akrish

Alan Turing is hailed as the father of computer science. Yet he lived more than half a century ago, in a time when computers were incredibly different from what we recognize today. I’m taking a introduction to cs theory course this semester and we’ve been talking about some of Turing’s (and other theoretician’s) discoveries. The fact that most of the discoveries were made in the 30s and 40s truly boggles my mind. How can people make claims like, “There are functions that cannot be expressed by any programming language,” when the concept of a computer or a programming language has barely been defined? What’s even more amazing to me, is that many of these theories were correct and their proofs are still accepted today.

This train of thought got me thinking about what our lives would be like without technology, or at least without computers (There isn’t much correlation, I know). No doubt most of our lives would be drastically different. I spend tons of time in front of a computer hacking, reading news, email, and relaxing. Maybe it’s because I’m a computer science student that really enjoys programming, or maybe it’s because I’m a college student who gets most of his resources through his computer (via the internet). Whatever it is, my computer plays an integral role in my life and I can’t even imagine life would be like without one.

Maybe life would be a lot simpler. I’d wake up, have a cup of tea while reading the newspaper and walk over to class rather than wake up and immediately check my email (aka work). My deadlines would be a lot more relaxed because it’s harder to do things without the aid of computers. I wouldn’t be under as much stress (not that I’m really stressed out now) because my superiors (manager, professor, etc.) could not set incredibly high expectations for my performance. I read an article about how technology makes life more stressful awhile ago and in many respects I agree with it. Unfortunately, I can’t direct you to the article because I forgot pretty much everything about it.

At the same time, social dynamics would change. Rather than spend time IMing my friends or writing on their Facebook wall, I’d actually see my friends and spend time with them. There would be a lot more “quality” time with your friends because we’d all have more free time (I think) and we wouldn’t spend that time idly on the internet (because it wouldn’t exist). This sounds like a really good thing and one of my problems with computers is that it makes us (well me) a lot more anti-social.

Yet computers can’t be all bad. They make information much more accessible to the public, they make interaction and communication much easier and the also foster innovation. Without a computer, I’d master the Dewey Decimal system and know all the ins and outs of my campus library system. Now, I just use Wikipedia. The internet makes it easy for professors to post lecture notes and course information for the class to see, thus discouraging students from attending lectures, but nonetheless, communication is greatly facilitated. This company that I’m starting revolves entirely around computers. Obviously we’d have no business idea if computers didn’t exist. Certainly these are all good things.

So I’m sort of at odds. In some respects computers are really good but life seems like it would be so simple and wholesome if we didn’t have them. I guess the conflict doesn’t really matter since computers are here to stay anyway, but it’s interesting to think about what I’d be like if there weren’t computers. What would I be studying? What kinds of things would I enjoy doing? Would I spend more time outside? I don’t really know but it’s fun to take a break from reading about databases to think about these things.

I haven’t really had much to write recently. I’ve been way to busy with school work to spend time on my own projects (like the startup I’m supposed to be working on). But apparently Pavan has the time to write a lot and I have a lot of opinions about the last post that he wrote. Before you read this post you should read his post.

Ok pav… I’ve thought about the same things that you’re thinking about and maybe some of my opinions will be helpful to you.

First of all. It’s awesome that you have an idea that excites you enough to write about it. That’s definitely the first step. I’m sure it’s a pretty good idea and with a little inertia I think you’d be able to capitalize on it and make it successful.

1. I think you should be talking to people about it. Obviously I wouldn’t share the idea with the world, but let some of your good (trusted) friends in on the idea. The fact that they’re trusted means that they won’t spill the beans and that they’ll be brutally honest in criticizing the idea. Talk to a few different people with different backgrounds. They’ll give you different perspectives that you don’t have and that’ll provide you insight onto whether the idea is actually good and feasible. Definitely talk to some one very technical; they’ll know approximately how hard the idea is to implement, and they’ll probably have some information on related technologies and whether anyone is already working on it. Also I would talk to some people who you expect would be users of the product. See if they actually want it and how they would want to use it.

In terms of protocol. I don’t think there is one and I don’t think there really has to be one. Talking to someone about an idea does not mean that they are involved with the idea and it does not mean that you are obligated to let the join you. You’re definitely not expected (and shouldn’t) give them a share in the idea since you came up with it and are just asking them for advice. For example, Arvind and I went to talk to the guy who’s teaching ieor 190c next semester and we were very open in sharing one of our ideas with him. He gave us criticisms and direction, but we never invited him to join us and he doesn’t expect to join us. Most people who you talk to will be too busy with their own things to really join you anyway.

2. Execution depends a lot on the project and how complicated it is. Most web ideas don’t actual require that much computer science knowledge (as in theory etc.) at first. Most of the information (languages, paradigms) can be learned online and are pretty easy to pick up. If you’re that excited about the idea you’ll probably be willing to learn a lot as you go. Another option is to hire a developer, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a couple of reasons: 1. you’ll need funding and that means you’ll dilute you’re share in the company-to-be. 2. if the idea doesn’t take off (which unfortunately has a pretty high likelihood of happening) then you’re in the hole financially. If you work on it yourself (ideally without funding) all you have to lose is time and it’s not a total loss because you’re learning as you work. As a college student you don’t really need to make money so keep it simple and don’t ask for funding. I think you should do it yourself until you have enough proof that it’ll take off, then look for funding and then hire people. Maybe get a prototype out before you look to grow because it’ll be easier to get funding and you’ll be able to estimate how popular your product is. Maybe it would be a good idea to get one friend on board who knows the ins and outs of web 2.0 with whom you can split the company but that’s up to you.

3. I hinted on this before but it’ll probably be a lot easier to get funding if you have a prototype to show to the VC. Most investors will want to see that you’ve spent considerable time at least thinking about the product so you better have at least a formal design and maybe business plan with you. I don’t know much about this, but you could also consider getting an angel investor. They’re supposed to be better for seed funding (the first stage) and they won’t take as big of a cut as a formal VC. Read up on angel investors, they may be the way to go.

Talking to EE, CS, and business professors sounds like it’d be a good idea. I don’t think any of them will jump on board unless you explicitly want them (the concern you had in 1.) but they’ll definitely be able to give you guidance and/or other resources. Again I don’t recommend thinking about VC funding this early on, but if you know anyone who would think of funding you (possible family friends) then you should talk to them about getting some seed funding (that is only if you absolutely absolutely need it)

Finally, you definitely have the skill and ability to successfully execute this (well depending on what it is) and I guess I’ve given you some of my recommendations here but definitely talk to me about questions. I actually read a lot about entrepreneurship and may be able to help you out (I haven’t actually done much though so… yeah). A lot of the stuff that I’ve mentioned here comes directly or indirectly from Paul Graham. He’s a pretty techy guy who is now a venture-capitalist working for the Y-combinator. Definitely check out his essays. I’d love to hear what you’re idea is and maybe give you another perspective on it.

Hope my advice helps. Again these are just my opinions and I don’t really know that much about anything so question me, doubt me, criticize me and ignore me if you so desire. Feel free to ask my any clarification questions.

Another month has come and gone. Wow time really flies when you’re at school and have tons of work to do every day. I spent a decent amount of time listening to music, but not much of it was really new.

I’ve been listening to a lot of “plain-old” rock the likes of Dead Poetic, Lorene Drive, Chasing Victory, along with some other stuff like Muse, The Mars Volta.
I also found out that a lot of the bands I used to listen to have been coming out with new albums so I’ve been listening to some of that too. In list form we have:

• Thrice – The Alchemy Index: Volume 1 & 2: Fire & Water – this is actually very different from older Thrice stuff (which I’ve been enjoying for a couple of years now, but also very good. I really like the “water” part of the album which is really nice and mellow)
• Thursday – Kill the House Lights – This albums all right, I really liked their older work, but recently they’ve been starting to slip in my eyes. I’ve been listening to it a bit mostly because I hoped this album would be like the old albums.
• Jimmy Eat World – Chase This Light – I’m starting to like Jimmy Eat World a lot more, I’ve only listened to this album a couple of times since I got it, but it sounds pretty good. I should probably listen to it a bit more.
• Coheed and Cambria – Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV: Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow – Coheed and Cambria continue to amaze me with creative and new work. I really enjoy all of the albums that I have of theirs and in particular like almost all of the songs on this one.
• Brand New – I have a couple of their albums and like all of them. These guys are probably my favorite band right now.
•   The Mars Volta – Amputechture – I’ve had this for awhile but never really listened to it. One of my friends played some Mars Volta in his car recently and I decided I’d give them another shot. I actually really like the songs on this album, even though they are a little out there.

Despite not having a lot of free time, I’ve been trying to play as much guitar as possible (which unfortunately hasn’t been much). I’ve shifted even more into the world of acoustic guitar and barely played my electric this month. Here’s what I’ve been working on:

• Acoustic Alchemy – The Wind of Change – a short little song that sounds really good when they play it. It sounds ok when I play it but it wasn’t too hard to learn. It’s also really fun to play.
• Acoustic Alchemy – The Alchemist – this is a fun, kinda fast song that I’ve started to learn. It’s harder that songs I’m typically ready for but I’m working on it.
• Andy McKee – Rylynn – If you haven’t seen/heard of Andy McKee please check this out. He’s absolutely amazing and Rylynn is a really awesome song. It’s ridiculously hard, but I’ve been making some steady progress and have the beginning parts of it down.

I’ve also been freestyling/jamming with one of my friends a lot. He ends up playing the electric and I’ll play some stuff on the acoustic. I find this a lot more fun than just playing by myself so hopefully we’ll keep doing that.

On a really random music note, I started listening to mainstream rap a bit this month. Yes it’s very uncharacteristic for me and recently I haven’t been listening as much, but I found a couple of songs to be pretty catchy.

Anyway, that’s the November Music Recap