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Patreon laying off 20% of staff

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Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#131

Post by the_sleaze_ »

ryandrake wrote: post #96
Ekaros wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make me always question what is going on in these companies. They are essentially a middle man reoffering payment providers services. Host some content. Lot of time just links to external platforms. There is some marketing but not really that much. They really should be running sustainable service for like tenth of that many employees... If even that. Most of the people don't care about them just the creators on thei…

I never understand these replies. Has nobody ever worked for a medium sized, yet global-reach company? I think a lot of HN has a very narrow view of how many different roles are required to run a company bigger than a local diner. Feels like a weird confirmation bias where “I only see a dozen engineers around me every day, therefore companies only need engineers to function.”

Hard disagree, the concrete evidence is that that can delete 20% of that bloated workforce and operate just fine.

If we don't run a business then we're running a business of a single employee. You are your own employee with 100% concentration risk. All of your income depends on one employee (you) with 1 source of income. If you had a business with 1 single revenue stream, then you would really focus on the health of that stream (Patreon). If you look around and realize most people are coasting and you can't really point any specific action you've taken that's boosted the numbers then you need to start preparing for that client (Patreon) to end its deal with you.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#132

Post by stronglikedan »

codegeek wrote: post #92
K0balt wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s because, and I say this as a person who has made these calls, some leaders do feel a genuine responsibility for the people that work for them. Perhaps too, the ones that don’t, want people to think that they do. But as a founder and CEO by far the most emotionally taxing thing I have ever had to do is cut staff for the good of the company. You want to treat people the way you would want to be treated if you were…

I am a founder/CEO myself (a very small company so I don't have experience of mass layoffs for full disclosure). However, I don't get this explanation. If you feel genuine responsibility for the people, then figure out a way to NOT fire them. Or be honest and admit that the company needs to make more money/cut costs. Trust me, no one wants to hear "we love you so much but we have to fire you and I feel so bad". It ju…

That's a whole lot easier to do in a small company, but not very realistic beyond that.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#134

Post by Gareth321 »

codegeek wrote: post #42

The only possible positive thing out of this cringy article is that the severance is decent (for a US company). 4 months of pay and healthcare coverage through Year end. Everything else could have just been a couple of sentences. Companies need to stop doing this melodrama every time they decide to fire people. Everyone knows the goal is to make money and keep a company profitable for their shareholders. Why these me…

> Companies need to stop doing this melodrama every time they decide to fire people. Everyone knows the goal is to make money and keep a company profitable for their shareholders. Why these melodramatic posts ?

People expect it and get very angry if such posts do not appear contrite. I share your cynicism and would prefer they just say it like it is, but that doesn't work for most people.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#135

Post by [deleted] »

nightski wrote: post #94
K0balt wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s because, and I say this as a person who has made these calls, some leaders do feel a genuine responsibility for the people that work for them. Perhaps too, the ones that don’t, want people to think that they do. But as a founder and CEO by far the most emotionally taxing thing I have ever had to do is cut staff for the good of the company. You want to treat people the way you would want to be treated if you were…

These posts seem more like emotional therapy for the founder, helping them cope. It's not about the people being let go at all.

[deleted]

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#136

Post by Jcampuzano2 »

codegeek wrote: post #42

The only possible positive thing out of this cringy article is that the severance is decent (for a US company). 4 months of pay and healthcare coverage through Year end. Everything else could have just been a couple of sentences. Companies need to stop doing this melodrama every time they decide to fire people. Everyone knows the goal is to make money and keep a company profitable for their shareholders. Why these me…

Most of the time I'm convinced its just an attempt to garner sympathy from the general public/outsiders. While obviously not true for all but the vast majority of these executives and C-levels could not name any of the people they are getting rid of in the first place.

Most of the time it's an attempt to stifle negative opinions of those reading the layoff announcements. But in the modern day it's getting old because we see a new layoff every day now.

Everybody knows we aren't a family, and we're doing this to get paid not for some contrived company mission.

I'm convinced with most of these layoff announcements people would take it better if they literally just said we're getting rid of N people for X,Y,Z reasons and called it at that without the presumptuous bullshit.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#137

Post by the_sleaze_ »

jackb4040 wrote: post #118
yonisto wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't get. Twitter used to have 7500 employees and now it is working perfectly ok with 1500~ What am I missing from business perspective?

Twitter does not work at all lol

> Twitter does not work at all lol

Can you point to some specific instances? I've seen it working just fine.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#138

Post by smelendez »

stackskipton wrote: post #102
smelendez wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems more like a bounty for the laptop potentially full of company information, passwords, code, secrets, etc., which Patreon does not want out in the wild or to have to deploy lawyers to demand back. The carrot, rather than the stick.

I would assume they are company managed Macs so they could just order a remote wipe and then remove them from iCloud so they revert to their out of box setup.

Sure, but they’re still potentially sitting in limbo and turned off in the trunk of an employee’s car or whatever. If you’re concerned about leak issues, why not wipe them and have them shipped back for less than the cost of an extra week of severance.

Also, many employees likely have their own personal laptops and may not have any use for them.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#139

Post by [deleted] »

ecocentrik wrote: post #130
nightski wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These posts seem more like emotional therapy for the founder, helping them cope. It's not about the people being let go at all.

You should really look into who Jack Conte is and why he created Patreon. He's a smart guy who relies heavily on maintaining a positive social image and is more emotionally aware and stable than most tech founders. I imagine from his perspective the decision, severance and post were all just the smart thing to do.

[deleted]
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