Offer HN: I will work for free in San Francisco this week

[styrmis]

I'm staying in San Francisco and will be here until the 6th of March; I came here to expose myself to a different culture and perspective (I'm from the UK) and I would love to visit your startup, I would even be happy to do some work for you for free!

To give you an idea of what I might be able to do for you, my background is I:

  - have a PhD in Machine Learning (graduated in 2010)
  - am a software developer (primarily full-stack web)
  - run a small SaaS business in London
  - recently started building iOS apps
  - have experience in industry in the UK and Japan
  - have some understanding of the Japanese market

Of late I'm particularly interested in idea validation and data-driven business intelligence, e.g. use of split testing, cohort analysis and other techniques generally used in lean startups to learn and improve as quickly as possible.

I'm open to any and all suggestions (including just grabbing a coffee/beer!). My name is Stefan and you can reach me at [e-mail]

Thank you!

(The reason why I am offering to work for free is just to try and give something back in exchange for your time; I'm not actively seeking employment.)

[salahxanadu]

I think these 'I'm european, I'll work for free' posts are a bit tiring. It is a very difficult proposition and if we take into account business rules and regulations it becomes much more unsavory.

Why not just ask for a tour or find people at hackathons or meetups?

[styrmis]

Fair enough—I realise it isn't necessary (there are seemingly many generous and open people here) but I'd like to offer something in return if I can. Feedback duly noted! I'm happy to just chat and I've had a good experience with that so far.

Out of interest have you done something similar before, and did you approach it in a different way?

[tectonic]

I met Stefan for coffee and invited him to hang out with us at Mavenlink for an afternoon and it was very enjoyable and productive. Stefan is a very nice guy!

[styrmis]

Yes many thanks for that, it's made the trip to SF all the more worthwhile; looking forward to dropping by again.