Key passage for me >MP: We sell a lot of patents, maybe more than anyone else. Usually, the only way to pay back [lenders’] loans is to sell the patents. So people aren’t paying what the company would have been worth but usually enough to pay back that secured debt. So many companies saying they'll only use their patents defensively... may find that their patents will fall into the hands of someone who doesn't share…
Companies seldom care what happens after they're dead. Since we do care, we take their promises with a grain of salt.
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...
Here's an idea. Go talk to these guys when you're starting your company. These guys are seeing all the failures, so they should have a decent grasp of what NOT to do. Discounting for the fact that they're only seeing failures.
There's some innocence in your comment which I wish I still appreciated. I think the grittier reality is that a lot of these startups were based on generally mediocre ideas, but were funded anyway because of relationships and contacts. I cringe every time I see another "Come help us change the world at..." or "Come help us reinvent blah blah" here on HN. Instant red flag to me, but I'll be damned if they didn't get f…
I really wish I remember where I had heard it or maybe read it, but it was an investor's advice to new investors: "If the (startup) company comes in to the (investor) meeting with lots of color and excitement, turn him down. The guy that comes in and nearly bores you to sleep with his spreadsheets, he's the one to invest in."
At $1500 for a chair, no wonder these startups are failing.
$1500/1920 work hours a year = $0.78/hr. Seems reasonable to me.
Maybe. $1600 is still $1600 though, and the luxuries add up to real money. Especially worrisome when you're generating no real revenue and operating on other people's dime.
All this needs is a "This is good for Bitcoin." and we've reached full success-fail.
It's actually a core and well supported part of capitalism - people hire more when firing is easy, lenders are more willing to lend in industries with repo men, etc. It's kind of morbid, but rich ecosystems like the Amazon mostly exist because dead stuff is rapidly recycled. The economy is no different: slowing down the cycle is incredibly distortionary.
It's actually a core and well supported part of capitalism - people hire more when firing is easy, lenders are more willing to lend in industries with repo men, etc. It's kind of morbid, but rich ecosystems like the Amazon mostly exist because dead stuff is rapidly recycled. The economy is no different: slowing down the cycle is incredibly distortionary.
People do not hire more when firing is easy.
Employers are more willing to hire risky people if it's easy to fire them. If it is not, large vetting processes are required and hiring people reduces. Because making a mistakes costs so much. It's even worse for small businesses where one bad hire you cannot fire can bankrupt the company.
It's a reason why young people find it hard to get full time permanent jobs and are instead hired as temps instead.