Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

“Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 193 posts

Re: “Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

#101

Post by speleding »

ttul wrote: post #99
brenden2 wrote: post #7

What I've been hearing on the internet is that companies are racing to lay off as many people as they need to now, before applying for their free bailout money from the government. It also sounds like businesses are trying to lay off more than they actually need to lay off, in order to get the maximum benefit. The terms of the bailout loans are such that they can lay off people before they apply, get the money, and s…

Business owner here. First, let me dispel the myth that business owners are wealthy. All of my friends from school have more liquid assets than I do. I am utterly broke unless you count for the paper wealth of my company shares. When COVID hit, within a week we had customers dropping out of our sales funnel. Half of our expected revenue growth disappeared as customers decided to reduce risk and stick with existing so…

If you pay your employees and you pay taxes then saving your company is already a worthwhile investment for the taxpayer. Governments are typically not very good at owning companies.

Re: “Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

#102

Post by the8472 »

ttul wrote: post #99
brenden2 wrote: post #7

What I've been hearing on the internet is that companies are racing to lay off as many people as they need to now, before applying for their free bailout money from the government. It also sounds like businesses are trying to lay off more than they actually need to lay off, in order to get the maximum benefit. The terms of the bailout loans are such that they can lay off people before they apply, get the money, and s…

Business owner here. First, let me dispel the myth that business owners are wealthy. All of my friends from school have more liquid assets than I do. I am utterly broke unless you count for the paper wealth of my company shares. When COVID hit, within a week we had customers dropping out of our sales funnel. Half of our expected revenue growth disappeared as customers decided to reduce risk and stick with existing so…

> Half of our expected revenue growth

I am guessing that restaurants would be pretty happy if that's all they were facing.

Re: “Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

#104

Post by pdeuchler »

ttul wrote: post #99
brenden2 wrote: post #7

What I've been hearing on the internet is that companies are racing to lay off as many people as they need to now, before applying for their free bailout money from the government. It also sounds like businesses are trying to lay off more than they actually need to lay off, in order to get the maximum benefit. The terms of the bailout loans are such that they can lay off people before they apply, get the money, and s…

Business owner here. First, let me dispel the myth that business owners are wealthy. All of my friends from school have more liquid assets than I do. I am utterly broke unless you count for the paper wealth of my company shares. When COVID hit, within a week we had customers dropping out of our sales funnel. Half of our expected revenue growth disappeared as customers decided to reduce risk and stick with existing so…

If a 50% drop in expected revenue _growth_ causes you to default on your debt you are either a startup that had trouble raising money, in which case now you know that you do not have a viable business plan, or you are running a completely unsustainable business that only existed because of easy access to cheap debt the past couple of years.

Re: “Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

#105

Post by pdeuchler »

onetimemanytime wrote: post #70
praptak wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"And the principle of really existing free market theory is: free markets are fine for you, but not for me. That’s, again, near a universal. So you — whoever you may be — you have to learn responsibility, and be subjected to market discipline, it’s good for your character, it’s tough love, and so on, and so forth. But me, I need the nanny State, to protect me from market discipline, so that I’ll be able to rant and r…

They have a gun pointed to the government, we'll lay off 12,870 employees, unless. And so on. So it's not always that easy.

Pretty easy to call their bluff and just pay for those people's unemployment instead

Re: “Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

#106

Post by liamcardenas »

munificent wrote: post #92
liamcardenas wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s counter-productive. He is making this seem like a huge sacrifice when, in fact, it’s par for the course. I wish if he wanted to talk about it, he would make it less about himself and more about “what it takes to run a business”. In many cases, people pay themselves nothing, take on debt (without having ever made millions of dollars per year), and don’t guilt-trip/lord it over their employees. (Ok I’ve sa…

> in fact, it’s par for the course. I would be very surprised if any significant fraction of CEOs and business owners had cut their personal compensation to this degree. Sure there are a few here and than, but probably, what, less than 5%? This guy is clearly trying to garner some promotion out of his sacrifice, but he did still make the sacrifice and I think it benefits our society to laud people who do this.

You are definitely right for CEOs of large companies. But for small (aka most) businesses, including startups, you might be surprised. It’s also important to note that some business owners don’t have the luxury of being able to cut their own salaries (because they are already living at subsistence levels) and sometimes don’t even take any salary to begin with. By paying himself nothing, he shows he already has resources accumulated (which is not a bad thing!). This is a luxury some business owners have and others do not.

Re: “Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

#107

Post by econcon »

fonkyyack wrote: post #10
brenden2 wrote: post #7

What I've been hearing on the internet is that companies are racing to lay off as many people as they need to now, before applying for their free bailout money from the government. It also sounds like businesses are trying to lay off more than they actually need to lay off, in order to get the maximum benefit. The terms of the bailout loans are such that they can lay off people before they apply, get the money, and s…

I agree with you with the first point, giving money to companies isn't a good idea but I think it's also a bad idea to give it to "the people". I think it would be better to change. My opinion is most people are going to buy thing they don't need. Instead we could focus on better ideas for the future.... I don't know maybe I'm too utopist...

As someone who know a lot of people, just giving us food and water and shelter would be good enough.

Re: “Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

#108

Post by ttul »

pdeuchler wrote: post #104
ttul wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Business owner here. First, let me dispel the myth that business owners are wealthy. All of my friends from school have more liquid assets than I do. I am utterly broke unless you count for the paper wealth of my company shares. When COVID hit, within a week we had customers dropping out of our sales funnel. Half of our expected revenue growth disappeared as customers decided to reduce risk and stick with existing so…

If a 50% drop in expected revenue _growth_ causes you to default on your debt you are either a startup that had trouble raising money, in which case now you know that you do not have a viable business plan, or you are running a completely unsustainable business that only existed because of easy access to cheap debt the past couple of years.

Common misconception. It’s not uncommon for companies to use leverage to fuel growth. High yield venture debt is often tied to growth metrics. It’s not a mistake to operate a company using venture debt. In a highly competitive market, if you don’t lever up, your competitors will eat your market.

Re: “Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

#109

Post by ttul »

speleding wrote: post #101
ttul wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Business owner here. First, let me dispel the myth that business owners are wealthy. All of my friends from school have more liquid assets than I do. I am utterly broke unless you count for the paper wealth of my company shares. When COVID hit, within a week we had customers dropping out of our sales funnel. Half of our expected revenue growth disappeared as customers decided to reduce risk and stick with existing so…

If you pay your employees and you pay taxes then saving your company is already a worthwhile investment for the taxpayer. Governments are typically not very good at owning companies.

They don’t have to own the whole thing. However at some point owning a small non voting stake... I just don’t see the downside. You want cheap money? Uncle Sam is going on your cap table.

Re: “Today I cut my pay to $0. I'm committed to laying off 0 of our employees.”

#110

Post by JakeAl »

brenden2 wrote: post #7

What I've been hearing on the internet is that companies are racing to lay off as many people as they need to now, before applying for their free bailout money from the government. It also sounds like businesses are trying to lay off more than they actually need to lay off, in order to get the maximum benefit. The terms of the bailout loans are such that they can lay off people before they apply, get the money, and s…

It's not a bailout, it's relief from the effects of the government's solution to a perceived problem. There were much better, rational, scientific solutions that wouldn't have destroyed the global economy, starting with mandatory masks and gloves and highly restricted travel starting as far back as January 20th. Smart people acted accordingly as soon as they saw the Chinese doing this, you know, people who knew their government were liars and corrupt. The governments shut things down for people who aren't able to think for themselves, and instead rely on doing what the government tells them to survive.
Post reply on HN