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A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

thehustle.co

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Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#101

Post by Loughla »

tyingq wrote: post #33
overcast wrote: post #9

What I don't understand, is how it wasn't immediately apparent this stuff was junk? You couldn't possibly think that it was equal in quality to much more expensive competitors. I guess it's just the case of not being real, until someone says it.

Diamonds, especially the recent craze around discolored ones might be a good comparison. They are valuable mostly because of years of shrewd marketing. If DeBeers started telling the truth, they could drop in value pretty quickly.

I was absolutely floored when I started seeing advertisements for 'chocolate' diamonds a few years back, and even more floored that people I knew just HAD to have them.

I had dealt with 'chocolate' diamonds for years, I currently have hundreds in my wood shop! My father works as a machinist, and brown, low-quality diamonds are their abrasive of choice for many jobs. They're (or rather, they were) super cheap because they were such low quality. I always swiped a handful when I visited him at work as a kid, because they made great pellets (they were exceptionally tiny and really hard) for my slingshot. I had a whole jug of them and just forgot about the things.

And now here we are.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#102

Post by PhasmaFelis »

whenchamenia wrote: post #60
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #19

I think a lot of people, then and now, miss the important takeaway here. It's not about Ratner or his products; it's about all the other products that we continue to use and trust every day, because their creators are smart enough to maintain the lie.

Most people on HN just treat it as a cautionary tale, as the implicit lies that underlie most SV companies are piled high and deep. Everyone knows they are standing on a rug, and are anxiously looking around for any pulling.

Yeah, exactly. Whether someone takes this as a lesson for business owners instead of for consumers tells you something about them.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#103

Post by JackFr »

dragontamer wrote: post #28
smallgovt wrote: post #15

I think the more interesting lesson to learn from this was how Ratner was able to deal and cope with the public embarrassment following the mishap. It reminds me of this TED talk where Jon Ronson talks about how public shaming has gone out of control with the advent of social media: https://www.ted.com/talks/jon_ronson_what_happens_when_onlin...

Actually, the best "public shaming" talk I've seen are the ones given by Monica Lewinsky. When you consider that Monica Lewinsky was 22 years old during the time of the scandal, a lot of the stuff going on was simply outside of her control. Seeing things from her perspective is pretty interesting, to say the least: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq7Eh6JTKIg John Oliver starts the discussion, but there is a Lewinsky…

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/03/john-olive...

I loved John Oliver on the Daily Show, but I find Last Week Tonight formulaic and dull. It's the identical shtick every week with a different topic to be outraged over.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#104

Post by reroute1 »

Ididntdothis wrote: post #85
gdy wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Women are naturally attracted to men in power, others seek career advantages over coworkers through sex with their superiors.

That’s why in most companies it’s absolutely verboten for a manager to have any kind of romantic/sexual relationship with subordinates. This should apply to the president too. Having sex with an intern is just shameful and shows serious character issues.

Still not necessarily victimizing anyone though

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#106

Post by ikeyany »

rifung wrote: post #67
gdy wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is she a victim?

Some would argue that she was coerced because of the vast power difference in their respective positions. It's part of the reason you aren't supposed to have relationships with someone you manage.

Then it's not a stretch then to say all workplace romances between staff members and the people under them are coercive.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#107

Post by dheera »

calibas wrote: post #76

What I find most fascinating is that a multimillion dollar company was destroyed simply because the owner told the truth. Imagine if fast food CEOs were honest about the quality of their food instead of just parroting marketing bullshit.

Yeah, this is what I find is the most sad part. I actually value people who are willing to be transparent and honest about themselves, and in my mind that kind of honesty should increase the valuation of a company, at least in the sense that there is indirect value delivered to society when more honest people are in control of money.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#109

Post by toomuchtodo »

natalyarostova wrote: post #90
dumbfoundded wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, everyone who bought it already knew it was crap. It's the same thing for buying $15K engagement rings. Everyone knows it's a stupid use of money and that the rings have no value. Same goes for clothing, cars, and many other things. These types of products succeed because of a shared delusion. Take fashion for instance. Everyone believes some clothes are more fashionable than others. The way you dress says…

It's not delusion, it's signaling.

Signaling is the effort through which you participate in a shared delusion.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#110

Post by xyzal »

Ratner apparently bragged too much, which cost his company a fortune, which apparently was not his intent.

I wonder, if there is a documented case of someone causing similar loss just for the reason of "having enough" with the pure intent of causing as much damage as possible or just for causing as much evil/pain as possible. In the sense of listening to his/hers dark triad temptation.

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