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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

#141

Post by metaphorm »

inimino wrote: post #133
metaphorm wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's a typical engineer salary in a funded startup or a big tech company in basically any U.S. city that has funded startups or big tech companies. I know engineer pay is lower in some other countries. UK comes to mind as particularly awful for engineer pay. Still, the context of the discussion is in how much it costs _the company_ not how much it costs the engineer. It's small potatoes for a company.

And 80% of the software engineers in the world aren't in America. If you think the countries like the UK where pay is lower than the US, which is the highest in the world, is "particularly awful", you might be living in a bubble. Not to mention plenty of people making less than 100k even in the US, even for big tech companies you've heard of in big cities like Seattle and New York.

I'm a bit disappointed in the accusatory tone of your post. Literally everyone is in a bubble. My bubble is New York City. What's yours?

There are zero humans anywhere in any time or place that have global awareness and are not bounded by their personal experience and local context. So what are you even trying to say?

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

#142

Post by stable-point »

CalChris wrote: post #43
rfrank wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Embody, also by Herman Miller.

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

I don't imagine many start-ups buy them new. My previous employer bought a bunch of Aeron chairs second-hand (from other failed start-ups...)

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

#143

Post by toomuchtodo »

EpicEng wrote: post #129
toomuchtodo wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is your workstation a luxury? Bathrooms? Desks? Ergonomic chairs are no different. They are tools of your trade; don't skimp on tools.

What a ridiculous comparison. No, I wouldn't say bathrooms are a luxury. A $1600 chair is. What world do you live in?

One where I want to be comfortable for the 8 hours a day I'm working and have leverage as someone with skills in demand.

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

#144

Post by dmix »

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...

He literally gets asked about this directly in the article and admits as much:

> TC: Almost every time we’ve talked over the years, you’ve said that work is busy. Certainly, it slows down sometimes.

> MP: Sherwood has mostly been on an upward run since we started [in 1992], but we did slow down in 2014, and we couldn’t figure it out. Well, VCs were running their companies further to the edge to [improve their internal rates of returns before they hit the fundraising trail]. Turns out we had our best quarter ever in 2015 [as soon as they stopped funding those companies].

Blame the news industry for running with the same lead every couple of years. It works.

Much like the predictably news industry, people her predictably don't read the article before dismissing it.

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

#145

Post by dmix »

CalChris wrote: post #48
bluetwo wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vampires can't enter a house uninvited.

Really, this guy is not a vampire. He's the grim reaper. I worked for a startup that got shutdown. Don't like failure? Don't work in Silicon Valley. Anyways, Cisco (our probable exit strategy) leaned ever so slightly in the other direction and the VCs pulled our funding. But they also sent in a turnaround guy to reposition us for either the direction Cisco ever so slightly leaned in (soon to lean back) or something e…

This is why the word "suit" exists. There's smart people who contribute value and build companies, clever guys who make money skimming off the top off smart people via finance, and then there are suits who leach off the other two, with no redeeming value.

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

#146

Post by dmix »

rexreed wrote: post #13

I've been saying that since mid-2015 we've been seeing a slow down in the startup sector overall. Last year it was clear that new startup creations isn't keeping pace with previous years and shutdowns are more common. I think 2017 will be a disastrous year for startup formation and venture investment. SXSW this year was diminished from what it was in past years and it's clear that there's a pullback across the board.

If anything it will be a market adjustment year while companies building startups in low value industries shift to high value ones (ie, anything AI). High spikes and drops are relatively rare (at most 1-2 decades). And some industries don't have that volatility at all. Startups will always to some extent have fluctuations but that doesn't mean it will be world ending like the last two.

Markets and investors adapt to experience. Much like this article said, companies are learning to wind down companies faster and pivot earlier. Founders and VCs get better at managing risk.

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

#148

Post by everybodyknows »

rfrank wrote: post #103
jpm_sd wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Same here. My workaround: elliptical exerciser, and a tablet with a good screen.

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

#149

Post by inimino »

metaphorm wrote: post #141
inimino wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And 80% of the software engineers in the world aren't in America. If you think the countries like the UK where pay is lower than the US, which is the highest in the world, is "particularly awful", you might be living in a bubble. Not to mention plenty of people making less than 100k even in the US, even for big tech companies you've heard of in big cities like Seattle and New York.

I'm a bit disappointed in the accusatory tone of your post. Literally everyone is in a bubble. My bubble is New York City. What's yours? There are zero humans anywhere in any time or place that have global awareness and are not bounded by their personal experience and local context. So what are you even trying to say?

Yes, yes, of course we have limited experience. However, there are more than a few things that every functional adult is expected to be aware of. The scale of global poverty is certainly among them. For software developers, it's not unreasonable to additionally have some passing familiarity with the going wages for similar work in other countries.

For the people lucky enough to be living in the world's number one economy, in an expensive city, in a well-funded startup or an established tech company, 100k is "not a lot" and spending $1500 on a chair can seem something other than absurd.

The other commenter that you replied to above pointed out very clearly that this applies only to some parts of one particular country, and it is perhaps not very polite to act like this is completely unknown to you.

You responded to this from your bubble, and then defended yourself against me by saying that we are all in a bubble. Well, no kidding, but some of us at least try to be aware of it!

Now are you starting to get even the slightest idea of what I'm trying to say?

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

#150

Post by justinzollars »

ericd wrote: post #44
justinzollars wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AMZN is getting crushed at the moment. (Posted at 10:30am PST 3/21). Down $10/share

At >$800/share, that doesn't count as getting crushed.

Good point. Toggling to pct change.
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