Dropbox Hires Guido Van Rossum

Post by jodrellblank » Sat, Dec 08, 2012, 3:12 PM UTC

winter_blue wrote: post #180

protomyth wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At 250 people, you would think you're a business and no longer a startup. Once you pass Dunbar's number you probably are no longer a startup.

I honestly don't know why you'd need 250 people to run a service like Dropbox. Dropbox is a piece of software that could recreated in about a month by a smart hacker; and if you're using AWS, you don't have worry about the servers (so don't need a sysadmin/maintenance staff) -- so, theoretically could be comfortably run by a handful of skilled core engineers. Why are 250 people working at Dropbox? Is Dropbox overstaf…

Post by ramayac » Sat, Dec 08, 2012, 3:24 PM UTC

soofaloofa wrote: post #53

untog wrote: post #4

" the adventure found at a nimble 250-person startup like Dropbox becomes more tempting " What is the definition of a startup these days, anyway?

If you can hire Guido you are not a startup.

Post by Evbn » Sat, Dec 08, 2012, 4:21 PM UTC

kayoone wrote: post #94

RenegadeHero wrote: post #62

It always strikes me as odd when something like this happens. Guido is still working nine-to-fives and Drew never has to work again. Can someone tell me why a brilliant person like Guido isn't worth a billion dollars? Have tons of fancy cars and a fancy house? Has to work for another company?

because he didnt found or was an early employee of a highly successful startup, yet. Same is true for Linus and many other hacker heros, but its not a bad thing imo.

Post by Evbn » Sat, Dec 08, 2012, 4:27 PM UTC

shadowmatter wrote: post #91

Kilimanjaro wrote: post #24

Why Guido left? That's the question.

Speaking as an ex-Googler, when I left, Python was largely relegated to glue code, scripts, internal projects, and App Engine -- consumer-facing frontends were written in Java, and backends in C++. He probably wanted to move to a company where Python was more pervasive, and he felt like he could have more of an impact, given that he _is_ the BDFL.

Post by noiv » Sat, Dec 08, 2012, 5:42 PM UTC

pretoriusB wrote: post #173

nostrademons wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or a market that is known to be viable with a product that is not yet known to be viable. I think most people would consider Tesla a startup, but cars have been around for a century.

Yes, but in their case it's "electric cars" which is a different market.