Related to this, I do think the question of what should or shouldn't be legal is a bit of a separate question. Of which this data is only one part. (to be transparent, I'm the author of the post)
The advice about cloning a regulated startup is wise in that meeting a certain set of regulatory requirements can be a great differentiator. That said, the specific experience, network, and skill set required by a team to crack a particularly regulatory regime is if anything tougher to assemble than to crack a particular technical problem.
Big raise from these guys. Plus they've lowered their processing rates to 0%. It's a race not only against other mobile payment startups, but also against the Walmarts and Targets of the world.
I welcome efforts to help small business owners, but we shouldn't pretend that small business in general drives the economy. The huge jobs and productivity growth that we associate with startups comes from a very small % of disruptive companies, mostly in high tech. (I wrote a bit more about this here: http://bostinno.com/2012/02/17/bailouts-for-startups-tough-l...)
Small businesses drive employ almost half of all employees (and more than half during boom cycles).
The technology sector has an overinflated sense of the value it provides to the economy in terms of jobs created or productivity growth. Note that the article you cite does not refer to technology startups, it refers simply to new businesses under the catchall "startups."
I'm biased as I'm a writer covering Boston, but it's worth noting that New York's rise is tilted in the direction of a specific area: internet/mobile startups. But if you look at other innovation sectors like healthcare, energy, robotics, etc. New York is still extremely nascent.
For me, exercise is key. If I get in 30+min of exercise after work it's like hitting the reset button on my energy and I can squeeze out another couple hours of productivity.
I totally agree with this. 2x per week I play a game of soccer after work and then grab dinner with friends. By the time I get home around 9pm I could easily do another stretch of work.
On the days when I don't switch gears, there would be no way I could do focused work for more than an hour or two.
Honestly, if I ever really wanted to do a computer-based startup, I would leave my 9-5 job and do landscaping or something physical during the day. I don't think it's realistic to ask your body to be in front of a computer for 12 hours a day.
+ this. I find I'm FAR more productive if I get a decent run in straight after work (where I'm in a PM role) before then getting down to some coding in the evening.
You have to be disciplined though. On the days where I skip the run to get more coding done I invariably actually don't get more done as I have less energy.
