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Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

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Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#471

Post by wing-_-nuts »

bsanr2 wrote: post #411
mardifoufs wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay thanks for the clarification, but still if anything I find the tech sector to be one of the industry with the least amount of racial prejudice even in promotions. I totally understand that personal experiences can be different and are still valid, but I think the data tells us that there isn't any widespread systemic racism in tech. The proportion of people of color in C level exec/higher management levels is hu…

That is inaccurate to the point of straining good faith.

His point is accurate if you include asians as a minority group. I suspect you're talking specifically about black people.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#472

Post by drsooch »

londons_explore wrote: post #403
gjmacd wrote: post #388

Not naming the company, but I know of a startup that's got a round of $10M (not much but enough) who just applied for relief because their burn rate is $200K+ a month. They have no customers, have been in the red for 2 years and have been slowly building their product out -- like most early funded startups -- they are building potential without revenue (yet). Their theory is, get some free money and treat it like 6 m…

This is the government's fault for not attaching more strings to the money. It should have been a loan at favourable interest rates with a fixed term.

I created an Account just for this thread.

I spent time working as a Credit Analyst for an Economic Development Firm (AKA we made SBA 504 loans). I would like to note I am no longer in the industry, however I do have contacts still. I've spent some time on the phone discussing the program with current lenders.

The SBA does not just hand out money with no strings attached. The actual 504 loan program (general small business loans) have strict requirements that are adhered too. There are size constraints, business type constraints etc. and (some of) these constraints extend to the PPP. I can't say for certain but it is entirely possible this firm doesn't qualify.

As for the PPP, I believe the max loan amount is 2.5x monthly payroll. I can imagine that 200M burn rate is not purely salary. But safe to say they can apply for a maximum 500M. Is that an exorbitant amount of money for a firm with no revenue? Probably.

But in talks with those in the industry, the main concern is Construction Companies. In the markets I'm in, construction is still underway, so these companies are applying for PPP while still maintaining a constant revenue stream. They are essentially getting free employees for 2.5 months, while still being relatively unaffected. That will most likely change if the economy enters a larger downturn as construction is usually the first to go.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#473

Post by Animats »

StillBored wrote: post #394
jboy55 wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My company was featured in a story on Herman Miller, where we spent more on Chairs then we had in revenue for the entire 24 months of our existence.

The other side of this, is the company I worked for about that time, purchased the entire set of office furniture from a defunct company to setup our office when we moved. Turns out we didn't need it all, and sold a lot of it. At the end of the year, the majority of our profit was the furniture hussle.

At the end of the first dot-com boom, there was a place in San Jose called Consolidated Office Supply which bought the furniture of failed dot-coms. They had a warehouse which covered an entire city block, full of used furniture. Looked like the warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I bought furniture there for something I was starting up. Very cheap, and they delivered.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#474

Post by thorwasdfasdf »

fma wrote: post #450
PaulRobinson wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is looking 2001-dot-com-crash bad, but much, much faster. It's worth remembering there are plenty of companies not laying people off, and "normal" will return eventually. That said, I was watching The Big Short yesterday, and a line that I had noted before haunted me even more: "For every 1% unemployment goes up [in the USA], 40,000 people die". Stay safe, stay positive.

Meanwhile the Nasdaq is roaring back from a bottom...Someone is making a lot of money on the crash and the government printing press. It ain't me.

It's pretty common, i heard realvision say traders make most of their money when crashes happen.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#475

Post by forgotmylogin2 »

barry-cotter wrote: post #32
PaulRobinson wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is looking 2001-dot-com-crash bad, but much, much faster. It's worth remembering there are plenty of companies not laying people off, and "normal" will return eventually. That said, I was watching The Big Short yesterday, and a line that I had noted before haunted me even more: "For every 1% unemployment goes up [in the USA], 40,000 people die". Stay safe, stay positive.

> Assessing the short term health impact of the Great Recession in the European Union: a cross-country panel analysis > Results > Overall, during the recent recession, an increase of one percentage point in the standardised unemployment rate has been associated with a statistically significant decrease in the following mortality rates: all-cause-mortality (3.4%), cardiovascular diseases (3.7%), cirrhosis- and chronic…

That seems pretty disingenuous given that the Great Depression was the lynchpin for World War 2 which directly resulted in the deaths of 75 million people.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#476

Post by mehh »

dsfargeg wrote: post #214

Babylon Health furloughed 140 people. I think they're using this as an excuse to re-structure their organisation. The tagline is that they are furloughing 5% of staff. They've used it as an opportunity to make 30% of their mobile engineers redundant, as well as push many senior engineers on higher salaries towards the exit

cough ... React Native ...

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#477

Post by dragonwriter »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #471
bsanr2 wrote: post #411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is inaccurate to the point of straining good faith.

His point is accurate if you include asians as a minority group. I suspect you're talking specifically about black people.

> His point is accurate if you include asians as a minority group.

No, it's not. Even if they were favored, one racial minority group being favored and others being disfavored doesn't balance out to “no racism”, it's even more racism than the latter being disfavored alone. And even if there is no evidence of racism in either direction affecting Asians, that doesn't negate racism affecting other groups.

At best it might be accurate of you only look at Asians.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#478

Post by Nasrudith »

DangerousPie wrote: post #428
dznodes wrote: post #370

Is there a website that shows which companies take government bailouts but still do layoffs.

At least the PPP program is conditional on them not doing layoffs, isn't it?

For it to be a defacto grant instead of a loan I believe. Far softer in conditions essentially.

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#479

Post by opo »

sudosysgen wrote: post #415
bitcurious wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are conflating “for profit” with private. Most good hospitals are non profit, but private institutions. To help you understand how this could decrease revenue - my annual checkup is postponed by 6 months. This is true for everyone who had an annual checkup scheduled.

I agree. but the existence of for-profit healthcare is largely why the US is the only country without public healthcare.

This is a common misconception about health care. Most countries have a mix of private/public funding a mix of private/public run health care. Canada is almost all non-profit charity hospitals, but other OECD countries use for profit hospitals. For example:

>...The study, released Tuesday, compared the universal health-care systems of Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, and looked at the presence of for-profit hospitals and for-profit health-care insurers in each of these countries. ... The study found that for-profit health-care insurers and for-profit hospitals are found in all six countries. This is in contrast to Canada, where similar for-profit insurance is not allowed, and where only a small number of private, for-profit hospitals exist.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/for-profit-care-can-exist-in-a...

Re: Ask HN: Who Is Firing?

#480

Post by lvs »

nunez wrote: post #452
gjmacd wrote: post #388

Not naming the company, but I know of a startup that's got a round of $10M (not much but enough) who just applied for relief because their burn rate is $200K+ a month. They have no customers, have been in the red for 2 years and have been slowly building their product out -- like most early funded startups -- they are building potential without revenue (yet). Their theory is, get some free money and treat it like 6 m…

The exec isn't wrong. You don't turn down free money if it's available, especially if you can use it to help build the business. There are plenty of businesses in /r/smallbusiness or /r/startups talking about doing exactly this. Now, if they used it to buy a new McLaren or something like that, then, yeah, they're a piece of shit.

You're right. Morality means nothing. Every man for himself.
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