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The ‘Terminator’ of startups says he’s seeing two to four wind-downs a week

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Re: The ‘Terminator’ of startups says he’s seeing two to four wind-downs a week

#81
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something something it's literally impossible to hire engineers who aren't showered in toys and treats. But yeah, I generally agree with you. I like my fancy chair because I spend an awful lot of time in it every day, and I'm tall (6'6"), so most chairs are pretty uncomfortable for me and my lower back already sucks.

there was an article a while back about how any type of exercise movement, weight lifting to running to walking would ease up lower back pain. Ultimately comes down to strengthening those muscles. Sitting all day atrophies the muscles. I had lower back pain for the first 30 years of my life, then started deadlifting and the back pain is gone. g'luck

Of course, the most common injury when deadlifting form slips is probably lowerback related.

I still think everyone would benefit from some strength training! Any strenuous physical activity has risk from injury, but I think that risk is better to accept than the risk from doing nothing. But it's worth looking up some powerlifting videos on YouTube for good form and cues. (I've seen deadlifting videos from non-powerlifters, and I have not been impressed.) This is a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5eGGZXb0Is Layne Norton is a smart, thoughtful guy and an elite powerlifter.

Re: The ‘Terminator’ of startups says he’s seeing two to four wind-downs a week

#82
post #75
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time, it's also reasonable to ask how much of it is just SXSW getting past its Sell By date. I don't really have an opinion one way or the other but a lot of events seem to go through a certain natural cycle even when the environment they're operating in remains basically healthy.

While I agree that perhaps SXSW has "jumped the shark", at least the interactive part, you'll find that enrollment and participation at many other startup-focused events is declined in 2017 year over year versus 2016. I would bet that Web Summit, CollisionConf, TechCrunch Disrupt, and others are not as full as they used to be or are facing similar challenges with startup numbers, and sponsorships especially.

The events I attend which tend to be in the cloud-native infrastructure and agile development spaces (DevOpsDays, kubecon, OpenStack Summit, OpenShift Commons, a lot of the Linux Foundation events) have been really well-attended over the past year or two. Selling out, doubling venue size and then still selling out next time. But, although a lot of startups are at these events (as are a lot of bigger companies), they're not really oriented toward the classic SV social/mobile/web startup crowd.

Re: The ‘Terminator’ of startups says he’s seeing two to four wind-downs a week

#83
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something something it's literally impossible to hire engineers who aren't showered in toys and treats. But yeah, I generally agree with you. I like my fancy chair because I spend an awful lot of time in it every day, and I'm tall (6'6"), so most chairs are pretty uncomfortable for me and my lower back already sucks.

there was an article a while back about how any type of exercise movement, weight lifting to running to walking would ease up lower back pain. Ultimately comes down to strengthening those muscles. Sitting all day atrophies the muscles. I had lower back pain for the first 30 years of my life, then started deadlifting and the back pain is gone. g'luck

Staying active definitely helps, but isn't a silver bullet from my experience. Once upon a time I was a serious athlete, and it was still something I dealt with. My biggest problem is probably seated posture. I tend to slide forward in my seat so my back fits more comfortably on the backrest, or lean too far forward when I'm sitting upright. Trying to be mindful of it, but old habits die hard.

Re: The ‘Terminator’ of startups says he’s seeing two to four wind-downs a week

#84
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something something it's literally impossible to hire engineers who aren't showered in toys and treats. But yeah, I generally agree with you. I like my fancy chair because I spend an awful lot of time in it every day, and I'm tall (6'6"), so most chairs are pretty uncomfortable for me and my lower back already sucks.

there was an article a while back about how any type of exercise movement, weight lifting to running to walking would ease up lower back pain. Ultimately comes down to strengthening those muscles. Sitting all day atrophies the muscles. I had lower back pain for the first 30 years of my life, then started deadlifting and the back pain is gone. g'luck

I squat ATG and my back muscles are stronger now. Before I'd complain about my back but no more. Now I'm not going to load up. But I do knock out sets at 145. Odd thing is that I don't like deadlifts. Probably personal taste.

Re: The ‘Terminator’ of startups says he’s seeing two to four wind-downs a week

#85
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there was an article a while back about how any type of exercise movement, weight lifting to running to walking would ease up lower back pain. Ultimately comes down to strengthening those muscles. Sitting all day atrophies the muscles. I had lower back pain for the first 30 years of my life, then started deadlifting and the back pain is gone. g'luck

Of course, the most common injury when deadlifting form slips is probably lowerback related. I still think everyone would benefit from some strength training! Any strenuous physical activity has risk from injury, but I think that risk is better to accept than the risk from doing nothing. But it's worth looking up some powerlifting videos on YouTube for good form and cues. (I've seen deadlifting videos from non-powerl…

Layne Norton is smart and thoughtful. There are others as well. Basically I learned a million time more from these guys than I ever learned in all the yoga classes I ever took.

Re: The ‘Terminator’ of startups says he’s seeing two to four wind-downs a week

#89
post #23

Looks like I'm getting a new chair soon. The best thing about the Dot Com bubble bursting was my cheap Aeron. I'm ready to upgrade.

heh, you may or not be familiar with the axiom: "A startup's potential is inverse to the number of Aeron chairs they own"

There was a startup, Quokka Sports, where we did the office design for them in a brick-and-timber building in SF, and they freaking folded just before the office build-out was complete... going through their office, the conference rooms were literally PILED with brand new aeron chairs... So I had several for a time...

Re: The ‘Terminator’ of startups says he’s seeing two to four wind-downs a week

#90
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At $1500 for a chair, no wonder these startups are failing.

At 100k year (cheap for an engineer!) that is about a weeks wages.

Cheap for an engineer in some parts of the USA. Can we please stop pretending that (what are in most of the world) large amounts of money are actually small potatoes. It is not ignorance, you know you're better off than the rest of us so please stop pretending like it's nothing.
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