Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup • Hacker News Board

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#511

Post by dang » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:02 AM UTC

godzillabrennus wrote: post #428

This is becoming better than an episode of Silicon Valley on HBO. I hope they release a video statement countering the claim where you can clearly see they have coke out on the table. The CEO of this "company" is basically Russ Hanneman without the money. Instead a boat load of debt.

This is not an acceptable comment on Hacker News. Please post civilly and substantively, or not at all.

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12386468 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#512

Post by kelukelugames » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:05 AM UTC

mentat wrote: post #484

xenophon wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An aside that seems relevant to a general discussion of "name vs not name": I've noticed that you (or a set of users that share your very unique username, perhaps) spend a ton of time attacking Redfin on various social media accounts (HN, Reddit, Facebook). I used to work there, too, and it's strange that you consistently describe the company in a negative way that is unfamiliar at best and completely unwarranted to…

This probably isn't the best phrasing: > It sounds like you had a really bad experience, which of course is your prerogative. Sharing it might be someone's prerogative but labelling their experience this way doesn't feel up to HN standards.

It's fine, I'm pretty sure I know the guy. I think he's an engineering manager. Managers like him are why so few are willing to speak up. People get defensive real quick. See the video posted below.

He knows my facebook account so I don't see how he thinks I'm trying to stay anonymous. Though I'm flattered he read thousands of my tweets to find the four or five about Redfin.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#513

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:05 AM UTC

choiwisely wrote: post #91

> Employees and investors absolutely need the right to know about the people doing this "Michael" the CEO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaacchae1981 "Charlie" the CTO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albrown "Jessica" the CMO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tess-stevens-28bb9138 Company: http://www.wrkriot.com/ + https://www.linkedin.com/company/7587861

[deleted]

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#514

Post by dang » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:05 AM UTC

choiwisely wrote: post #91

> Employees and investors absolutely need the right to know about the people doing this "Michael" the CEO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaacchae1981 "Charlie" the CTO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albrown "Jessica" the CMO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tess-stevens-28bb9138 Company: http://www.wrkriot.com/ + https://www.linkedin.com/company/7587861

This crosses the line into personal attack, which is not allowed on HN. I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner, while the thread was still in high dudgeon.

An internet forum in rage mode provides nothing close to due process, so when people start to target individuals here, I start to feel queasy if not outright sick. The bloodthirsty side of the hivemind is quite capable of jumping to wrong conclusions, indeed routinely does so. HN needs safeguards against this. One safeguard is users reminding one another that witch hunts are a thing, and a bad one—I wish I'd seen more such comments in the current thread, but at least there were some. Another safeguard is moderators drawing lines when the discussion gets nasty.

Some of you will object that exploitation and fraud are also bad things. Indeed they are. All of these are bad things, and an internet thread based on a blog post doesn't have nearly enough information to sort through who did how much of which of them. Therefore we should all curb our impulses.

I've flagged several other comments that target individuals and have closed this thread to new accounts, which have run suspiciously rampant in this discussion. If anyone wants to read the full thread including all the flagged/dead comments, you can do so by browsing HN with 'showdead' set to 'yes' in your user profile.

I've detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12380121 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#515

Post by dang » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:15 AM UTC

glimps9 wrote: post #79

https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaacchae1981 "Having always been the youngest person in the room, I have always needed to fight to make my voice heard. Some experiences were good, but other's turned into a nightmare...but the truth is no failure was a step back for me, rather the lessons I learned from my mistakes helped me build the foundation that I needed to succeed. I believe that boundaries were created only to be…

Posting that crosses into personal attack and that is not allowed on HN. Please don't do this again.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12379833 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#516

Post by dang » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:17 AM UTC

gingerrr wrote: post #9

lemonghost wrote: post #7

https://www.linkedin.com/company/jobsonic ?

"Jess" = Tess? Not even that much of a name change.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12395442

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#517

Post by dang » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:18 AM UTC

ChristopherE wrote: post #495

MichaelBurge wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His real name is probably "Yi Suk Choi".

It is Yi Suk Choi, per the California corporation registration of 1for.one

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12395442

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#518

Post by dang » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:19 AM UTC

kelukelugames wrote: post #248

here you go. choiwisely 8 hours ago [-] > Employees and investors absolutely need the right to know about the people doing this "Michael" the CEO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaacchae1981 "Charlie" the CTO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albrown "Jessica" the CMO: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tess-stevens-28bb9138 Company: http://www.wrkriot.com/ + https://www.linkedin.com/company/7587861

This crosses into personal attack and you can't do that here. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12395442 for a fuller explanation, and please don't do this again.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12381499 and marked it off-topic.

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#519

Post by dang » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:21 AM UTC

nnazemi wrote: post #506

Anyone else notice that, in the last week, the CTO has had employees post recommendations of him on LinkedIn (presumably in a preemptive effort to salvage his reputation)? https://www.linkedin.com/in/albrown In case deleted: Liubin Jiang Backend Developer at 1for.one Corporation There is so much about Al I want to share. To be short, 1. Great mentor. Not only in coding but also his personality. 2. Workaholic. I can't…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12395442

Re: Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

#520

Post by calvinbhai » Wed, Aug 31, 2016, 2:27 AM UTC

gcb0 wrote: post #270

GuiA wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside of the edit window for my comment, but wanted to add: the H1B situation sounds fishy as hell. 8 H1Bs costs a lot of money, which the company does not seem to abound with. It seems like something weird might be going on here - if the founders are willing to forge receipts and lie about the company, it might not be beyond them to hold on to passports or some such for "immigration reasons", which would then expl…

here how it happens: a company, that is not really a company, keeps applying for tons of h1b. they usually have some title like consulting. they get the h1b and don't even bring the programmers from India. they become "visa holders" companies. the h1b's then start to look for work on their own, or the holder. and once the programmer is hired, the visa holder company gets paid, take 70% (or 60% if the programmer found…

most of what you say is true.

they can endure such jobs only for 6yrs, beyond which the company that sponsored the visa has to file for a green card (if they do, then the employee can continue suffering for a few more years).If they dont file for a GC, then its a one way ticket back to their home country (or go to Canada with a PR ready).

the 70-30 split, is something I used to fume about, thinking its unfair to the employee etc. But that is how contracting companies work (not just for H1b employers). They pay the employee $.7X, and charge the client $X for every hr worked.

the benefit for the final company is that the headcount of H1b employees on paper remains low, and the cost of H1b kinda gets prorated into the hourly rate. It doesn't make sense to hire an H1b if the company knows for sure that they need her for just one/six months or a year. But a staffing consultancy can certainly justify filing for the H1b, if the same employee can work with 3 clients for 1 year each.

Though this looks like they (the companies filing for H1b visa) are doing something illegal, it is not, as long as a LCA (Labor Condition Application) is filed for the client's location and is approved, its totally kosher with USCIS, DHS and DoL.

Sadly, its hell for those on such H1bs (and I'm glad to never have worked with such consultancies)