
Show HN: Stay with founders in San Francisco - mkx
https://www.staywithfounders.com/
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ai_ia
I would be more happy if there was a stay with "Builders" alternative. I would
love to live around with technically smart people who are building something
on their own rather than "founders"

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hammerton
There is just something with "staying with founders" that feels so
pretentious...

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gitgud
A meta startup; a startup making money from other startup founders... Sounds
parasitic...

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ai_ia
The whole Digital Nomad fad works similarly

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vortegne
Seems cool.

But honest question here. Who cares about staying with founders? Why is that a
benefit? Founders of another wave of generic startups don't seem like the most
interesting people

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Rainymood
People that value ambition, drive, maybe want to pursue their own start-up and
want to pick someone's brain? I stayed in San Fransisco last year and while my
BnB host was great, I didn't really get the feel that San Fransisco was "the"
start-up city in the world, which it is. I thought of it more like a very
European city-thing with functional public transport and _a lot_ of homeless
people. I walked by Twitter's office though. Other than that, networking?

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chrisseaton
> functional public transport

San Francisco? The city that had to invent Uber because it's so hard to get
around otherwise?

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Rainymood
Compared to other cities I traveled to in the USA? Yes.

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varenc
Interesting! Seems like something that fits nicely between the chaotic
couchsurfing.com free for all and pricey soulless Airbnbs.

Does anyone know how the pricing compares with airbnb? Could be handy for
early/young founders coming to SF to pitch investors for the first time.

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mkx
Hey Chris! We usually end up being a bit cheaper than Airbnb, since the hosts
on here aren’t trying to make a profit, but just cover their costs and meet
awesome people.

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HillaryBriss
> ... and meet awesome people

what if I'm not awesome? would the hosts still want to meet me? what if I
don't have anything interesting to say and I'm just a mediocre shlub?

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vasilipupkin
You and me both. Let’s start www.staywithshlub.com but in Kansas.

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varenc
If you want to meet my awesome parents they have some empty bedrooms in their
house in Kansas!

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smortaz
Fantastic idea. I've been doing this for various musicians & stage actors
(free) for a few years and it's been very rewarding.

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matt_the_bass
Cool! As a musician myself, i’ve Often thought of hosting like this. How did
you make first contact?

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rch
Great idea - just signed up. I'd make it more clear up front that the signup
questions are short and simple. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't drag
on.

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mkx
Thanks for the feedback! Added a little note that it only takes two minutes :)

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sebleon
Very cool - Airbnb feels like it got overrun by professional property
managers, cool to see a more personal alternative with a genuine community.

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BadassFractal
Also, it's something like $300/night on average these days in SF, which is
bananas.

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mkx
It's insane. One of our core hypotheses is that a lot of people in SF don't
want/need to rent out their rooms for a profit. They'd rather just meet and
host particularly awesome people.

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blahblahblogger
> One of our core hypotheses is that a lot of people in SF don't want/need to
> rent out their rooms for a profit. They'd rather just meet and host
> particularly awesome people.

hmmm, I think "a lot of people" referred to above is actually the group of
startup founders with a room to rent? In which case probably not a lot per se?

Is this a side project or a product? If it's a product it doesn't seem like it
will "scale" (sorry to use that lingo).

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mkx
Many good products start as a side project :)

Yeah, that's definitely a concern we've heard. We're starting with startup
founders because that's a niche we know well, but it can work for any
frequently traveling professional.

There's a big tailwind for more people traveling for work and working
remotely, and staying 1+ weeks in a hotel/Airbnb is prohibitively expensive.
There are startups working on solving this by creating their own custom
spaces, but we know tons of people who just leave their room unoccupied
because they don't want to deal with minor hassles like key exchange,
cleanings, making sure the temporary visitors get along with roommates, etc.
We think solving all that will open up a massive new supply of short to medium
term housing.

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techaddict009
Can you add direct link to their startups website or app from their profile?
Only name is there and many are having too generic name and its difficult to
find their website/app.

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ENadyr
A few years back there was a start-up doing something similar called
StartupStay a.k.a BiZpora (
[https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/bizpora](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/bizpora)).
I hosted some founders in London, it was a great experience and I made some
friends. I am glad this is being looked into in SF! All the best with it!

~~~
anvisha
Pretty cool, thanks for sharing this. If you're up for hosting founders in
London again, let us know :) we're looking to expand to other cities soon.

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100-xyz
Hi, This is very timely for us as we will be in the Bay area during Dec and
Jan. However, I am not able to fill out or even see any forms. I live in
China, so perhaps some js libraries from google etc are blocked? Any alternate
ways to register? Our company website
[http://www.100-xyz.com](http://www.100-xyz.com) Tx

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mkx
Sure! Here's a direct link to the application form:
[https://swapspace.typeform.com/to/Bg59Xe](https://swapspace.typeform.com/to/Bg59Xe)

If that doesn't work, send me an email (it's in my hacker news profile).

~~~
tomglynch
Just doing a little test to see if typeform have closed the little vuln I
submitted months ago:
[https://testytest.typeform.com/to/Bg59Xe](https://testytest.typeform.com/to/Bg59Xe)

~~~
tomglynch
... appears not. People can still pose as others. You'd think they'd care a
bit more about security after the hack in June. I recommend against using
typeform for this reason.

~~~
mkx
Woah, crazy. Thanks for pointing this out...

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amasad
Looks cool! I've been lucky to have found places for my visitors through my
networks in the past and they had a great time meeting startup people in SF.

I wondered if we can advertise the idea of "meeting interesting people" as a
perk for our potential interns. However it's hard to be sure it's
reproducible.

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anvisha
For sure - we're trying to be really thoughtful of maintaining the high
quality community aspect. We're actually experimenting with student
internships, and have a pilot with MIT for their January externship.

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amasad
Interesting, let me know if we can get in on the beta too ;)

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anvisha
Yep! Ping us at max@swap.space

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masonic
Interesting that their _entire population_ consists of attractive/fit white
and Asian people between the ages of 22 and 35...

... more or less like every SV company's "Work with us!" pages.

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horyd
Awesome, signed up. Travelling through SF in mid-Nov, would love to try it
out!

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demircancelebi
Just returning from SF. I would definitely prefer this to Airbnb.

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frankwiles
What a cool idea! Next time I’m in SF for business going to check it out.

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DyslexicAtheist
they should pay homage by renaming this to _The Erlich Bachman_

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taktikz
Awesome service. Definitely going to bookmark this

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catfish123
10 js imports according to NoScript? No thanks.

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ai_ia
Hey can you give what is the rationale behind the JS hate? I am building a
website that relies heavily on JS. What should I be aware to steer away from
the JS hate?

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piano
> Hey can you give what is the rationale behind the JS hate?

JS has its overhead in terms of data and, more severly, performance. Many
people tend to put unecessary JS stuff like custom scrolling, needless
animations and needless interactivity, etc. This stuff more often than not
just ends up getting in the way of normal browser function and is of
questionable benefit or none at all.

> I am building a website that relies heavily on JS. What should I be aware to
> steer away from the JS hate?

Don't add any JS interactivity that only makes a website "look cooler"* and
that's not actually critical to your website's functioning. For example, stuff
like google maps needs javascript. Stuff like blog most likely doesn't.

Remember to try out how your website works on a device with weak hardware and
slow connection. This will not only make it far more accessible for people
with older hardware, it will make better for recent hardware as well.

*) today's expression would probably be "rich user experince" or somesuch, but the meaning is the same - it's just vanity

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ai_ia
Thanks for the detailed answer. This makes much more sense.

I am building a web based chat bot, so it is essential as without animation,
it kind of look bland and uninteresting. Although, I will try to check in weak
hardware and slow connection. Although not IE previous versions though.

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kmax12
cool! any plans to come to other cities?

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mkx
Yes! We are alpha testing other locations and have around 25 homes between
NYC, Boston, LA, and abroad. You can fill out the form and mention the city
you'd like to go to in the freeform question, and we'll contact you!

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lexxed
your wix site takes very long to load for me

