100..............Ambush Interviews:thumbsup
http://www.fubarwebmasters.com/curre...pbp/z02717.jpg

Q: If you had to choose between money, power, or women, which would you choose?

A: I'd choose the lesser of three evils.


ahahahahahah man your good .. from now on you get to be the GFY poster My marketing days are numberd LOL

Wow, this is an excellent interview ... I'm amazed at what I am reading.

Thanks for the checks :)

Q: In 1996, did you see the potential of the internet already, or are you pretty surprised at how things turned out (from a business perspective)?

A: By 1996, I had been building websites and selling commercial
web software for a few years so I knew that this was going to
change how many things were done. Unfortunately, I was still
working full time on my PhD while working full time on building
sites so had little time to capitalize on it.

Q: Who would you say is instrumental or highly influential in launching your online endeavors?

A: I was lucky to be in a department at Stanford that was one of the
first to put up a webpage in late 1992. A few people showed me how
to setup a webserver and get a T1 to host some pages.

Q: Did it require much investment to get started?

A: I didn't have much cash but was able to get a couple Sun servers
for about $10K. Funded the rest by getting lots of little devel gigs.
The market was so weak for web developers that I was making about
$5/hr after paying out staff. By the time started Friend Finder, I had
about 15 developers who worked on writing banner ad servers and visitor tracking software. Now we have almost 300 people.

Q: Who do you consider to be your peers, adult or mainstream? Seeing that your one if not the most successful in the business, who do you look up to?

A: I don't look around much - mostly towards mainstream sites.

Question:

What are all of your degrees in?

and ... still paying those student loans?!? ; )

Holy shit, 300 staff? Damnnnnnnnnnnnnn. :bowdown

I have never met this person! :( Lars, Sean and Sagi - you've been hiding someone with cute dimples from me??!!

Very interesting interview - I always wondered about who started AFF :)

I'm all eyes on this one.

No way. Multiple choice you should always go with your first inclination. :2 cents:

Wrong, statistically you have a better chance if you choose another door.

Edit: to be more precise, the actual probability of winning: if you stay: 33%, if you switch: 67%

Why is that? and where did you come up with that stat?

Well I see his logic I'm just not smart enough to know whether its actually true or not. I usually stick with my first instinct because when I've changed from it in the past its been a mistake.

If you stay or switch your probability of winning is exactly 50%. There are two possible choices and only one of them is right, whether you switch or stay your odds remain the same.

Exactly. You went from a 33 1/3% chance of being right, and now that it is 50-50 your odds have decreased? I would sure like to see that explained.

wtf?

did you pay attention in math class?

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Yes this is correct. I'm glad that Linquist's name isnt Mathematician :1orglaugh

And for the record, if I first picked door #2, and door #1 was eliminated, I would stay with door #2. I never second guess myself.

It's a common statistics problem. Google "monty hall problem" or "monty hall dilemma".

Like my dad used to always say, "you can prove whatever you want with statistics. Doesn't make it true."

For those trying to figure out if they should choose a different
door to get the car, here's a little game you can play to test
your idea: http://expos.com/doors.cgi. Hopefully
you can get on a game show and win!

Statistics are worthless. 39% of people know this.
If 69% of people knew this, then they would be meaningful.

With all due respect (one of the times I mean it), can't that be programmed to give those results?

Great interview Professor!

Sure it could... but I programmed it to be fair :winkwink: Try
the 4 and 5 window test - it's a bit more dramatic there.

Okay, then why?

Ok so I googled the Monty Hall Problem and found lots of different explanations for why switching doors is the right thing to do, however none of them are based on sound mathematical principle.

For instance
No matter which door you choose after one of the non-winning doors has been revealed, you still have "two doors collectively".

This is also an erroneous statement, because "if you switch" the prize isn't available 2/3 of the time, it's only available half of the time because there are only two choices left.
Regardless of how many choices you started with, when given the option to switch it becomes an entirely new situation, one with only two choices and not three.

I'll keep looking for a better explanation, but at this point none of them have me convinced.

I just got 6 in a row that I would have won if I stayed (3 door). I don't think I have yet to get more than 4 (maybe 5) in a row if I switched.

somebody PLEASE call a mathematician - or a statitician

Is there somewhere that we can watch old Let's Make A Deal shows?

Hmmmm this is an interesting explanation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem

It's very counter-intuitive, but if looked at the right way can be understood.
The advantage to switching comes from the fact that the game show host doesn't open a door at random, he ALWAYS opens a non-winning door.
That is, if the player picks a door with nothing the game host picks the other door with nothing.
And if the player picks the door with a car, the game host randomly picks either of the two doors with nothing

This means there are three possible scenarios, each with equal probability (1/3):

The player picks empty door number 1. The game host picks the other empty door. Switching will win the car.
The player picks empty door number 2. The game host picks the other empty door. Switching will win the car.
The player picks the car. The game host picks either of the two empty doors. Switching will lose.

Kind of hard to get your mind around that one, but I'll be damned if it isn't right.

Great job!
(off to bed now - more posts in a few hours)

LOL - these last few posts are MONEY!!! :1orglaugh

very good to read this!

Wait . . . . never mind . . . too late for this.

you're just going to give up n go??:(

Not a matter of giving up . . . I am trying to convince myself, but am not having much success.

Go the extra Mile:winkwink:

Your questions are great as usual. I just like to compliment them:)

A close friend of mine does, I'll ask him to contact you. It's not a brick and mortar project per se either.:)

I've learned from school in math that you should always change your mind if you are presented to this 3 option game problem :D We even did a few tests in class and it showed up to be true.

Now you see the mental mastrubation I have to go through on a daily basis to get andrew to agree with me hahahha the 3 door conversation is like our every day debate. He always pulls some math outta the woodwwork. its good though keeps me on my toes. He is also a ruthless negotiator due to his Jimmy Neutron syndrome :)

My earth science teacher taught us that if you didn't know touch the tip of your four fingers and smash them on the desk, whichever tingles the most, go with that answer. I did a few of those "test" answers in class ... showed up to be ... eh, true and not so true. ; )

Personally, I am suppose to go with my first inclination, but I always switch. Gets me in trouble everytime, I'm trying to learn to go with my first instinct.

Anyways, let's get some more answers, we're waiting! : )

Q: If you had to choose between money, power, or women, which would you choose?

A: I'd choose the lesser of three evils.[/QUOTE]


What if each of these are behind door #1, #2, #3...... :upsidedow



p.s. hi Andrew -- great interview! Awesome questions Sleazy -- "inquiring minds" want to know!!!!!!:thumbsup

Great interview.

Oh, I think his name was Jerry Yang - he started a little website
called Yahoo. One day in 1994 he visited my web development company
looking for someone to give him free hosting for his site (probably
for a cut). Well, to make a sad story short, he didn't host with us.

Its always a pleasure to see intelligent people that use real business principals to make money in adult get recognized.

Ever since I had an engine burst into flames on a flight over the
pacific -- the electrical systems went haywire and not just the passengers
but the stewardesses were going hysterical -- it's been hard to hop in a plane.
But I've resolved to do it this year or become buds with John Madden.