Why are we still writing in mark down? Fair enough, as a techie, it's just assumed you will learn another "language" and be productive. But a creative writer shouldn't have to think "how many #'s do I need to press? what's the shortcode for italics?" They just want to be free to create. But they also want to see their masterpiece coming to life in all it's glory.
We've mastered the "Word editor" and it gives immediate feedback without reaching for a reference manual, why would we (inclusive: all writers) take a step backwards?
One benefit is that it's portable: your text will be rendered properly with the correct formatting anywhere markdown is supported (github, forum comments, blog post, etc). It essentially frees you from having to worry about layout and visual styling, which shouldn't interfere with the writing process.
There's no markdown standard (although I think some implementers were talking about it) beyond the original implementation, some implementations may not even support that I believe hacker news supports a subset. It is portable in the sense that you get(probably browser portable) simple html after running it through a probably open source markdown implementation as opposed to complex word formatting formats like odf or docx.
I found your post insightful and beneficial. Experienced much of it myself. Also, I've had similar arguments with other wannabe entrepreneurs at the start of their path. Hopefully the HN community can benefit from your experiences.
I would be willing to consider the International Space Station an equivalent of the Moon colonies, as it serves much the same purpose; research and training, but is more convenient.
Fun fact: the ISS would be technically impossible to build on Earth because it would collapse due to its own weight. No gravity makes creating structures much easier both to move and to support.
This is what I have been asking for - the Elon Musk biography.
However, the one thing that I'm after, and the only thing I would be willing to buy it for, is answer to the question - "How did surmount his challenges?" He must have faced a thousand naysayers, both at the business level and at the technical level. People who he had to convince to make his successes happen. What is it that he has that enables him to overcome these challenges and succeed? It's probably not any one thing, but whatever it is, he has it in spades.
I would like to know if/how this book addresses that. Thanks.
I've for example included how he convinced experts to join a new rocket company. In the beginning, no one wanted to join SpaceX because so many other rocket companies had failed. So what he did was to pay the experts to participate in a series of meetings so they could convince themselves.
One paragraph from the book:
After the meetings ended, the conclusion was that it would be possible to build better rockets than had been made before. The experts were now convinced that SpaceX was different and wouldn't be yet another failed rocket company. "I essentially led them to a conclusion that they created," Elon said. "It was sort of a Socratic dialogue on a technical level. The essence of a Socratic dialogue is that people wind up convincing themselves. People are much more willing to change their opinion if you're not forcing it."
There are some good answers and advice in the comments here. One thing that appears to have been missed is - there is an underlying issue that you may or may not have identified yet which will have a major impact on your psyche. Being rejected by a parent is one of the most soul-crushing things that can happen to a person. Our sense of self worth and our relationships with others is largely defined by our relationship with our parents ... the one people who are supposed to love us unconditionally.
I have seen its impact on friends and family, and it remains as a major influencer all throughout life if not addressed. I recommend speaking to a specialist about this.
One of the key differences between Apple and Android - for me - is that people who buy Apple generally buy into the hype created around Apple. And the reverse - people who buy Android don't buy into the hype. I can't say I have seen a single Android advertisement like I have seen iPod/iPhone/iPad ones. So there is no need for an Android John Gruber; all of the hype of "The Smartphone" has already been done. People know what's on offer, and base their decisions now on utility and price.
Perhaps look at having an Advisory Board. The kudos could be sufficient payment. Especially if you become a big success.
Alternatively, look at offering them stock options. If they believe in what you're doing, and want continued involvement, then it's worth asking them to have "skin in the game". Their advice will be more tailored to your success if you do.
Ask other businessmen what the cost of offering equity to outsiders is. It's usually more than the cost of giving away something intangible.
As a long time programmer, I've learnt the mantra "somebody has already solved this, let's go find their solution." That applies to pretty much any technical or non-technical issue that you need to solve. So much of what we need to know is written up somewhere on the internet, leaving us to focus on the 1% of the problem that we alone can solve, and differentiates our value proposition from all the other alternatives.
My short answer would be "know enough to be dangerous, and surround yourself with smarter people".
I also received a bonus while working in London (I always thought it was called "London Waiting" [1], which seems like a more accurate a reflection of their train system).
I think it was £3000, which was a large amount back then.
I started in Microsoft development and saw code that made me cry. I switched to Java because developers with self respect wrote elegant code in Java. But Java frustrated me because of the effort to result ratio; for the amount of time I would spend coding and configuring, I had very little to show for it. I like to build things quickly and see people interact with them heavily. Javascript gives me both of these.
And it's becoming more adopted as the lingua franca of app development; I can write server side code, rich client web interfaces, and native mobile apps using nothing but Javascript as the coding language.
We've mastered the "Word editor" and it gives immediate feedback without reaching for a reference manual, why would we (inclusive: all writers) take a step backwards?