Live data from Hacker News

40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

twitter.com

51–60 of 93 posts

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#51

I just tried to look at the tweet to see where this data's coming from, but "[...] quoth the server: '404'". But really, forty percent!? For a statistical study that's an unusually convenient/round number, and for a state with the population of California, the chances of that statistic being accurate for any measurement methodology are astronomically small. Sure the dude could've been rounding it, which is totally fi…

Marc Andreessen spouting off at the mouth about things he doesn't understand?? I can't believe it! /sarcasm

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#53

I just tried to look at the tweet to see where this data's coming from, but "[...] quoth the server: '404'". But really, forty percent!? For a statistical study that's an unusually convenient/round number, and for a state with the population of California, the chances of that statistic being accurate for any measurement methodology are astronomically small. Sure the dude could've been rounding it, which is totally fi…

This is older news, but it notes that the permanent “closure rate” in California was 9.3/1,000 businesses. I’m guessing that’s a monthly rate but it’s not entirely clear to me. It also notes that LA had seen 15,000 businesses closing with half of those being permanent.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/16/yelp-data-shows-60percent-of...

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#54
How does this relate to any other to year period. AFAIK, most small businesses fail in 2 years. So is this number abnormally high or abnormally low or average? don't see any context.

(Of course, the tweet seems to be down. Maybe context existed at one point?)

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The fact of the matter is most small businesses are crap businesses. > They also abuse their workers in ways big business can't get away with, both illegally and legally. Really? You know this to be a fact? It appears that the only thing you know about small business comes from what you read on /r/antiwork The fact of the matter is that 47% of Americans are employed by small businesses. That percentage keeps droppi…

As someone who's worked between big corporations and family owned businesses, I'd say the family owned and small businesses are worse, especially in entry level jobs, than working for a big corporation. At least with a big corporation, they're more likely to leave your branch or location alone if you at least hit their targets for revenue. There's not much in the way of micro management in a job at the bottom rung wi…

You may or may not be right but I wouldn't want to live in a world where we did not have small business.

That combined with the fact that the reason they probably struggle so much to provide for their workers is because they are competing with global multi-nationals that can use tactics to eliminate them.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#56
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except this is the opposite of the actual problem. There's plenty of cash floating around right now: it's why inflation is high. We're finally hitting real supply limits. It's the hottest job market in most people's lifetimes. The fact of the matter is most small businesses are crap businesses. They also abuse their workers in ways big business can't get away with, both illegally and legally. If you work for an emplo…

People don’t like to hear this but a lot of small businesses (especially restaurants) are barely profitable and basically dead men walking. They can barely make payroll and can’t weather even a month of closure, let alone a pandemic. They are “shitty” businesses not because their owners are shitty or that they are doing shitty things, but simply because they just don’t make enough money consistently to be viable. War…

[deleted]

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost as if they're friends who talk about things that happen in each others' lives!

Not on this planet. This sounds like how you talk to your accountant, not your friends. You don't burden your friends with details this specific.

I talk to random people about business details this specific. Different people interact in different ways.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#58
post #54

How does this relate to any other to year period. AFAIK, most small businesses fail in 2 years. So is this number abnormally high or abnormally low or average? don't see any context. (Of course, the tweet seems to be down. Maybe context existed at one point?)

I was wondering that too. I found this article:

https://advisorsmith.com/data/small-business-failure-rate/

AdvisorSmith found that 22% of small businesses fail within the first year, 32% fail within the first two years, and 40% fail within the first three years of business. Half (50%) of small businesses fail within the first five years, and two-thirds (66%) fail within ten years.

Re: 40% of California's small businesses died in the last two years

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sure have a lot of details about your friend's business. Most friends might say, "hey my cost of goods went way up" or "almost doubled". Your friend is oddly specific. And he doesn't have "a bunch of workers" but exactly 8. You must be a very close friend!

Eight is not exactly a difficult number to count up to. You get all employees in a room and count each one individually and you'll get there in under 5 seconds. Well, maybe not you , but...

What business owner calls all employees into a room just to be counted? Is that how you utilize your employees' valuable time?

This has nothing to do with the cidery owner. Do you know the exact headcount of any of your friends' businesses?

You may very well know that your buddy has "about 10" employees or "half a dozen". But to the exact number? And how to explain knowing the exact percentages of cost increases? Can't exactly line them up to be counted like cattle, pardon me, your employees.

Post reply on HN