Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’ • Hacker News Board

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

#431

Post by tenpies » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 12:49 AM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #219

bob33212 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good start-up CEOs struggle with this because many of them do care for their employees at a personal level, but they also have an obligation to the owners/investors to be financially successful. And the most findnacially successful CEOs are going to put investors first when they are up against the wall. I assume they rationalize it by saying that if the company is successful that is better in the long run for everyon…

I’m not sure how they’re putting investors first? Maybe they’re putting the employees remaining after the cut first? Of course you can alternatively say to everyone the company will be dead in 3 months, but I’m not sure that’s better.

Exactly. I find that people who complain about shareholders or investors are literally just complaining that the business is not a not for profit.

Shareholders and investors are just a proxy for the business. If you want to use them as an excuse for lay offs - go for it - but realize that 99% of the time the decision comes down to "do I save half by firing the other half, or do we all go down with the ship?".

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

#432

Post by JimTheMan » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 2:31 AM UTC

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #322

JimTheMan wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, would you be able to elaborate on the type of practice? I wouldn't imagine they are a GP? This crisis would increase their traffic. Cosmetic surgery?

This crisis is hitting medical practices incredibly hard, given that all non-emergency procedures are canceled (by law where I live). You seem to be implying by saying "cosmetic surgery" that it's just personal, cash-pay procedures, but that's totally wrong. Primary care, pediatrics, radiology, sports medicine, dermatology, on and on - they're all getting killed by this.

Just trying to have it make sense in my head. Surprised primary care numbers are down. Had that in my head as essential.

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

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Post by vosper » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 2:43 AM UTC

RestlessMind wrote: post #319

vosper wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First, I'm sorry about your troubles. But it's not this way everywhere: there are countries (I'm thinking of Scandinavian) where inequality is perhaps not so bad, and there are countries where governments are making major and genuine efforts to support businesses and people who are at risk of (or who have) lost their jobs due to Covid. There's bad leadership and bad behaviour in many places, but not everywhere all at…

Global population is 7.8B. Scandinavia's population is 25-26M (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark). So your point applies to countries with 0.33% of humanity, which is not representative at all. Maybe add a few tiny countries or city-states and I would be surprised if their aggregative population crosses 2% of the overall global population. So I believe GP's point still stands - humanity has not learned the lesson from…

The entire rest of the world that's not part of Scandinavia is not the polar opposite. There are many countries, and much diversity in their equality and government responses.

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

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Post by danielscrubs » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 6:15 AM UTC

mepiethree wrote: post #401

danielscrubs wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How? I was in the city for a week and saw more needles on the street than the slums of China. Even the townsfolk would complain about some mental hospital closing down forcing mentally ill people to live on the streets and you could see them everywhere. That said, I didn't have a guide, I'd just walk with friends for an hour or two aimlessly starting from the pier. On the other hand, this is how I'm used to do it and…

All cities have bad parts. San Francisco is somewhat unique amongst places that I've visited, in that most of the tourist traps are either in or are immediately next to the absolute worst parts of town.

Human suffering (homelessness, needles and mental issues) is not something I'd call bad parts. Whatever that was goes beyond that.

I don't even want to know how it would affect a person to see that every day and think it's normal.

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

#435

Post by wink » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 1:59 PM UTC

qppo wrote: post #54

Startups are in way better shape than traditional small businesses. By our very nature, we need months of runway just to keep running. We're designed to weather this kind of storm because "zero revenue" is the default state. Hearing about Bird cutting 30% of their workforce is awful. But it's nothing compared to the thin-margin Mom & Pop, or medium sized private enterprise that had 1 week of cash on hand and ceased o…

I'm still a little shocked when hearing this, though. I'm talking about the small business who face bankruptcy after a single month of downtime/no income - that doesn't sound like a healthy business anyway if you didn't just start out. Or maybe I'm thinking the wrong size, where you have tons of recurring costs? Also freelancers (in IT, so assuming enough income usually) who are panicking because they couldn't sustain a few months.

Only exception I'm seeing are restaurants and shops with large inventory and a lot of personnel.

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

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Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 2:24 PM UTC

danielmunro wrote: post #192

ilikehurdles wrote: post #6

It's hardly unique to startups, and has more to do with the industries they're in than the company size. Mine is still hiring very aggressively but we are in the health research industry which didn't face the same sort of "unwinding", and have always been remote so there's no empty office we're obligated to pay rent for. Meanwhile I have friends in very established publicly traded companies who have been laid off or…

I was laid off last week (yes, it was a startup), do you have a link to a careers page?

[deleted]

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

#437

Post by ilikehurdles » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 3:03 PM UTC

danielmunro wrote: post #192

ilikehurdles wrote: post #6

It's hardly unique to startups, and has more to do with the industries they're in than the company size. Mine is still hiring very aggressively but we are in the health research industry which didn't face the same sort of "unwinding", and have always been remote so there's no empty office we're obligated to pay rent for. Meanwhile I have friends in very established publicly traded companies who have been laid off or…

I was laid off last week (yes, it was a startup), do you have a link to a careers page?

I sent you a message on your LinkedIn

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

#438

Post by anthony_r » Mon, Apr 06, 2020, 10:31 PM UTC

Marazan wrote: post #427

anthony_r wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is "rational". I don't think that this theory assumes anything about "rationality". It's many of the other economic theories that are built on the pinnacle of "rationality".

I mean, the fact that ABCT is not backed up historical events either is a bit of a blow to its credibility.

Have you ever seen the chart of fed funds rate with shaded recessions?

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

#439

Post by pmart123 » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 4:33 PM UTC

jbverschoor wrote: post #361

pmart123 wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I buy this. 80-90% revenue declines across many industries is unprecedented. Especially in cases where poor operations didn't impact the business. Businesses like Hilton or Disney that have operated for 100 years may go bankrupt (not out of business) before this is all over.

And they will simply continue after the bankruptcy

Yes, I mentioned this. I’m just saying that a large drop in revenue right now doesn’t necessary correlate with a product that people generally want or is useful.

Re: Startups are pummeled in the ‘great unwinding’

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Post by axiom92 » Wed, Apr 08, 2020, 5:58 PM UTC

sershe wrote: post #417

axiom92 wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, in addition to the weather, I do miss nature. I think nature is always next door depending on where you are in the Bay area. For example, you can be in Foster City at 5 pm, get on 92W and reach crystal springs water reservoir on Canãda road by 5:10 (you already feel like you're far away from the city); 15 more minutes and you could be on Skyline (this was also one of my favorite "amaze the tourist" rou…

I used to bike up to Skyline on Old La Honda road. I didn't consider it to be really impressive nature... at least not compared to the above mentioned cities. IMHO there are too many people and built-up land there (a general problem in the Bay Area), and whatever hikes/etc. are available are flat and rather mediocre. Marin is not bad but also crowded, flat and gets old fast. Places like Skyline, Saint Helena, Mount D…

I hear you, but to me it was a good mix of nature vs. city. I actually lived in Woodside (off of 280 so closer to the woods area, not to RWC) and it was amazing.

On the hikes, I'd recommend Windy hill and Russian ridge if you haven't tried them. The former especially really takes you deep into the woods.