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rdl
39,336karma·10,537submissions·July 8, 2008
about
Working on stuff at the intersection of cryptocurrency and computer security. Also a Puerto Rico resident (Act 20/22); happy to help people move to Puerto Rico to take advantage of the federal tax exemption, 0% capital gains rate, and 4% business income tax rate. Also FFL07/SOT02.
Chief Security Officer for Evertas Insurance -- the world's first cryptoasset insurance carrier. https://evertas.com/
Previously, CEO and Co-Founder of CryptoSeal (YC S11), which was sold to CloudFlare on 2 June 2014. CISO/Board Member of Tezos Foundation 2018-2020.
Previous startup founder (HavenCo, a couple ecash projects, distributed colo, and DoD/Iraq contracting, new thing), too. Deeply interested in computer security, infrastructure, security, conflict zones, and making the world a better place.
Aside from living on a Caribbean island during crypto export controlled 1990s, I've lived on a tiny artificial platform in the North Sea, plus more reasonable places like London, Amsterdam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and spent 6 months diving in Thailand.
"I, the greengrocer XY, live here and I know what I must do. I behave in the manner expected of me. I can be depended upon and am beyond reproach. I am obedient and therefore I have the right to be left in peace."
Email: ryan@venona.com (etc) Twitter: @octal https://twitter.com/octal LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlackey
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recent activity (10,537 total)
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The big factor people don't realize is employee number one has worse job security than the founders. If you they have huge equity and no salary, and you draw a salary, guess who goes when the bank ac…
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Also none of my argument applies to a startup with one or more non technical non domain expert founders hiring a tech guy as employee number one. In that case he is a founder without the title and mi…
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Wow. I was secretly trying to get you to find an answer to one of Keith Rabois questions on quora. I forgot he qualified it as post 1999. Can you do that too? National Instruments is an amazing com…
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I definitely agree re exercise. A good relationship, kids, and general family life also seems to help people survive high stress, but high stress often leads to a bad home life which can make it worse…
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I am drawing a distinction between someone likely to only currently be a good individual contributor, and thus who will not have the option of founding his own startup at that point in time, and a wel…
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Due to Idaho, I think the army may have the worst accidents per hours operating ratio.
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I admit my knowledge of stateside engineers in the large defense contractors is secondhand; trying to convert known deployed salaries and known eng and pm salaries at small product companies selling t…
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Name one company in the USA which didn't take outside funding and exited for more than 30mm usd?
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Right..when your best case is less than salary differential, before factoring in working 3x more, and the ten percent or less odds of getting the 50 exit! Something is irrational about participating. …
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Someone who comes in for five is a potential founder anyway. At 1 you have another fifty percent dillution from follow on financing, and the odds of any exit at all. Exmployee 75 is making market, and…
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What got you back into tech? I think that i am fortunate in that I direct all my wrath and loathing outward.
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A good eng in defense (at the level needed to be a startup founder) should be making 150 uncleared to 250 secret to 300 ts or project lead or more if deployable. Working 40 hour weeks (well, working …
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If you are founding CEO of a startup which fails honorably, or exits, investors and future team members pretty much ascribe all the good accomplishments of the company to you personally, and think you…
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Racial and ethnic diversity really seem like non issues...they are pretty superficial differences within a work environment. Age, children, and sex are a little more relevant, and even those are pret…
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Real burnout is something like losing confidence in your own ability, or the overall system or world. It doesn't go away with time, per se, but requires a real change of your life....like getting a m…
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I personally think the first one to five employees in a minimally funded startup with small m&a exit as the likely exit are getting a bad deal, vs. the founders or employees who join after financi…
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I think navy nuclear culture has changed quite a bit for the better since then. All of the officers and petty officers I have talked to are at least as conscious of rad safety as the civilian techs. …
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Absolutely. It varies by state. In most states most private businesses can't prohibit concealed carry; in other states they can, but only with specific language on a certain size sign. Plus, if you…
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OTC caffeine pills: 250-500mg caffeine (about 3-6 cups of coffee equivalent), with the difference being it's much cheaper than coffee, and more deleterious to your stomach. Less liquid, so it's much …
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I think my concealed carry permits in the US are good in about 40 states (WA NH NV UT FL NH OR ME MA). Aside from CA and NY, I basically avoid the others (IL WI IA NJ mainly). It is slightly crazy, b…
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Apple makes better hardware than most of the PC manufacturers. The only mon-Mac laptops I like as hardware are the Lenovo T, W, and X series. I have some IBM/lenovo laptops too. Some of the Panason…
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"milbloggers" are much more interesting to read -- you can check michaelyon-online.com and freerangeinternational.com and find stuff linked from there. Generally someone who is on a 4-15 month tour b…
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I have a "seriously tore up" 15" MBP from spring 2008 which I carry with me for really mobile use, and a 17" 2010 MBP which sits in my "base" location for weeks at a time. I went that route, vs. the …
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I think it would be super boring. I myself would not read a documentary account of my life. Technically, it's basically either "learning how to do increasingly advanced satellite tech/eng work in the…
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I have an iPad and carry it frequently, although usually also in the same bag with a kindle dx and 15 inch mbp. iPad is better for use waiting for flights for casual web browsing, or kindle app in un…
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Aside from people ineffectually shooting at my aircraft, not in years. I have had mortars land vaguely nearby though. Almost involved in 3 possibly fatal car accidents in Kuwait earlier this year th…
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Glock 19, 2 extra mags with floor plate extension. Kershaw ao knife, novatac edc 120 lumen flashlight. Blackberry 9700 with bes and free data roaming, nexus one w local sim. Keys w led flashlight. …