
Ask HN: Want to do a cannabis start-up with me? - GanjaHacker
I'm an early-30's techie who went through a bit of a midlife crisis a couple of years ago. A divorce sent me into a seemingly un-curable depression which I only snapped out of after doing acid on a hippy bus. Those who know me would be floored by this statement, since I've always been quite anti-drug, even vocally so.<p>My depression was quite humbling. More humbling was experiencing happiness or the first time since I was 6 years old (when my parents started medicating me for ADHD which I now feel was a mis-diagnosis). My depression had made me a poor performer for years, rendering me almost catatonic after my wife left me.<p>Drugs made me happy. I'm willing to bet that legal drugs would have done the same, but well, that's just not the route I choose. After my acid-trip I spent a year smoking ganja, exercising, and facing some incredibly hard truths about myself and my life.<p>I spent 2010 in a ganja-induced haze. I managed to somehow do about $100k in consulting, but mostly I exercised, chased women around, fell in love, lost 100 lbs, and searched for happiness wherever I could, and usually found it alone sitting on the roof of some office building in SOMA (I also learned how to bump locks).<p>Now that I'm feeling more capable, I've put myself back on the job market, and have discovered that most start-ups aren't doing anything that will bring me joy. Today every new company is a groupon clone or a heroku clone.  I just sat down with yet another groupon clone, and am waiting for a heroku clone to come and "interview me" in a few minutes.<p>Fuck it, if business in 2011 means talking about cloning shit, I'd rather talk about sativa clones than groupon clones. These bring me more happiness than products who exist only to convince consumers to consume more.<p>Let's do a cannabis-related start-up. Weedmaps owns the "find me a place to get me high" market, and they suck donkey dick. I've got a designer, a fellow stoner, who wants to help me build a better weedmaps. She's rad. I even have a guy who is willing to put $35k-$50k into helping build this, plus I personally don't need income for a few years, so I have options.<p>I'm looking for a coder who is a better coder than I am who also is more functional when there's a vaporizer next to her/his keyboard. I'm hoping one of my friends will read this, and think "hey that writing tone sounds like so and so.. I didn't know he smoked too".<p>Maybe we'll do a weedmaps killer .. or perhaps we'll just get high together while we work on separate projects, "Co-Working With Cannabis" sounds more fun than working for Google, what can I say?
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djb_hackernews
> I've got a designer, a fellow stoner, who wants to help me build a better
> weedmaps.

Which is...you know...a clone of weedmaps.

> I'm looking for a coder who is a better coder than I am who also is more
> functional when there's a vaporizer next to her/his keyboard.

So you want a person to code up the website while you smoke some pot and the
split the profits?

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GanjaHacker
* So you want a person to code up the website while you smoke some pot and the split the profits?

Yeah skippy, that's exactly why I want to work with people who are better at
something than I am, so I can slack off. How did you guess?

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djb_hackernews
So what exactly do you bring to the table? The only thing I can see is money
and a weedmaps clone could be run on GAE for pretty much free or near free, no
need for thousands of dollars.

I'm all for building better websites and better services, but this reeks of
the "I've got this idea, you build it, and we'll split the profit" mentality
that software developers hear everyday.

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GanjaHacker
I bring well over a decades' worth of operations experience, experience
starting and running four companies, two which flopped, and one which I merged
into a company that I sold. I'm currently spending all of my free-time
learning Ruby and Python, and will jump into Rails soon, and am hoping to
collaborate with a more experienced web developer to jumpstart that learning
curve.

I also don't come with the negativity and snarkiness you're demonstrating, but
an open mind, a ton of energy, and a desire to build rather than to knock down
and criticize others, something highly lacking in the tech community, as
you're so readily proving.

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fohshezee
Great email (came up in my "San Francisco marijuana start-up Google email
alert). Marijuana's legalization is inevitable, and it's going to be a huge
opportunity. I think you're on to something (maybe not the whole 'cloning'
idea, but creating something, using technology, to improve the internet-savvy
weed smoker's life could be interesting). I unfortunately have no coding
skills - but am killer at powerpoint/excel (M&A background), truly appreciate
the value of good tree (esp. Blue Romulan, Northern Lights, SF Ice, etc.), and
would love to help.

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hello_w0rld
Hi GanjaHacker. I'm a developer and currently run a cannabis related website.
What's your email? Let's talk.

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GanjaHacker
It's sfganjastartup@gmail.com, let's talk!

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mikerhoads
I think you should mention where you live. Might be able to snag someone
nearby's interest if they know your location.

~~~
GanjaHacker
Mike, thanks for that! I live in San Francisco, and if you want to e-mail me
to collaborate, drop a line to sfganjastartup@gmail.com

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mapster
I love the enthusiasm..I would love to help!

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tastybites
Here's a tip.

Maybe next time you're looking for a business partner you shouldn't mention
that you used to have a habit of breaking and entering office buildings while
"in a ganja-induced haze".

Signed,

Someone who has done his fair share of drugs.

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GanjaHacker
Used to? I still do. San Francisco is too beautiful a city to not want to
explore it's heights. If this scares you off, good, you're not the kinda
person I want to collaborate with, but thanks for the advice!

