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Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

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Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#31

Post by mgkimsal »

tansey wrote: post #26

I think it's unfair to jump on the guy as being naive or young. I don't know if people who setup these dysfunctional workplaces ever improve. He probably is just not great at running a business, end of story. If you're a controlling person when it comes to your personal relationships, you won't likely be a great founder. You need to understand that everyone has their own goals, dreams, and desires in life. Your emplo…

take "founder" out of the equation. systems like this (no written communication, no talking to ex-employees, etc) are just not good, full stop. It may be easier to get away with in larger companies because there's already a revenue stream (and presumably profits) in place to continue to fund bringing in new blood, but regardless of a "startup" vs a long-standing company, these are just bad practices.

Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#32

Post by yummyfajitas »

Alex3917 wrote: post #24
yummyfajitas wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the reason is that education is an area where you can't really contribute anything of value unless you are well versed in the science. As far as I'm aware, the #1 education startup was created by someone who was poorly versed in the "science" of education. He seems to be improving things with science now, but that's a fairly recent thing.

"As far as I'm aware, the #1 education startup was created by someone who was poorly versed in the 'science' of education." If you're talking about Khan Academy, they're a non-profit not a startup.

I don't see how that changes things, unless you believe "underqualification" only matters for people with a profit motive.

Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#33

Post by tatsuke95 »

latch wrote: post #3

This speaks to me against Peter Thiel's "20 under 20" program as it all seems to come down to lack of maturity and experience (and inflated ego).

This is the first thing I thought reading this: maybe it's not such a great idea to tell kids (yes, kids) to drop out of school and start a company.

Will anyone actually see this as a failure of the "Thiel Fellowship"?

Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#34

Post by Alex3917 »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #32
Alex3917 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"As far as I'm aware, the #1 education startup was created by someone who was poorly versed in the 'science' of education." If you're talking about Khan Academy, they're a non-profit not a startup.

I don't see how that changes things, unless you believe "underqualification" only matters for people with a profit motive.

The difference is that Khan would be underqualified if he were trying to do something innovative, but he's not. He's just making a bridge technology, a collection of mostly mediocre content that's designed to be moderately useful until something better comes along. There's no way a for-profit could get funded if this were their goal, at least not if they were upfront about it. Plus even if it's not the greatest site ever, at least it serves a purpose and he's not actively trying to scam people.

Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#35

Post by nknight »

hello_moto wrote: post #18
nknight wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps you could take your racist stereotypes elsewhere?

I don't condone racist stereotypes but at the same time this isn't the first, second, third, or fourth time something like this had happened specifically with a typical traditional Chinese family-run business. Same patterns, similar "cut the oxygen" strategy, same outcome.

This is textbook confirmation bias, you're focusing on the most visible factor that you expect to see. It's a very common way for people to rationalize their racist views.

Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#36

Post by jfarmer »

What a vulgar article. I don't know Andrew Hsu and from the sound of it, neither did Anthony Ha or anyone who commented on it (there, or here).

Airy Labs may be poorly run. There are dozens of small, well-funded startups that are poorly run.

The scale of what Anthony is writing about is so small, but he's done real damage to Andrew's reputation.

Was the schadenfreude worth that? Articles like this are one of the worst aspects of startup culture. It's our version of reality TV -- taking smug delight in the bruising (merited or not) of another person.

And if you say, no! Honest! This is an important article. Now people know to avoid this awful company.

I suppose we'll have to disagree. Anthony wrote this not because it's a public service, but because everyone loves juicy gossip. Especially gossip about a wunderkind getting knocked down a few pegs.

I also think the employees are cowards for giving up that gossip, e.g., the x@airylabs.com email address, but remaining anonymous.

Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#37

Post by yummyfajitas »

Alex3917 wrote: post #34
yummyfajitas wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how that changes things, unless you believe "underqualification" only matters for people with a profit motive.

The difference is that Khan would be underqualified if he were trying to do something innovative, but he's not. He's just making a bridge technology, a collection of mostly mediocre content that's designed to be moderately useful until something better comes along. There's no way a for-profit could get funded if this were their goal, at least not if they were upfront about it. Plus even if it's not the greatest site…

The lectures are fairly standard, the exercise scheduling system he's attempting to build is not. While I've criticized him for not being ambitious enough (Khan often stresses he doesn't want to replace teachers), he is building far more than just video lectures.

Also, he had several funding offers from VC's, so your assertion about what VC's might fund is incorrect.

Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#38

Post by hello_moto »

nknight wrote: post #35
hello_moto wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't condone racist stereotypes but at the same time this isn't the first, second, third, or fourth time something like this had happened specifically with a typical traditional Chinese family-run business. Same patterns, similar "cut the oxygen" strategy, same outcome.

This is textbook confirmation bias, you're focusing on the most visible factor that you expect to see. It's a very common way for people to rationalize their racist views.

FYI my race is the same with Hsu's family. Part of the issue is cultural.

While I don't agree with stereotyping or generalization, sometime certain cultural knowledge have helped me avoid frictions or troubles.

Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#39

Post by potatolicious »

JS_startup wrote: post #19

This sounds like a culture clash. Asian cultures (Korean and Chinese specifically) have a really unique family dynamic which you could describe as boundaryless; I worked for a Korean entrepreneur for a while and he said it's a foregone conclusion that if the business strikes it big his family members get to come share in the success. Hsu should have tried harder to understand the cultural dynamic in the US.

As an Asian, this only half true. When reading the article, the management style did strike me as extremely Chinese, though it should be noted that even in Asia this sort of managerial obsessiveness is still largely frowned upon by employees.

Obvious nepotism, excessive involvement from non-employee family members, all of that stuff is just as sketchy in Asia as it is here, though sadly still more common.

Re: Big Cuts at Airy Labs, Ex-Employees Blame Management

#40

Post by spindritf »

latch wrote: post #3

This speaks to me against Peter Thiel's "20 under 20" program as it all seems to come down to lack of maturity and experience (and inflated ego).

Judging a whole program by one potential failure seems unfair too me, especially in a field where failure is so common.
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