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Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

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Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#721

Post by adrianN »

9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #583
manigandham wrote: post #542

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is stopping you from owning a factory. The workers are also free to leave anytime without any notice or responsibility to the employer. This is a flexible arrangement for both parties that focuses on individual freedom and responsibility. It also helps make it easy for entrepreneurs to start companies and create jobs in the US and is a direct reason why we don't see the same innovation in regulation-heavy regi…

> Nobody is stopping you from owning a factory Seriously? Should they eat cake as well? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake

All it takes is a small loan of a million dollars.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#722

Post by adrianN »

manigandham wrote: post #628
9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody is stopping you from owning a factory Seriously? Should they eat cake as well? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake

Seriously, who's stopping you? It's ironic to say that on HN when YC has helped launch thousands of companies and several self-made billionaires. The ability to hire and fire fast is undeniably helpful for companies, and being able to quit and move to new jobs is just as useful for personal career development. It might not be for everyone, but it's not any less valid.

The typical member of the precariat doesn't have the financial means of taking an unpaid sick day. How on earth do you imagine that they have the means of starting their own company?

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#723

Post by manigandham »

adrianN wrote: post #721
9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody is stopping you from owning a factory Seriously? Should they eat cake as well? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake

All it takes is a small loan of a million dollars.

Sure, because nobody has ever taken a loan to start a business before. And VC funding doesn't exist. And mortgages are a falsehood. And companies are never bootstrapped either.

I guess eventually owning a factory is just impossible right?

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#724

Post by dehrmann »

mdamore wrote: post #161

I can only hope this leads to a backlash against high growth companies staying private for so long. Along with their jobs, I imagine many AirBnb employees have lost a majority of their (paper) net worth because they were not given the opportunity to sell and diversify.

The only way this is related to IPO timing is that more people are affected. If this happened to a $200M company planning to IPO, the paper losses are still pretty bad.

The main criticism of delaying IPOs is that by the time they hit the public market, all the growth is gone. Markets learned this after Lyft and Uber, and Wework got punished for it. While there can be more corporate shenanigans in a private company, I also buy the justification for staying private that private companies can focus on longer-term thinking without quarter-to-quarter market expectations.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#725

Post by ryandrake »

manigandham wrote: post #628
9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #583

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Nobody is stopping you from owning a factory Seriously? Should they eat cake as well? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake

Seriously, who's stopping you? It's ironic to say that on HN when YC has helped launch thousands of companies and several self-made billionaires. The ability to hire and fire fast is undeniably helpful for companies, and being able to quit and move to new jobs is just as useful for personal career development. It might not be for everyone, but it's not any less valid.

Let me just go find a cash machine and withdraw the $X million needed to buy me a factory. Nobody’s stopping me!

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#726

Post by manigandham »

adrianN wrote: post #722
manigandham wrote: post #628

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, who's stopping you? It's ironic to say that on HN when YC has helped launch thousands of companies and several self-made billionaires. The ability to hire and fire fast is undeniably helpful for companies, and being able to quit and move to new jobs is just as useful for personal career development. It might not be for everyone, but it's not any less valid.

The typical member of the precariat doesn't have the financial means of taking an unpaid sick day. How on earth do you imagine that they have the means of starting their own company?

The discussion was about at-will employment in America. There are pros/cons to both employee and employer, and it is an absolute truth that this arrangement helps companies grow and helps employees eventually start their own companies - as opposed to different regulatory environments.

Adding more regulations will bring equivalent trade-offs because that's the reality of economics. Do you disagree?

If you want to get bogged down in technicalities and anecdotes though, then sure life isn't fair. I worked manual labor before and now own multiple properties. I guess it's just magic.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#727

Post by manigandham »

ryandrake wrote: post #725
manigandham wrote: post #628

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, who's stopping you? It's ironic to say that on HN when YC has helped launch thousands of companies and several self-made billionaires. The ability to hire and fire fast is undeniably helpful for companies, and being able to quit and move to new jobs is just as useful for personal career development. It might not be for everyone, but it's not any less valid.

Let me just go find a cash machine and withdraw the $X million needed to buy me a factory. Nobody’s stopping me!

That's called venture capital, or a loan, or a mortgage; things that millions of others have used to start their own businesses. Happy to make some intro's for you. Let me know.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#728

Post by deaddodo »

sverhagen wrote: post #670
RhodesianHunter wrote: post #665

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've seen 12 months pay in Germany is probably equivalent to 3.5 months pay in the US.

What does that even mean? Are you talking about buying power? How much you lose on taxes? You make it sound like Germany is a low wage country. Their minimum wage is around 9 euros, versus 7 dollars in the US, no?

The Federal minimum wage is a useless metric. California's minimum wage is $12 (and higher, in some counties) and is set to increase to $15/hr by 2022 (assuming COVID doesn't have some major echoing effects).

Also, they're referring to white collar tech employees. All salaried, all well above minimum wage and most definitively the highest paid (in that industry) in the world, including outside of SF/the Bay.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#729

Post by adrianN »

manigandham wrote: post #723
adrianN wrote: post #721

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All it takes is a small loan of a million dollars.

Sure, because nobody has ever taken a loan to start a business before. And VC funding doesn't exist. And mortgages are a falsehood. And companies are never bootstrapped either. I guess eventually owning a factory is just impossible right?

Yeah and I could become a rock star if I started playing the guitar.

Getting loans is hard, especially if you're one of the working poor. Starting a company that doesn't die after a few years is harder. When you're one of the 40% of Americans who can't cover an unexpected $400 expense, if you company fails you're fucked. The social safety net in the US is a joke.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#730

Post by bryanrasmussen »

RhodesianHunter wrote: post #665
hkmurakami wrote: post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iirc a German friend got more than 12 months severance for a lay-off in SAP. It’s interesting to Compare differences in norms around the world.

From what I've seen 12 months pay in Germany is probably equivalent to 3.5 months pay in the US.

googling Silicon Valley programmer wages I got https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/san-jose-computer-program...

Which basically the average Silicon valley wage is the wage I am making now. However that is with quite a bit of seniority, I've noticed offers from Germany are generally lower than what I make but Germany costs less. If I were starting out right now I would probably make 60% of what I make now.

My guesstimate of the difference has always been that a years pay in Denmark was equivalent to 8 months pay in the better paid parts of the U.S.

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