Show HN: A game where you invest into startups from history

 (startupgambit.com)

38 points | by vire00 5 days ago

17 comments

  • hex4def6 11 hours ago
    I think the forced countdown is a bit unfriendly, especially when LLM delays eat the majority of that. Perhaps limit it to X questions.

    Also, having a min / max funding range (e.g, min 100K, max 500K). I might not want to wager the same on each opportunity.

    It might also be interesting to base it off real companies. Scramble the names (Paypal -> CashMate or whatever. Enough that the player doesn't know for sure what company its based on. ATi vs nVidia for eg), and also allow investment at multiple points in time. Pre-crash vs post-crash might yield significantly different ROI outcomes.

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    • vire00 2 hours ago
      Thanks for feedback. The successful startups are actually always based of real companies for example ClaritySearch = Google. I'll try to make that part clearer.
  • oceansky 14 hours ago
    Not playable on mobile browser
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    • vire00 1 hour ago
      Mobile is next!
  • ivraatiems 13 hours ago
    This is a genuinely great use of LLMs/related technology. Dynamic characters you can have conversations with to make game choices more informed is a really cool idea, actually feels original and clever. I really enjoyed playing it.
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  • frenchmajesty 14 hours ago
    Fun game! My investing strategy is to flush out quickly who's the team, what's the traction, what's unique insight into the market.

    Bullshitters have trash or no answers. Killer companies have one of those 3 that is usually very compelling.

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    • volkk 13 hours ago
      i've asked who's the team 3 times and always got "can't disclose." i figured this was a limitation of the game. do some answer?
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      • frenchmajesty 13 hours ago
        I do get answers. The ones who typically said can't disclose are you full of shit. Crack teams know they're cracked and they will tell you.

        "I'm a MIT-trained security engineer; I'm an ex-VP at Paypal, etc..."

  • jmkd 14 hours ago
    Stopped / crashed Dec 31 2005 with $358K return. Cannot proceed. Fun until then.
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    • vire00 2 hours ago
      Yep the game has only 5 years so far.
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      • vire00 1 hour ago
        It was supposed to show "end of demo, please sign up". Welp there goes potential users :D
    • cjs_ac 13 hours ago
      Same - I think that's the end of the game (so far?)
    • frenchmajesty 12 hours ago
      Yea it ends on that date. I cashed out with $622K
  • anonu 13 hours ago
    nice game - but you need a UX designer. Almost abandoned it since I thought it was broken... I just didnt know what I was waiting for or didnt know where to click.
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    • vire00 2 hours ago
      Noted, actually UX & appearance was the next thing on my TO-DO list
  • tglobs 2 hours ago
    This is fantastic. It's pretty frustrating for founders to flat-out refuse to answer questions though, I'd probably make that more subtle
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    • vire00 1 hour ago
      Thanks. Yeah right now they refuse usually when they don't know the answer. Will polish that part more.
  • cosmicgadget 13 hours ago
    I need to be able to type faster, just got done chatting with Mark and I completely missed the opportunity to invest in Quibi.
  • achandra03 14 hours ago
    Pretty fun! Only complaint is that the responses from the founders take a bit long to load.
  • lordgrenville 14 hours ago
    I tried investing in every pitch I got, which seems to be a positive strategy.
  • asadm 13 hours ago
    very cool game! needs some juice.

    https://garden.bradwoods.io/notes/design/juice

    also, add a leaderboard

  • arkensaw 12 hours ago
    fun, but it seems if I just invest in everything I don't lose.

    I get 3x/4x return on a lot of things but only lose <1x if its a bad investment

  • stevenalowe 9 hours ago
    Illegible in Safari on iPhone :(
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    • vire00 1 hour ago
      Not for long!
  • mike-gongolidis 14 hours ago
    Love it! Very smart! Are all the company names real?
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    • vire00 2 hours ago
      No but the successful ones are always inspired by something. Eg. Google, Paypal etc.
    • Delk 13 hours ago
      I'm pretty sure they aren't. I invested in what was obviously Facebook under a different name.
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      • Jordan-117 12 hours ago
        I got "SalesForce" at one point.
  • andrewrn 13 hours ago
    This is pretty fun!
  • frenchmajesty 13 hours ago
    Damn. Now I understand VC's a little better.

    Some deals I saw "damn the traction is off the chart" and I didn't even care to ask any question I just threw money at them. I saw one startup named Salesforce, a CRM. I guess hindsight is 20/20 on that one lol. Didn't even read the pitch.

    This game is awesome

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  • westurner 14 hours ago
    Re: backtesting and paper trading: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38908537 :

    > pyfolio.tears.create_interesting_times_tear_sheet