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London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

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Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#181

Post by ProblemFactory »

sireat wrote: post #155
jpollock wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen: 1) Incorrect ordering of output "Buzz Fizz" 2) Printing only Fizz or Buzz for 15. 3) Starting at a number different to 1 (say 0) 4) Off by one error at the end (going to 99, instead of 100) 5) Forgetting to print out the number when neither Fizz nor Buzz is output (first output is Fizz for 3) 6) Always printing out the number. (3 Fizz) and that's the people who can code at all. Then you get people who can'…

Fantastic list of mistakes! It made realize that I've made all of these mistakes on tasks similar in complexity of Fizzbuzz. I write a lot of scripts in different languages some of them quite domain specific. Why do I make mistakes? Most of time the mistakes stem from the fact that I do not have to get it right the first time and I may have misread the specifications. As Hemingway said: "The first draft of anything i…

I don't think mistakes or a lack of them in FizzBuzz are that relevant at all. You are not supposed find a clever solution as a candidate, or as the interviewer to spend more than a minute reviewing or discussing it.

The FizzBuzz test exists to quickly filter out candidates who really cannot code at all, despite what they say in their CV, what jobs they have done in the past, or what courses they have passed.

If you can show that yes, you understand what for loops and if statements are, and can write 10 lines of code roughly correctly, the test is passed and the interview can continue with more interesting questions.

If no, then it saves everyone time to just cancel the interview.

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#182

Post by throwaway_374 »

striking wrote: post #105
throwaway_374 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This kind of commoditization attitude of developers really fucks me off. "Shut up and code and don't complain". Nah, you can fuck right off mate.

Is there anything wrong with looking for developers that don't complain? Total aside: As an Eastern European emigrant, I don't really mind being characterized as hard-working and rarely-complaining. I like to think it's true.

Capitalism will eat you alive if you don't stand up for your wages and standard of living. I used to be a naive young graduate grateful for a job with the delusion that I would commit everything to my employer and get treated fairly in return. If your employer is cash rich, you should be reaping the rewards as well, not just quietly taking a pay cheque to enrich the shareholders at disproportionate rate.

This is further compounded by the fact that, as developers, we are terrible at recognising our worth and speaking up. Doesn't help that you are conditioned into an inferiority complex constantly reinforced by a ridiculous interview process.

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#183

Post by mstade »

kbenson wrote: post #3

As the embedded video alludes, it's not that revolutionary an idea to pool transactions and use local resources to fulfill more cheaply if possible. That said, the world is full of wildly successful companies that just executed well on not very revolutionary ideas, and they provide real value that was largely absent before they grew to prominence. Sometimes it's not about doing something new, it's about doing it well…

I use this service all the time when I need to transfer cash,. It's simpler than using a bank, often faster, and almost universally cheaper. The idea is old as dirt, but execution is everything, and boy do they execute well.

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#184

Post by petra »

KevinBongart wrote: post #131
petra wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really their fault, or is i just how marketing works in this day an age ? Heck, they even got you, and you hated their marketing!

Their marketing got my attention, and their rates were so much better than the competition that it outweighed the terrible brand image. They could have gone straight to the point: "Better international transfer rates than your bank" and I'd have been very happy with it. The service is good!

But would that message be shared on social networks ? Be written to about in papers ? Recieve that much attention ?

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#185

Post by to3m »

jkaljundi wrote: post #153
keeptrying wrote: post #139

Hmmm I heard these guys make less than $10million a year in revenue. Possibly the lowest revenue to valuation ever?

Their revenue in the year ending March 2016 was 28 million pounds, transaction volume 800 million pounds per month. Last September they already did 5 million pounds a month, growing ~2x / year.

In case anybody else is wondering - these details are public. Any time you see a story about a UK company, and this one is no exception, you can get some information about it from the company registry at Companies House: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/

1. type in company name or part thereof

2. select it from the list

3. click the "people" tab and see if you recognise any names from the article or whatever (this can be helpful if there were several likely-looking results)

4. click "filing history" and download the accounts and annual return (with list of shareholders)

Most of the time this isn't actually very interesting, but if you're being nosey, there's no reason not to. (The reduced accounts you have for small companies (turnover < £15m, something like that...) are usually particularly unilluminating, though some of the figures can be suggestive and the shareholders list may be interesting.)

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#186

Post by CptJamesCook »

Veen wrote: post #179
CptJamesCook wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The left has been teaching people to believe they are victims for more than a decade now. That's why they search for injustice.

If you think the victim mentality is limited to the left, you've obviously not being paying attention to the alt right or Christian conservatives.

The true alt-right is tiny. Well, since alt-right has been defined to include white supremacy, anyway.

The left is huge.

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#187

Post by Kexoth »

idiot_stick wrote: post #32
maverick_iceman wrote: post #30

Interesting that they use the word expat instead of immigrant. I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats.

> I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats. And you base that on....? Why do people search for injustice?

Actually most western European countries have 'expat programs' for eastern European countries with job offerings mostly as babysitters/valets/waiters.

They're intended for young people & the stay is between 6 months & 2 years.

In that context 'expats' is used for temporal residence in foreign countries with no intentions to be made permanent. It's mostly intended for young people to travel around, not much for the financial benefit.

So in my understanding it's the intentions which define, not skin color / continents.

PS. The written above is a definition from my personal point of view :)

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#188

Post by [deleted] »

idiot_stick wrote: post #32
maverick_iceman wrote: post #30

Interesting that they use the word expat instead of immigrant. I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats.

> I don't think if these two were from Asia/Africa they would have been called expats. And you base that on....? Why do people search for injustice?

[deleted]

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#189

Post by Kexoth »

to3m wrote: post #185
jkaljundi wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their revenue in the year ending March 2016 was 28 million pounds, transaction volume 800 million pounds per month. Last September they already did 5 million pounds a month, growing ~2x / year.

In case anybody else is wondering - these details are public. Any time you see a story about a UK company, and this one is no exception, you can get some information about it from the company registry at Companies House: https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/ 1. type in company name or part thereof 2. select it from the list 3. click the "people" tab and see if you recognise any names from the article or whatever (this…

I just tried your link & it's a very interesting option to be honest :)

In my country (Macedonia) these reports on private held companies can be given after 2 fiscal years & you have to pay for them per company searched.

I'm very curious to see what's the case in other countries on this topic :)

Re: London’s Lonely Unicorn: Two Frugal Expats and Their Billion-Dollar Startup

#190

Post by Kexoth »

AlaskaCasey wrote: post #28
Dwolb wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you by chance know what your company's tax obligations are? We'd love to open up for international remote work, but we also don't want to run afoul of any international tax obligations (i.e. local payroll taxes) due to remote employees.

Depending on what kind of workers you are looking for could you use international contractors? There are additional laws to take into consideration, but (using software engineers as an example) if they have multiple clients and have a business registered in their respective country then you would not be obligated to pay local payroll tax.

@AlaskaCasey is right. I'm a software engineer & my company is registered in my country. When I negotiate with clients I'm representing the gross amount & I deal with my taxes etc. in my country.
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