Top all-time · #2015
Jason Shen
Personal blog · jasonshen.com · on HN as jasonshenstartupscareerbusiness
Jason Shen is a personal blog at jasonshen.com about startups, career and business. Since 2010, 39 different Hacker News readers have linked it 166 times, most often “How to Give Your Product Personality”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-09-03, and you can follow it by feed.
I help YC founders repair their partnerships and win the inner game so they can build generational companies with people they trust.
Most-linked posts?
- How to Give Your Product Personality3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-09-30
- Test Your Startup Idea With a Minimum Viable Transaction2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-03-16
- The Backstory of 5 Startup Pivots That Grew to $43B2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-08-21
- Why we started Ridejoy2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-06-29
- A new adventure: Working at the Smithsonian as a Presidential Innovation Fellow2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-06-24
- Winning Isn't Normal2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-12-15
- When Software is Eating the World, You Better Start Making Dishes2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-01-28
- /169/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-07-21
- Compelling Startup Pitch Archetypes (with examples from YC companies)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-05-09
What Hacker News says?
I write a blog called The Art of Ass-Kicking at https://www.jasonshen.com I cover personal growth from the lens of an athlete (ex NCAA gymnast), tech founder (YC/Techstars backed), and deliberate practice / psychology lens. - https://www.jasonshen.com/2019/long-hours-are-bs/ - https://www.jasonshen.com/2017/ridejoy-lessons-learned/ - https://www.jasonshen.com/2016/beyond-the-10000-hour-rule/ - https://www.jasonshen.…
Comment linking /2011/gymnastics-lessons-overcoming-fear/
on “Ask HN: What is your blog and why should I read it?”Submitted From Burned Out Tech CEO to Amazon Warehouse Associate as a story · 357 points
HN discussionAs Sam alludes to, many YC alums have joined the government in some capacity—healthcare.gov, US Digital Service, Nava, Presidential Innovation Fellows—and are on HN. Jason Shen from YC S11 recently wrote about the concept of a "Tour of Duty": http://www.jasonshen.com/2015/when-did-you-do-your-tour-of-d... If anybody has questions, feel free to ask and I'm sure one of the alumni will reply!
Comment linking /2015/when-did-you-do-your-tour-of-duty/
on “The US digital service”Submitted Sci-Hub Is Blowing Up the Academic Publishing Industry as a story · 291 points
HN discussionHey there - just posted an article about how you can add personality to your product. Hope you find it useful! http://www.jasonshen.com/2011/how-to-give-your-product-perso...
Comment linking /2011/how-to-give-your-product-personality/
on “Minimum Viable Personality”Submitted Winning Isn't Normal as a story · 261 points
HN discussionI spoke to a long-time Microsoft and Facebook eng leader who left his post as a nonprofit software CEO due to burnout and then spent many months languishing and spiralling into depression. He actually decided to get a job as an Amazon warehouse worker for 6 weeks for exactly the reason OP is struggling with: to get structure. > In November, I suddenly thought, "I should at least get some sort of job somewhere just t…
Comment linking /120/
on “I need structure in my life”Submitted Compelling Startup Pitch Archetypes (with examples from YC companies) as a story · 200 points
HN discussionSurprised no one has talked yet about Ghost, which feels like what Wordpress would have been had it been founded in 2013 instead of 2003. I recently converged from Substack, Convertkit and Wordpress down to just Ghost. It's not perfect but it's damn good. https://www.jasonshen.com/switching-to-ghost/
Comment linking /switching-to-ghost/
on “The complicated futility of WordPress”Submitted How to Be Relentlessly Resourceful [a practical guide] as a story · 162 points
HN discussionAnother similar interesting gov't gig is Presidential Innovation Fellow: - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Innovation_Fellows - https://www.whitehouse.gov/innovationfellows - http://www.jasonshen.com/2014/everything-wanted-know-preside... - http://www.jasonshen.com/2013/a-new-adventure-working-at-the...
Comment linking /2013/a-new-adventure-working-at-the-smithsonian-as-a-presidential-innovation-fellow/
on “I’ve Joined the White House’s U.S. Digital Service”Submitted How to Give Your Product Personality as a story · 131 points
HN discussionI think HN member Jason Shen is on the fourth week of the 30 day challenge right now (although he hasn't posted about it yet): http://www.jasonshen.com/2010/the-rejection-therapy-challeng...
Comment linking /2010/the-rejection-therapy-challenge-week-2/
on “Here's Why Someone Would Seek Rejection for 30 Days Straight”Submitted Taking Cold Showers as a story · 125 points
HN discussionAndreesen Horowitz became the apple of every startup founder's eye because they were the new guys who had success as investors while being friendly to startups I'd rather raise money from a guy who wears a 'No Bitchassness' [0] shirt who wants to pump up my valuation, help me recruit tech talent, and allow me to give equity to compensate my best people versus some stodgy old guy who thinks he's better than everyone…
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2012/10/benhorowitz-150x150.png
on “How Andreessen Horowitz Is Disrupting Silicon Valley”Submitted Getting Your Groove Back as a story · 86 points
HN discussionThis is a great talk about Rejection Therapy: http://www.jasonshen.com/tag/rejection-therapy/ You'd be surprised to learn how much you can get by simply asking!
Comment linking /tag/rejection-therapy/
on “Rejection Therapy: A Hundred Days of 'No'”Submitted I wrote a book called Winning Isn't Normal as a story · 84 points
HN discussionOP here. Thanks for reading my post and providing feedback. This post wasn't meant to be a deep dive but more a list of activities ("ship before you feel totally done") and ways of thinking ("the best ideas are usually not universally embraced") that have served me. I have other posts that get very specific - like this one about making email introductions - http://www.jasonshen.com/2011/the-anatomy-of-a-great-email-…
Comment linking /2011/the-anatomy-of-a-great-email-introduction/
on “Best Practices For Making Things Happen”Submitted Learning to Code: Lessons from building a simple Rails app with Treehouse as a story · 84 points
HN discussionThe Talent Code is an incredibly good book - I recommend anyone interested in excellence read it. Another thing that's brought up in the book is the idea of commitment. The people who are most committed to the long term improve the most at whatever they do. Wrote more about this here: http://www.jasonshen.com/2010/how-commitment-can-make-you-40...
Comment linking /2010/how-commitment-can-make-you-400-percent-better/
on “Keys to Being Excellent at Anything”Submitted The Most Memorable Quotes (I Could Capture) From Startup School 2012 as a story · 82 points
HN discussionEach to their own but things worth pointing out is: Some people work hard but aren't as lucky with the "being rewarded for their hard work" part. A grain of salt required for lucky people's advice. Especially the one with short memory and rose tinted glasses (as other commenter noted, this guy seemed to have burned out[1]). It's Probably more a rationalization to himself and people around him (his kids and wife I gu…
Comment linking /169/
on “Work Life balance slows careers”Submitted My Biggest Takeaway on 37Signals’s New Book on Remote Work as a story · 81 points
HN discussionThis is the same guy, right? Who burned out so totally he ended up working in an Amazon fulfillment center for six weeks? https://www.jasonshen.com/169/
Comment linking /169/
on “Work Life balance slows careers”Submitted Start Smaller as a story · 80 points
HN discussionStartups are hard, let's go shopping? Meh. OK, yes, doing a startup can be a difficult process, and you probably have to make some serious sacrifices if you want to succeed. That's not a big revelation. In my own case, I've basically forgone social interaction, dating, spending time with friends, etc., in order to try and get this thing off the ground. No, it's not pleasant, but I remind myself that this state of af…
Comment linking /2010/winning-isnt-normal/
on “The Hidden Costs of Starting a Company”Submitted Best Practices For Making Things Happen as a story · 79 points
HN discussionI'm definitely worried about Apple's product line sprawl. They have let their belt out a lot in the last few years and I hope they're planning a sweep to cut down the product line. 25 different computing devices is a lot for the consumer to think about and I think it would help boost sales. I talked more about this in a blog post recently: http://www.jasonshen.com/2015/the-rise-and-fall-of-product-l...
Comment linking /2015/the-rise-and-fall-of-product-lines/
on “A Grand Unified Theory of Apple Products”Submitted Lessons from a decade of research on how tech startups succeed long term as a story · 70 points
HN discussion
