
Show HN: #Startup – A global startup community, on Slack - bramk
http://www.hashtagstartup.co/
======
Kudos
The domain is dumb, Slack's hash logo is a nod to IRC and not Twitter. It
doesn't represent tagging, it represents IRC channels.

Edit: hey hastagstartup.co downvote brigade, hashstartup.co is still
available. So is hashstartups.com which is even better.

~~~
skrebbel
Wrt your edit, do you really think that people downvote you because they
_disagree_ with you?

~~~
Kudos
It's more than a little suspicious that I immediately got 5 down votes for my
critical comment, but have since broken even on karma again. I'd like to think
my further arguments below did it, but more likely this thread was posted in
one of the hashtagstartup channels.

~~~
napoleoncomplex
Don't usually do this, but I'll explain the downvotes (I've never heard of
this project). Your original comment felt needlessly aggressive and had
nothing to do with discussing the project's merits. The follow-on comments
were in the same vein, and the entire comment thread felt like a flame war for
no reason.

So I downvoted because I wanted to signal that I'd like to read less content
like that on here. I went and checked the HN guidelines on content, and here's
a few points which I felt supported the downvote:

"When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. E.g.
"That is an idiotic thing to say; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 +
1 is 2, not 3."

"Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it
makes boring reading."

"Please don't bait other users by inviting them to downmod you."

And now I have contributed in uselessness to this comment thread, the cycle is
complete :).

~~~
Kudos
You explained your downvote not the downvotes. 5 down within 5 minutes
happens, but if it was that egregious the comment should not have recovered.

------
ttty
The signup has really bad UX. Can't even use it.

There is a secret (or you will find it later):

\- You have to pay 10$;

\- or write a "great motivation";

to sign up.

~~~
LeonPals
True, since it is handwork, we give priority access to those that are willing
to contribute.

We also check every motivation, and sometimes they're just bad or a couple of
words and we don't let that person in.

I will take a look at the UX, thanks!

------
davidw
Speaking of #startups, that channel is free to join on irc.freenode.net.

~~~
instakill
Yeah no thanks. I've been on there a few times. That channel is filled with a
bunch of sweary and self-centered people. It's probably the anonymity but I'd
rather hang out in r/startups before I'd go back to the IRC chat.

~~~
davidw
It's got its plusses and minuses. People sometimes shoot the breeze rather
than narrowly focus on the topic at hand, so yeah, sometimes there's a lot of
noise compared to signal.

I prefer here, or, as of late,
[http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/](http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/) for more
serious discussions, although occasionally something interesting comes up on
#startups. Sometimes the informality is helpful, as you can chat about
something you don't particularly want plastered all over HN...

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typeformer
For those who are wondering the slick UI for the sign up was made with
Typeform out of Barcelona :)

~~~
mef
FYI that form fails hard on Mobile Safari if you happen to rotate. Form
elements go offscreen and you can't pinch zoom your way back to them.

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/yyykioemk8z0pqy/Photo%20Dec%2030%2...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/yyykioemk8z0pqy/Photo%20Dec%2030%2C%204%2038%2052%20AM.png?dl=0)

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/6jbmiifu9y5qabd/Photo%20Dec%2030%2...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/6jbmiifu9y5qabd/Photo%20Dec%2030%2C%204%2038%2058%20AM.png?dl=0)

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/q7sq5ztyrafkyly/Photo%20Dec%2030%2...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/q7sq5ztyrafkyly/Photo%20Dec%2030%2C%204%2039%2012%20AM.png?dl=0)

~~~
typeformer
Thanks, our dev team is on it :)

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petercooper
I was ready to donate the €10 but found it just wants me to enter credit card
details onto the application form and I was on a non-https page. It said it
uses Stripe but it's tricky to tell if that's really the case (I don't believe
there's bad intent here at all, but the UX for taking the payment doesn't
inspire confidence).

~~~
LeonPals
We've heard this once before. And I totally get the concern. I'll make sure
someone at Typeform hears about this, as they are on #startups. We'll embed
stripe checkout on the homepage soon I guess. Thanks.

~~~
FlipOne
Great idea with #Startup, guys! An insecure HTTP address is a concern though,
which gave me a bit of a pause --- the developer in me speaks here ---
although it's great a TypeForm page is offered at the bottom of the "Apply"
panel (except it's not easy to notice; maybe a bigger font or highlight color
will do the trick)... I believe an HTTPS-hosted page will do wonders, guys! :)

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hayksaakian
The concept of a global community of startup people is nice, but why do I have
to use your platform to be a part of it?

That question felt unanswered to me after 60 seconds on the landing page.

~~~
LeonPals
You don't have to become a member of our community, but I might be able to
give you a couple of reasons why it is what it is today, if you can let me
know which one we should put up on the page according to you?

\- hosted/organised by an independent non-profit with the goal to help
founders \- using slack, easy and unobtrusive cross platform system \- members
are selected upon their motivation

Or because it already exists in a great form? There are multiple others, but
we are open to anyone that can provide a motivation.

~~~
hayksaakian
I mean in my mind I'm comparing it to a well moderated IRC channel.

Is there a technical limitation of IRC you're overcoming or is it a user
interface choice?

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danmaz74
Cool!

Shameless plug: If you're interested in the actual hashtag on Twitter, you
could like to use of our free embeds:

[http://hashtagify.me/explorer/embed_wizard?hashtags=startup&...](http://hashtagify.me/explorer/embed_wizard?hashtags=startup&mode=basic)

Also let me know if you'd like to get detailed analysis of the #startup
hashtag, I'd gladly contribute it for free.

~~~
LeonPals
Ha, that could be cool to share with the group :) Could you send me the
detailed analysis on hello startupfoundation co ?

~~~
danmaz74
Just sent it - let me know if you get it (you never know with the spam
filters).

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meesterdude
Pretty cool! I just signed up. I think its an interesting line of dialog to
have going in the background, and am hopeful it will make the path to starting
and running a startup clearer for me.

The signup process is kinda neat, but some of the questions made me go
"errr..."

edit: i see they(you?) use typeform for the signup form; never heard of them
before, but pretty neat!

~~~
LeonPals
Which made you go "errr..."? We try to get an idea of who a person is. Also,
if they have founders in their network, or if they are just lazy and skip
questions ;-)

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akanet
All of the questions around "What can you bring to #startup?" or "What do you
want from #startup" or "What #startup founder do you want to connect with"
fell extremely flat with me - I abandoned the form.

I'm on the page because you posted it here, on HN, and I started the flow
because the premise seemed interesting, and I have a startup. I don't have any
goals, and frankly, the pitch made it sound like more value would be flowing
from the community to me. I don't have goals I need met from #startup because
I have no idea what it will be like.

Those questions made it seem like you guys are just in it for a PR grab or a
pivot into an incubator, which I am absolutely not interested in at all.

~~~
LeonPals
We know it's a ton of questions, and not all of them are very important. But
the goal here is to separate those who are truly motivated from those who will
come in and just lurk, self promote or scout.

I'm sorry if you think we have some hidden agenda, which is certainly not the
case as screening the applications is an extreme amount of work. The way the
application is set up we will also have a lot less applications being
submitted, which is a nice side effect as we already have hundreds waiting.

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dosh
We've been making something during our internal hackathon with a similar goal
in mind, but perhaps a different approach. Hopefully I can get some feedbacks:
[http://jiver.co/startup](http://jiver.co/startup)

It's a rough alpha (desktop web-only, mobile support in January).

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ex3ndr
Why you always use weird slack for private community chats? It has really slow
performance everywhere.

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nosefrog
I see that you ask for 10 euro donations. What is the money used for?

~~~
LeonPals
It goes to the Startup Foundation, an independent non-profit supporting
founders building more successful startups, of which I am the Chairman.

#startup is our latest initiative, but we're working on a progress report tool
(enabling founder to give peer feedback and to report to investors and
coaches).

We also have a weekender format like Startup Weekend or Lean Startup Machine,
which we have done 10 of to date and will roll out in 2015. Next to that we
have an incubator in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and a big meetup group for
that city.

Our goal is that all of our initiatives generate surplus revenue to be able to
roll out new initiatives and improve existing ones.

But for #startup, it is also a great way to find out who is motivated to get
in and contribute. Most of the contributions are actually from people who have
heard about what it is like on the inside.

You see, we normally get tens of applications per day, and some people just
want to get in ASAP. This way they can, without us having to screen everyone
that wants to get in directly.

Now that we're on PH, HN, Reddit and Betalist, we've got hundreds of
applications just today. And we will screen them all, so it might take a week
to get in.

\+ not every motivation is good enough to get in, cash tells us you are at
least slightly dedicated.

