microsoft cost me $200 million" [1], which has been at the top of HN for most of the day. [1] https://blog.garrytan.com/working-for-microsoft-cost-me-200-...
Comment linking /working-for-microsoft-cost-me-200-dollars-million
on “Working for a startup makes less sense”Submitted Thank you, Y Combinator as a story · 515 points
HN discussionYour first sentence is long and diminutive to the reader. He specifically reiterated without support an assertion of a fact I'd addressed specifically, at length, and with considerable real world data. A finer point: I wasn't dismissing him specifically, but his actions . I'm not here to make friends or even particularly to persuade, but to expand my own understanding of a subject I find of absolutely crucial import…
Comment linking /grahams-hierarchy-of-disagreement-how-to-writ
on “2014 Gates Annual Letter: Myths that block progress for the poor”Submitted Travel planning software: The most common bad startup idea (2012) as a story · 299 points
HN discussionRespect is at the center of this issue. If you feel you have been disrespected (knowingly or unknowingly), you need to bring that up. At the same time, if you have lost respect, you need to communicate that to the other co-founders. I wrote a post about communication that talks about this in detail - read here: http://www.pranavpiyush.com/communication-for-startup-co-fou... Either way, communicate! Put it all out th…
Comment linking /lessons-from-2-5-that-i-wish-i-knew-at-2-4
on “Ask HN: I'm lost. Please help”Submitted Save Padmapper: Craigslist is wrong to shut them down. An open letter to Craig as a story · 252 points
HN discussionThe goal is noble, but Urbit is destined to become a case study in the dangers of isolation and obstinacy. This project has gone so deep into its own inner sanctum that they've lost tabs on wider reality. While the result may have glimmers of technical excellence for brave souls to excavate some day, the impact of the juxtaposition between latent expertise and overwhelming derangement is enough to scare away (litera…
Comment linking /always-be-shipping-a-lesson-from-jacopo-da-po
on “Urbit”Submitted 3px of padding makes all the difference in the world as a story · 240 points
HN discussionConspiracy to create a monopoly is ... purely subjective You've asserted that twice. To the extent that a law not prosecuted is a law that doesn't exist, you're correct, however I've provided the statutory citation which states that "every" contract, etc., in restraint of trade, "is declared to be illegal". I'm afraid the burden rests on you to provide some level of documentary proof of your assertions, which at pre…
Comment linking /grahams-hierarchy-of-disagreement-how-to-writ
on “Programmers At Work: Bill Gates (1986)”Submitted Travel planning software: The most common bad startup idea (2012) as a story · 236 points
HN discussionYup. It's pretty common for open source to be used, abused, modified in house and not shared. Just look at Sergey Aleynikov and Goldman Sachs. [0] Further I've seen a shop deploy hundreds of thousands of CentOS nodes to avoid RHEL license fees. Doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of shops not funding FOSS they exploit like OpenSSH, etc. Most of them are stingy, demanding, greedy bastards. [0] http://blog.garry…
Comment linking /goldman-sachs-sent-a-brilliant-computer-scientist-to-jail-over-8mb-of-open-source-code-uploaded-to-an-svn-repo
on “Akamai release source to their custom secure_malloc for OpenSSL”Submitted How to sell to 20M software devs with amazing onboarding as a story · 195 points
HN discussionContext: https://blog.garrytan.com/goldman-sachs-sent-a-brilliant-com... And this is why people are saying to exercise caution around this stuff!
Comment linking /goldman-sachs-sent-a-brilliant-computer-scientist-to-jail-over-8mb-of-open-source-code-uploaded-to-an-svn-repo
on “Goldman Sachs will open-source some of its trading software”Submitted Goldman Sachs sent a computer scientist to jail over 8MB of open source code as a story · 194 points
HN discussionYou included Craigslist to get pageviews. Your own linked articles about that topic are a user only complaining about the legal takedown of a useful tool [1] and another complaint about UX with an included blurb asking startups and users to put their time and data into something better [2]. Nothing about API changes or right to a company's proprietary data. [1] http://blog.garrytan.com/save-padmapper-craigslist-is-w…
Comment linking /save-padmapper-craigslist-is-wrong-to-shut-th
on “Craigslist, LinkedIn, Netflix, and others don't owe us anything.”Submitted How anti-competitive lawsuits by incumbents are killing early stage startups as a story · 166 points
HN discussionThe Posterous founders started Posthaven after Posterous shut down, and Posthaven – by all appearances essentially a Posterous clone – is still going (and promises at least for now to stay that way): https://www.posthaven.com/features One of those cofounders is probably familiar to YC nerds: https://blog.garrytan.com/about-me
Comment linking /about-me
on “Daft Social: Anti-social social network for minimalists”Submitted The API-ization of everything as a story · 136 points
HN discussionI previously blogged here about the general application process. You should definitely apply. YC is basically one of the few places where anyone in the world can apply and have a real fair shake at having their application be read and voted upon by smart YC alums and partners. Just as the SAT helped normalize access to higher education, the YC app process is as valuable and rare and serves a similar purpose to help…
Comment linking /last-minute-advice-for-yc-applicants-updated-for-2014
on “Last minute tips for YC Interviewees”Submitted Last Minute Advice for YC Applicants as a story · 122 points
HN discussionThe question is even bigger: should we trust startups that claim "no evil" when they are small, and quickly forget it when they grow? Here is another example: http://blog.garrytan.com/infanticide-how-anti-competitive-la...
Comment linking /infanticide-how-anti-competitive-lawsuits-by
on “Can We Trust Uber?”Submitted Remote Work: Hiring, recruiting, and essential tools as a story · 105 points
HN discussion@garrytan said it as well in 2012: Travel planning software: The most common bad startup idea http://blog.garrytan.com/travel-planning-software-the-most-c...
Comment linking /travel-planning-software-the-most-common-bad
on “Never consider a travel planning startup”Submitted Survey says Facebook still in use by young, but Snapchat/Instagram are real as a story · 95 points
HN discussionObligatory link: https://blog.garrytan.com/travel-planning-software-the-most-...
Comment linking /travel-planning-software-the-most-common-bad
on “Show HN: Ambulate – Detailed Trip Planning”Submitted Deprogramming corporatism as a story · 86 points
HN discussionWhat is your opinion on [0] ? I disagree with him about " My best guess is that a truly great consumer service needs to be something that is can be used every day. " I use Wanderlog (YC19) almost every trip I do, a lot of my friends after I recommended this tool started using it. Yet it is kinda right - Wanderlog doesn't seem to be making big progress, although pandemic is probably responsible for that [0] https://b…
Comment linking /travel-planning-software-the-most-common-bad
on “Show HN: Villagers – A group travel app”Submitted What Instacart taught us as a story · 72 points
HN discussion
