Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis • Hacker News Board

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#21

Post by Holomakerbot » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:03 PM UTC

ModernMech wrote: post #7

velominati wrote: post #6

This is great evidence of the greater fool theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory I’ve heard some second hand anecdotes about Magic. Apparently they have one big technology advance, which is that they’ve solved the eye tracking and vertigo challenges of AR. These are hard and not to be underestimated. However the company is supposedly a mess internally - with huge management and political issues. T…

Not any good data, but I've had recruiters tell me that they don't pay very well (in SV terms), instead opting to sell employees on large options packages that will be "worth millions one day". It's a typical SV story, but one I wouldn't expect from a company that's valued at billions of dollars. That kind of behavior seems shady to me, so I wouldn't even consider working there.

Here’s some actual data: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Magic-Leap-Salaries-E799754...

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#22

Post by JumpCrisscross » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:06 PM UTC

ModernMech wrote: post #7

velominati wrote: post #6

This is great evidence of the greater fool theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory I’ve heard some second hand anecdotes about Magic. Apparently they have one big technology advance, which is that they’ve solved the eye tracking and vertigo challenges of AR. These are hard and not to be underestimated. However the company is supposedly a mess internally - with huge management and political issues. T…

Not any good data, but I've had recruiters tell me that they don't pay very well (in SV terms), instead opting to sell employees on large options packages that will be "worth millions one day". It's a typical SV story, but one I wouldn't expect from a company that's valued at billions of dollars. That kind of behavior seems shady to me, so I wouldn't even consider working there.

> opting to sell employees on large options packages that will be "worth millions one day"

They're also notorious for refusing to allow employees to sell their shares, even if nothing in the original agreement prohibits a compliant transfer.

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#23

Post by goshx » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:06 PM UTC

meestaahjoshee wrote: post #18

walrus01 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not to excuse significantly lower pay from magic leap, but their compensation might be calculated based on their office location in Plantation, Florida which I presume has significantly lower real estate (rental or purchase) costs than the bay area. actual take home after rent or mortgage each month might be greater than something in mountain view. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantation,_Florida spending 20 seconds…

also no state income tax in florida

and 6% sales tax

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#24

Post by Holomakerbot » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:06 PM UTC

iooi wrote: post #4

> Magic Leap has raised more than $2.3 billion to date, and has been valued at above $6 billion. How can you raise that much money without shipping a product? Or better question, why do you need raise that much money in the first place?

Only a couple weeks to find out. They have multiple presentations slated for GDC, the largest gaming developer conference.

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#25

Post by JumpCrisscross » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:08 PM UTC

dogma1138 wrote: post #14

Well life imitates art http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980210/

A Hologram for the King (2016): "A failed American sales rep looks to recoup his losses by traveling to Saudi Arabia and selling his company's product to a wealthy monarch."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980210/

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#26

Post by walrus01 » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:10 PM UTC

goshx wrote: post #23

meestaahjoshee wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

also no state income tax in florida

and 6% sales tax

but depending on your political views, you also have to tolerate living in florida, which can be a distasteful experience to people whose cultural, religious and political values more closely align with the residents of portland, OR.

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#27

Post by velominati » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:11 PM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #19

iooi wrote: post #4

> Magic Leap has raised more than $2.3 billion to date, and has been valued at above $6 billion. How can you raise that much money without shipping a product? Or better question, why do you need raise that much money in the first place?

I wonder if given the bulky size of the thing, the tech might be great, but it's just too early. For those people who are old enough to have been working in the tech industry in the dotcom 1.0 boom days, the business model proposed by the epic failure of Webvan was later validated by Amazon/Prime Now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan Look at all that money down the drain.

It's possible. The Apple Newton is a great case study of a good idea that was too early. And the inability to minitiarize it sufficiently to fit in a pocket was one reason for it's failure. A few years later the Palm Pilot was much more successful because it could fit in your pocket, especially the baggy jeans that were fashionable in the late 90's.

Webvan's model hasn't yet been validated. The local delivery startups and offerings are still losing lots of money. If anyone can make it work it will be Amazing, but it has yet to be validated as a profitable business.

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#28

Post by DavidHm » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:12 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #22

ModernMech wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not any good data, but I've had recruiters tell me that they don't pay very well (in SV terms), instead opting to sell employees on large options packages that will be "worth millions one day". It's a typical SV story, but one I wouldn't expect from a company that's valued at billions of dollars. That kind of behavior seems shady to me, so I wouldn't even consider working there.

> opting to sell employees on large options packages that will be "worth millions one day" They're also notorious for refusing to allow employees to sell their shares, even if nothing in the original agreement prohibits a compliant transfer.

Is the refusal legally valid, or just pressure?

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#29

Post by smnscu » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:12 PM UTC

I won a magi leap at a hackathon a long time ago, and while it was a cute device and fairly well working, it was pretty much useless so I ended up selling it. I wonder what will be different this time, especially given the internal turmoil of the company, and the ludicrous amount of funding they received.

edit: Thanks, I was indeed thinking about Leap Motion. Which makes it even weirder, did these people truly never put anything on the market yet?

edit2: people love giving out downvotes. please, the more the merrier

Re: Magic Leap Raises $461M from Saudis

#30

Post by Zelphyr » Wed, Mar 07, 2018, 5:12 PM UTC

Regardless of whether Magic Leap is a Theranos level scam (and I personally think it is), this is additional evidence that there are massive amounts of investment money available out there.