VCs Are Just Tired • Hacker News Board

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#41

Post by wheelerwj » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 1:21 AM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #36

fludlight wrote: post #11

Everyone is tired because they are overworked: engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, bankers, police, cooks, janitors. Long shifts, split shifts, long commutes, homework, constant interruptions, questionable management practices, weak labor laws, weak enforcement thereof, asymmetric legal costs, self-training on your own time, expectations of faster and faster turnaround times, less and less support staff...

Who's investigating the reasons behind all the burnout and erosion everywhere ?

what do you mean?

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#42

Post by tempsy » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 1:23 AM UTC

firecall wrote: post #30

tempsy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my point is there’s a lot of people who complain about work that could in theory never work another day in their life again but do for non-financial reasons anyway

How many is 'a lot'?

I don’t know but I think a lot of people (no dependents) could live off $1M in invested savings for the rest of their life.

5-10 years in a managerial class role nets many that much.

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#43

Post by pryelluw » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 1:23 AM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #36

fludlight wrote: post #11

Everyone is tired because they are overworked: engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, bankers, police, cooks, janitors. Long shifts, split shifts, long commutes, homework, constant interruptions, questionable management practices, weak labor laws, weak enforcement thereof, asymmetric legal costs, self-training on your own time, expectations of faster and faster turnaround times, less and less support staff...

Who's investigating the reasons behind all the burnout and erosion everywhere ?

Probable some overworked and underpaid grad student.

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#44

Post by alexashka » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 1:33 AM UTC

fludlight wrote: post #11

Everyone is tired because they are overworked: engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, bankers, police, cooks, janitors. Long shifts, split shifts, long commutes, homework, constant interruptions, questionable management practices, weak labor laws, weak enforcement thereof, asymmetric legal costs, self-training on your own time, expectations of faster and faster turnaround times, less and less support staff...

From my personal experience, there are two camps: people who are working hard, and people who are on cruise control.

Because so many are on cruise control, anyone who wants to make something happen has to work to make up for the lethargy all around him/her.

I don't think it has ever not been this way except for short stints where entire tribes felt a sense of urgency. Most people's idea of an ideal life is sipping cocktails by the beach and gossiping about who said what. There is some wisdom in that :)

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#45

Post by tempsy » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 1:34 AM UTC

azinman2 wrote: post #33

tempsy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my point is there’s a lot of people who complain about work that could in theory never work another day in their life again but do for non-financial reasons anyway

Sounds edge case-y (and only decreasing as wealth inequality increase)... but as you said, there are other reasons that keep them going. It’s not about “survival” in the most basic sense. That doesn’t make it any less real to those people.

$1M savings should last a life time if aggressively invested. If you have no dependents then 5-10 in a managerial class role should get you there

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#46

Post by kev009 » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 1:35 AM UTC

tomhoward wrote: post #34

kev009 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assume for a moment the guy is right by whatever circumstances. There are three supporting pieces of evidence and perhaps the last sentence is "charged" but I don't see how it is offensive even if wholly incorrect. How would he present the very ideas as "curious conversation"?

“Curious conversation” means working towards understanding, as distinct from heaping blame. In all the examples cited, there are many actors and circumstances that have brought these things about; investors, sure, but also customer demand and behavior, technological evolution, social and economic factors at micro and macro scales, and countless millennia of evolution. Angry scapegoating might be briefly cathartic but…

This is like a pharmaceutical company that dumped opioids on the public through legislature, perverting the medical community, advertising and reputation saying "well there are many factors and your brain has countless millennia of evolution to seek out these compounds".

Sorry, I just don't buy it.

People can be wrong, and in fact it is necessary for people to be able to be wrong and state their case and sometimes emotion without tonal arguments to dismiss the hardest of questions.

The root of the comment, the curious part, is: are VCs somehow causing undesirable pathology that leads to their "tiredness"? The moderator happens to work for a VC. I don't think the parent of this thread makes a compelling case, but the sentiment is rooted in reality and can be used to start a useful if uncomfortable discussion.

Perhaps this is not a true intellectual community and I should just leave.

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#47

Post by brink » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 1:39 AM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #35

those poor VCs, how can they live on 52M

You can be rich and miserable.

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#48

Post by tempsy » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 1:47 AM UTC

redis_mlc wrote: post #31

Oh my! Collecting that 2/20 while I sleep is sooooo exhausting! /s

if you have a small fund the 2% barely keeps the light on

I see some articles congratulating people who’ve raise $5M funds. If the fee is 2% you only have $100K to pay yourself and run the business. Not exactly rolling in dough.

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#49

Post by agumonkey » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 3:09 AM UTC

brink wrote: post #47

agumonkey wrote: post #35

those poor VCs, how can they live on 52M

You can be rich and miserable.

True. But I'd rather but sad and wealthy.

Re: VCs Are Just Tired

#50

Post by auston » Fri, Jan 17, 2020, 3:31 AM UTC

Can’t help but feel like they could literally just take a trip outside SV and get:

1. Easier access to deal flow

2. Lower valuations

3. Less competition

If any VCs are interested, HMU I can show you strong deals your peers saw way before you because they looked @ Miami + deals your peers haven’t seen because I live here & I am plugged in.