Hype and plunder: Domo a new low for self-indulgent IPOs • Hacker News Board

Re: Hype and plunder: Domo a new low for self-indulgent IPOs

#161

Post by thousandautumns » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 2:25 PM UTC

dustinlocke wrote: post #72

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #53

"Domo also has spent $600,000 for catering services from Cubby's Chicago Beef, which describes itself as 'a cute little sandwich and salad restaurant.' It’s owned by Josh James and his brother Cubby. ('The menu does look delicious, but there must be caterers in American Fork, Utah, that aren’t owned by the boss,' remarked Shira Ovide of Bloomberg). Domo also has bought $200,000 in furnishings from Alice Lane Home Col…

For real though Cubby's is so good. If I worked there, I wouldn't be upset about the relationship because it's a very popular restaurant.

Its not bad, but I would always get it confused with Chubby's which is far better in my opinion.

Re: Hype and plunder: Domo a new low for self-indulgent IPOs

#162

Post by thousandautumns » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 2:32 PM UTC

deft wrote: post #7

Reading this whole article and it isn't until the end you find out what Domo even does. Can't believe they've built an 800million deficit this quickly. Besides the wasteful expenditures described in the article, where is the money going? This isn't like Uber where they have to spend to grow. They are a software-only company.

Having attended BYU and lived in the Utah Valley area for a while, I can say they were pretty extravagant. They have tons of billboards, many of which don't even really state anything about the business or the product. Just stupid, meme-like quips. They also would come to Career Fairs with 3x as many reps as any other company, most of whom didn't seem to really know what roles they were there looking for, and had tables of all sorts of Domo-branded swag.

In general, the company itself kind of felt like a caricature of the ridiculousness sometimes found in tech these days. Kind of reminded me of the character Richard Hanneman from Silicon Valley.

Re: Hype and plunder: Domo a new low for self-indulgent IPOs

#163

Post by mistersquid » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 2:59 PM UTC

untog wrote: post #32

jmull wrote: post #22

I take this as one of the two central themes of this article: "...points to a persistent flaw in Silicon Valley financing: the willingness to give start-up founders unassailable control of their companies, to the point that investors have no recourse if things go blooey." That's not a flaw, it's a fundamental part of how it is meant to work. The investors generally don't want to invest in companies run by a committee…

> That's not a flaw, it's a fundamental part of how it is meant to work. And, as the article demonstrates, it is not without risk. A CEO spending huge amounts of company money on other ventures he owns for no discernable reason is a pretty great example of why this SV model can be hugely problematic.

Vocabulary question here:

Is this "embezzlement"? I'm not sure because the use of funds were for legitimate services even if they are owned by James and his family.

Is there a different word to describe the siphoning of company funds by directing business to self-affiliated parties? Is this covered by "nepotism"?

(Thanks, in advance, for any clarifications.)

Re: Hype and plunder: Domo a new low for self-indulgent IPOs

#164

Post by dpark » Wed, Jun 06, 2018, 5:06 PM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #130

dpark wrote: post #29

> Domo actually is part of the Salt Lake City region’s “Silicon Slope,” one of several regional offshoots of Silicon Valley. Going off on a tangent, this is really dumb. It’s not an “offshoot” of Silicon Valley. It’s a distant, unrelated region that happens to also have a tech industry. Are Austin, Seattle, and Portland also “offshoots” of Silicon Valley? How about New York? Zurich?

In the sense of being consciously modeled on Silicon Valley, copying many of the practices, I think it's fair to call some other tech scenes offshoots. New York I'd call different in that it's very media- and finance-heavy and leans on existing business tradition more. But even in NYC I can think of some companies that strike me as much more SV in culture than the NY median. And Seattle I don't know well enough to sa…

I think it's absurd to claim that every tech center is an offshoot of Silicon Valley. No one does this for other industries. Milan isn't considered an offshoot of Paris because it has a fashion industry. Chicago isn't considered an offshoot of New York because it has a financial industry. Similarly New York isn't considered an offshoot of London because it has a financial industry.

Only for tech do we do this.

Re: Hype and plunder: Domo a new low for self-indulgent IPOs

#165

Post by airspace69 » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 6:05 AM UTC

I used to work for the former VP of product for DOMO... the stories he told me does make me feel surprised by this story. The CEO led by a sort of "cult of personality" without having a clear direction (that was relayed to the workers/staff) of what he wanted Domo to do. Its a serious leadership failure.

Re: Hype and plunder: Domo a new low for self-indulgent IPOs

#166

Post by airspace69 » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 6:06 AM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #57

jmull wrote: post #22

I take this as one of the two central themes of this article: "...points to a persistent flaw in Silicon Valley financing: the willingness to give start-up founders unassailable control of their companies, to the point that investors have no recourse if things go blooey." That's not a flaw, it's a fundamental part of how it is meant to work. The investors generally don't want to invest in companies run by a committee…

> The investors generally don't want to invest in companies run by a committee of investors There are governance structures between one where the CEO spends "$600,000 for catering services from...[a] sandwich and salad restaurant...owned by Josh James and his brother," and committees of directors. Uber, where a supermajority of the Board (which contains independent directors) can vote off the CEO, is one amongst many…

LOL -Cubbies??? :P

Re: Hype and plunder: Domo a new low for self-indulgent IPOs

#167

Post by airspace69 » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 6:20 AM UTC

phamilton wrote: post #101

tntn wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like door to door summer sales, and the massive bro culture associated with that. But just sign up, you'll make $50000 in 3 months! /s

I feel explaining this for everyone not in the know is appropriate. Mormon missionaries are usually young men ages 18-20 who go out into various places around the world for two years. They learn a lot, generally work really hard, and when they return they usually go off to school. Someone figured out that 2 years knocking on doors to talk about God isn't that different from knocking on doors to talk about . Various c…

Wow - just wow! You nailed it on the head! I've been trying to figure out what was off here, and you succinctly identified the key areas that make the "valley" the way it is! (I'm recently retired from the Air Force, moved here from Hawaii and ended up working in the tech field - I'm also a "member", did the whole missionary thing, and I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why the culture here seems to be so "off" compared to my military background and being around LDS outside of Utah). This place has become a huge multi-marketing campaign with everyone trying to squeeze each other for every buck they can make! Sorry, I better stop my rant! Thanks for the insight though!