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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

#101

Post by [deleted] »

itchyouch wrote: post #68
rfrank wrote: 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

[deleted]

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

#102

Post by inchoa »

wavefunction wrote: post #65
akoster wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my area, there were tons of mortgage companies going under left and right back then. Definately lots of people lost their jobs but the glut of cheap office furniture allowed my dad's cost-conscious company consistently upgrade for a while. Since they were a descent-sized firm, buying a lot of chairs or monitors was easy but I wonder how often for someone like myself interested in just a single desk or chair could…

Overstock.com built their business largely on the assets left from the dotCom bubble bursting around the millennium. For some, a crisis is an opportunity.

Or as Rahm Emanuel states: "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste"[0].

[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb-YuhFWCr4

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

#103

Post by rfrank »

jpm_sd wrote: post #96
rfrank wrote: 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.

I'm 6'3" and completely screwed up my lower back from rowing. In 2013 I had got to the point where I could not sit down at a computer for more than 10 minutes. After four years of swimming 3-4x/wk, my back is now totally fine! Highly recommended.

Swimming is definitely something I've thought about, especially because I want to be good to my knees as well - years of outdoor basketball took its toll haha. My problem is that I find it pretty boring, so I have a hard time getting motivated. I should just do it anyway, or make some time to go to the beach or something.

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

#104

Post by KeepTalking »

Isn't this a very healthy statistic? In theory, not all companies are meant to last forever. Heck, no company should last forever.

Infact, I would argue that he should be doing 7-8 a week. Clearing out the deck and making way for the new is a good way we can maintain a long term healthy eco system.

Frankly, many iffy biz models that escape startup death aren't survivors but are just long term zombies that are propped up by investor stupidity with no clear path to sustainable growth.

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

#105

Post by x0x0 »

maccard wrote: post #33
justinzollars wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just scored one from an out of business startup!

How did you get it? WOuld be itnerested in getting one myself.

If you're in sfbay, there's tons of used office furniture vendors on the peninsula. You can find them on CL or yelp. Drive down, pick one out, and you can walk out with it on the spot.

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

#107

Post by [deleted] »

itchyouch wrote: post #68
rfrank wrote: 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

[deleted]

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

#108

Post by tdumitrescu »

mrbgty wrote: post #92
iron0012 wrote: post #86

Here's him making the same exact kinds of claims in 2011. He called himself (or claimed that people called him) the 'undertaker' back then: https://www.pehub.com/2011/08/silicon-valley%E2%80%99s-under...

"We are busy as beavers. We’re doing two to four deals a week." You weren't exaggerating.

"MP: We’re seeing two to four companies wind-down a week, which we’ve never seen before."

...except for the last time we saw it.

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

#109

Post by TJ-14 »

geofft wrote: post #53
ajamesm wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, private equity is a natural response to business failing in the wake of a bubble, but bubbles themselves are market distortions caused by insane valuations. Highlighting the value of reclamation just draws the heat off of the irrationality of the tech bubble. Amazon isn't a rich ecosystem, it's oligarchic. And, indeed, any systemic failure in a capitalist economy gets explained away by saying that some cadre of…

Right, this line of reasoning sounds vaguely like the broken-window fallacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window That is, if people being fired from these miserable startups is good for the economy, wouldn't them not having worked there at all have been even better ?

Thats true if we already had a way of knowing they would fail but we don't. Startups are how you try new ideas to find the good ones. Do having them work there and fail creates informational value.

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

#110

Post by mathattack »

TJ-14 wrote: post #109
geofft wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, this line of reasoning sounds vaguely like the broken-window fallacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window That is, if people being fired from these miserable startups is good for the economy, wouldn't them not having worked there at all have been even better ?

Thats true if we already had a way of knowing they would fail but we don't. Startups are how you try new ideas to find the good ones. Do having them work there and fail creates informational value.

This is exactly the point. It's very hard to know which ideas will work, and which teams are best suited for the task. The beauty of the VC model is that it starts companies on the cheap. Many companies fail, and those people can go chase either the companies that won, or new startups. It's much better than a world where you have a couple monopolies with grand strategic plans that don't actually get anything done.

The East Coast Monopoly mindset was why Xerox PARC had money to create things, but never got anything done with them.

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