u/DzyPassio

We’re a small hardware + neuroscience team, and many of us are autistic including the CEO. That's why we recently started exploring whether we could build something genuinely useful for autistic children and their families (including a team member). It's a very meaningful area for all of us and we would love to hear your thoughts.

What are the biggest challenges, frustrations, or unmet needs you experience as a parent of an autistic child?

I'm a young founder and just moved our office from SF to Mountain View to access better hardware equipment so I need to move there.

I know it's a crazy ask, but I'm looking for a place to sleep in exchange of a reduced rent + any cleaning/duties service needed. I am already doing this (currently I pay $0/month, but open to discuss any offer, I can pay up to 700) but it's here in SF.

If you know someone that could be interested feel free to share this post and DM.

Thankfully,

D.

I want J-1 because it's the easiest.

I am a student, last year of bachelor's. Also built a 6 figure business while studying (that's why I got offered so much equity, I guess the founder values me)

I'm hoping to get some advice from people who've done a J-1 with an early-stage startup.

My situation:

- Spanish citizen.

- Joining a pre-seed startup in San Francisco.

- Company is about 1 year old (there's also a newer legal entity created recently for future fundraising).

- No VC funding yet.

- Some revenue from preorders (less than 10k)

- Founder is currently the only employee.

- I'll be the first hire

- My compensation would initially be 10% equity (standard vesting/cliff), with the intention of moving to salary once the company raises funding

My questions are:

1. Is there something that blocks the J-1 path? Has anyone successfully obtained a J-1 in a similar situation?

2. Is equity-only compensation a problem for most J-1 sponsors?

3. Does the host company usually need multiple employees, or can a founder supervise the training?

4. Would it generally be better to use the older operating entity or the newly created fundraising entity as the J-1 host?

Any experiences, sponsor recommendations, or things you wish you'd known beforehand would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

edit: to be very clear --> shee agreed to change the contract, but instead added an ambiguous clause that made it look revoked without actually revoking it. then said "oh just trust me, i won't activate the clause" and lied that she can't take it away (which i later confirmed it's not true)

i found a room in dublin.

the place was good enough. small, but clean. the offer said “9 months minimum,” which was fine.

then i got the contract.

one clause basically said: if i break any part of the contract, i have to leave, lose my deposit, and pay all the remaining months.

read that again......

if i leave after 1 month because i get a job in another city, i could still owe the next 8 months.

so i asked the owner to change it.

she added a new clause saying that, in an emergency, if we both agree i need to leave, she would accept 2 months’ notice and return the deposit. but only after i’ve stayed at least 7 months.

at first i thought: okay, maybe worst case i only lose the deposit.

but then i asked directly: “just to confirm, what are the penalties if i leave early?”

she pointed back to the old clause.

the one that still said i had to pay the remaining months.

then she said, “yes, but if i’m giving you the deposit back, of course i’m not making you pay the remaining months.”

fair enough. so i asked her to put that in the contract.

not change the deal. not create a new condition. just make the contract match what she was saying out loud.

she said her solicitor wouldn’t let her remove that line.

so i asked: if you can add a new clause about 2 months’ notice and returning the deposit, why can’t you also add that i won’t owe the remaining months in that case?

that’s when the vibe changed.

she kept saying i didn’t have to sign the contract, and honestly, that was the answer.

i left without signing.

maybe she genuinely didn’t understand the difference between verbal reassurance and a written contract.or maybe she did. either way, i wasn’t going to sign something that said one thing while being told to trust another.

edit: she really tried to reassure me that clause was only there in case someone really abused her and honestly it convinced me fully. but a contract is a contract

My gf just moved to Dublin. She has a working holiday visa (1 year)

Dual degree in Chinese + digital arts (UX/UI, video etc). She's korean and has a korean work ethic. I don't want her to end up in a restaurant.

However she's looking for anything. Mostly to learn English and about Irish culture.

How did you find cool jobs? Specially design/tech ones. Was it through your network?

I am in SF, and there, applying is pretty much nonsense. People network and that's how you get a job, because of warm intros or self intros.

What has worked for you guys?

i’m sanity-checking an idea. this is quite important to me so pls be mindful :)

TL:DR; ex-founder with pursuing a deeply aligned but weird and uncertain career path in neurotechnology, now considering launching another biz excited by the learning opportunity + owning my work which to me is important.

i’m an ex-founder, previously built non-technical service businesses to 6 figures. lately i’ve been pursuing a much narrower path for the last 2 months (even moved to SF just for that): consumer neurotech / human flourishing / science + tech. it feels deeply aligned with me, BUT also quite hard, and very uncertain career path. i’m currently helping an early-stage neurotech startup mostly for equity. exciting, but uncertain.

at the same time, i’m getting pulled toward starting an automation agency for dental clinics.

why dental? my parents have run a dental clinic for 25+ years. so i’d have a first client, deep domain access, honest feedback, and probably warm intros to other clinics. main excitement is: i have never worked for anyone else than myself, and feels weird to give my life for something i don't actually own. so building another business in an exciting area (tech and automations) is attractive.

the idea would be to treat it as a paid 3–6 month experiment: build useful automations for their clinic, learn the tech properly, create a case study, and see if there’s real pull. if it works, maybe grow it for 1–2 years, delegate, or even sell. if not, i still learn automation/healthcare ops.

my worry: this might just be shiny-object syndrome. i’m excited by owning the work and building leverage. i know an agency is not "build cool workflows" but mostly client management and maintenance.

for people who’ve built agencies or sold automation to local businesses: does this sound like a smart unfair advantage, or am i underestimating the boring reality?

Hey everyone - nontechnical person here. Need some advice on which BCI to buy.

I want to play with a wearable/neurotech device that can roughly detect states like stress, focus, relaxation, or “maybe i’m getting dysregulated,” then trigger a simple phone prompt/intervention.

Not medical-grade, just a personal prototype / playground.

What’s the simplest + cheapest setup for this? muse, brainbit, neurosity, OpenBCI, emotiv… or something else?

Main question: what gives useful data without needing to become a full engineer? (willing to learn whatever is needed, but I'm looking for as-entry-level-as-possible yet flexible enough)

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edit: maybe a buying criteria is if there are plenty of tutorials avaialble abotu that specific product.