How Not to Die (2007)
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Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
Top comments
For us the main indication of impending doom is when we don't hear from you. When we haven't heard from, or about, a startup for a couple months, that's a bad sign. If we send them an email asking what's up, and they don't reply, that's a really bad sign. So far that is a 100% accurate predictor of death. Can someone at YC comment on if this is still a good proxy for startup failure? From a personal perspective…
I will say it plainly: This is the most influential, well written essay I have ever read. It hit a chord very deep with me..
I am finishing up my PhD and I have a very direct analogy to what PG mentions. There are multiple research groups with different success rates and what I have noticed is groups with extremes are not doing that well. By extremes I mean professors who try to micromanage and get a daily update and professors who do not care at all. In my group, we have a biweekly meeting for everyone to present what they did in 2 weeks…
Very true what Paul says here. I have created two companies on my own(backed companied from others). The first one was Hell, nobody believed in us or the idea, everyone believed I was crazy, and after fighting and loosing battles a lot I also(my subconscious mind) started believing it!!(I had trained it in failure) But then it turns out it was a brilliant idea after all. We were the first surprised to see that in the end it worked even…
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
HN stats
- Breakout years
- 3
- Total points
- 840
- Total comments
- 351
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-08-30 | How Not to DieFirst breakout | subhash | 169 | 143 |
| 2009-08-17 | How not to die | swombat | 145 | 47 |
| 2012-03-15 | How Not To Die | carlsednaoui | 2 | 0 |
| 2015-08-05 | How Not to Die (2007) | bluejellybean | 80 | 30 |
| 2016-02-17 | How Not to Die | domrdy | 2 | 0 |
| 2016-09-08 | How Not to Die (2007) | kornish | 2 | 0 |
| 2019-11-11 | How Not to Die (2007)Hall induction · Best thread · Latest 20+ point return | sellingwebsite | 428 | 130 |
| 2020-08-18 | How Not to Die (2007) | yarapavan | 1 | 0 |
| 2024-01-24 | How Not to Die | sarimkhalid | 4 | 1 |
| 2024-05-04 | How Not to Die (2007) | tosh | 2 | 0 |
| 2024-05-30 | How Not to Die (2007) | yamrzou | 3 | 0 |
| 2026-06-05 | How Not to Die (2007) | downbad_ | 2 | 0 |