
Delicious Founder, AOL Exec Launch Hacker Angels - vladocar
http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/06/delicious-founder-aol-exec-lau.php
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Aaronontheweb
Y-Combinator, with 100% less funding! ;)

In all seriousness, if these guys can actually find the time to reply to the
avalanche of queries they're about to get, then more power to them for lending
a hand where it's needed.

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skmurphy
On <http://www.hackerangels.com/> they say:

    
    
       Let us know what you're looking for, and please include a prototype if at all 
       possible. This is an informal association and not a fund. If inclined, we may 
       provide feedback, advice, mentorship, hacking, investment and/or serve as 
       advisors or independent board members, on an individual basis.
    

Why do you assume 100% less funding? They have all had successful exits. It
seems like an approach that's at least as flexible as YCombinator and perhaps
better able to nurture over the long term.

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Aaronontheweb
I was just teasing, captain serious.

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replicatorblog
I saw Roy Rodenstein speak at a BarCamp in Boston and chatted with him for a
bit. Seems like a very cool guy. No ego, he had come off a successful exit and
was just happy to share his wisdom with the audience.

It is an interesting approach, kind of a twist on the old line "If you ask for
money, you'll get advice. If you ask for advice, you'll get money."

By not focusing on being a "fund" they will probably find a bunch of smart
hackers working on interesting stuff who may not fully understand the
commercial value of their projects, build trust and a working relationship,
and ultimately find/help build good investment candidates.

~~~
jasonlbaptiste
I was introduced to Roy about a month ago. Awesome guy with no ego and no
agenda who just wants to help. He also took the time to understand the product
and logic behind it, which is something few people do. Seriously it was a
relief from the usual people we've been pitching lately. Combined with joshu,
gabe, jim young, and jeff miller this is a real win for startups.

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chris100
I'm not sure what they expect exactly.

On one hand, as a hacker myself, I like the idea. It's as free-form as
possible. Which is exactly the right spirit of hacking: no forms to fill out,
no rules and procedures.

On the other hand, they are bound to end up with thousands of weird requests.
Sorting through those will be a lot of work, in order to find a handful of
gems, I'm afraid.

But I hope it works out for them and trickles down to the entire hacker
community.

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joshu
Wish they didn't put me first.

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wavesplash
You know how it goes in the press, the easy to recognize goes first in the
headline. ;)

Congrats mate. If I was still investing I'd join y'all.

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pyre
I guess I shouldn't be so serious, but I would guess that more people know
about AOL than delicious...

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wavesplash
It's all about context.

On RWW Start the startups with exits are the headline grabbers. Delicious
carries much more clickthrough appeal/legitimacy than AOL. Always lead with a
grabber.

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makmanalp
AOL? What _do_ they do these days?

~~~
iamelgringo
Only 56 million uniques a month and craploads of email users.

<http://www.quantcast.com/aol.com>

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vital101
Interesting part of that graph is huge drop in uniques between March and April
of 2010. Any context?

