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The layoffs at Klarna

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Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#171

Post by allenu »

hef19898 wrote: post #126
allenu wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I recently left an 8,000 person company that's been on a 2 decade loop of private money to publicly traded and back a couple times now. It occurred to me that in 25ish years (about 10 of which I worked there) that it might never have made any money That is crazy if true. My fear is that there are a ton of tech companies like that, just chasing future profits or an acquisition, but not actually creating anything of…

That is the Amazon way, baby! Not. If a company doesn't make money, cash flow and / or profits (preferably both), it is just under cutting the competition (if smart) or on its way into bancrupcy (if not so smart) or both.

I agree that many are just trying to undercut the competition. My pet theory is this is having an effect on consumers' expectations for tech-based products. Specifically, nobody thinks anything is worth paying for, or at least only want to pay a small price. That leads to only big companies being able to compete in markets since they can subsidize products for a long time.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#172

Post by kolanos »

ygram wrote: post #66

I have never understood why health ensurance is handled by the employer in the US, why don't people buy private health insurance instead? It feels insane to put yourself in that kind of dependency on your employer.

Most employers subsidize, in part or in whole, employee health insurance as a part of their benefits. Private health insurance is very expensive. [0]

[0]: https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/individual-and-fa...

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#173

Post by xmonkee »

curiousllama wrote: post #60
jedberg wrote: post #34

Wow, that sounds so poorly handled. Not figuring out a way to tell everyone affected at (nearly) the same time is probably the worst sin. Best layoff I ever went through was when my boss came to our team and said, "look, don't tell anyone, but we have a layoff coming in a few days. I have to let one of the three of you go. Do you want me to decide or do you want to decide amongst yourselves?". She knew we were good f…

> Best layoff I ever went through was when my boss came to our team and said, "look, don't tell anyone, but we have a layoff coming in a few days. I have to let one of the three of you go. Do you want me to decide or do you want to decide amongst yourselves?" Judging from your reaction, it sounds like yall had a great work environment, and that this was a good way to handle the layoff for your team. It sounds like it…

I know right, what a firecracker.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#174

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

chrsig wrote: post #95
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> experiences that untreated ADHD blessed me with was routinely failing classes. That repeated exposure to undeniable failure Huh. Never thought of this. In a balanced culture, this offers no advantage. But in one still recovering from the self esteem days, when even games were encouraged not to produce any losers, I see how that awareness is competitive.

I used the word blessed somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I'm not sure I would call it an advantage, rather just a different set of experiences than a large majority of the tech world.

It is going sound odd, but I mildly disagree. Long time ago I listened a lecture of a Harvard professor, which went something along the lines of and I am paraphrasing:

>> We did so well to get here and maybe we just have not failed enough.

This really stuck with me, because in my eyes failing and having to earn each 'win' is what gets job done. Yeah, there is always someone smarter, but there are few people, who can stick to something until it is solved. I am actually saying ADHD may have been a blessing in disguise since it forced you to work harder for things others take for granted.

And that is apart from being able to see things in ways majority of population does not.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#175

Post by morelisp »

drstewart wrote: post #141
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really think this just comes from the fact that most startups are either: 1) from California and/or 2) have founders that worked in California and/or 3) raised money from VCs in California I'm all on-board with it being better to be an optimist than a pessimist, and also on-board that destructive criticism doesn't really "serve" anyone. But there's just this rampant over-optimism like nowhere I've experienced. The…

I like how you mention California 6 times but somehow fail to realize this company was founded and based in Sweden

It's a Swedish company but it's definitely one of the most hardcore California Ideological companies in Europe.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#176

Post by chrsig »

zionic wrote: post #161
chrsig wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're complaining that you can't shit on other people. I'm complaining that people don't shit on themselves.

You’re doing the same thing now. Valid, level-headed criticism isn’t “shitting on someone”.

> You’re doing the same thing now.

My wife does call me her favorite hypocrite :)

My statement was certainly an oversimplified assessment.

> Valid, level-headed criticism

This is a good clarification to make, thank you. Ultimately this is what I'm longing for more of in the world. "shitting on" either yourself or someone else isn't helpful.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#177

Post by ww520 »

hotpotamus wrote: post #74
allenu wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I recently left an 8,000 person company that's been on a 2 decade loop of private money to publicly traded and back a couple times now. It occurred to me that in 25ish years (about 10 of which I worked there) that it might never have made any money That is crazy if true. My fear is that there are a ton of tech companies like that, just chasing future profits or an acquisition, but not actually creating anything of…

I actually worked providing infrastructure to tech companies; from large enterprises to startups. I think I realized starting in the early to mid 10's that all the startups I was working with were just about taking VC money to provide the founders with hip, well paying jobs - the stated goal of the company was mostly immaterial and the "change the world" talk was virtue signaling to the rank and file so they don't fe…

Story time. I was looking to buy a 911 in the past. Found one at a dealership. The car was 3 years old, just off lease, in good condition, and with no accidents shown in Carfax.

I searched the VIN number in the state’s DMV car registration database. Well well. The car had an expired tag and had high thousands of dollars of unpaid taxes, fees and penalties against it. The owner had never bothered to pay any taxes and fees over the years. I would have to pay all those when doing the car transfer at DMV.

I was kind of pissed and disgusted. I then searched the VIN number on the web. Found the VIN in a post in a car forum for an attempt to sell the car. It had a phone number!

I searched the phone number. Got the name of the guy and his company. He was the founder and CEO of a startup.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#178

Post by lumost »

tryptophan wrote: post #130
ygram wrote: post #66

I have never understood why health ensurance is handled by the employer in the US, why don't people buy private health insurance instead? It feels insane to put yourself in that kind of dependency on your employer.

If EMPLOYER pays you 10k and you want to buy a plan for 5k, you first have to pay taxes on the 10k, lets say 20%, so you have 8k - 5k = 3k left over. OR The employer can just buy the 5k plan for you tax free, and pay you 5k instead. This means you have 4k left over after tax! This is because healthcare plans are not taxed if provided by the employer. Incredibly retarded, yes, it is.

Why isn't this just tax deductible?

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#180

Post by drdec »

Izkata wrote: post #107
ygram wrote: post #66

I have never understood why health ensurance is handled by the employer in the US, why don't people buy private health insurance instead? It feels insane to put yourself in that kind of dependency on your employer.

Around the Great Depression, in an effort to get control of inflation, the 1942 Stabilization Act was passed. Because employers could no longer attract new employees by offering higher pay, they started offering other things like health insurance. Since it was payed directly by the employer it wasn't taxable income and didn't fall under control of the Stabilization Act, and since then it just stuck.

If I am not mistaken, WWII was a bigger driver for that legislation than the Great Depression.
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