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Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

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Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#161

Post by adamredwoods »

WisNorCan wrote: post #113
dpflan wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that you were in the company and presumably have an idea of how the company functions: where did the funding go? $260M gone in 1 year? "Convoy, which raised $260 million in a funding round last year that valued the business at $3.8 billion, on Wednesday told employees in an email that it would stop accepting shipments until further notice and that it was rescheduling or canceling existing loads." (wsj)

They got caught in the same thing that happened to Flexport and others in the freight industry. Price per shipment cratered -> Revenue cratered. (They make a % of each shipment) -> Losses spiked up. (Because they had fixed cost) Flexport had a burn run rate of $600M a year . Convoy had less burn but also less in the bank. https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/flexport-revenue-dr...

So Convoy's UVP was based all on price? Wouldn't the CEO/COO have seen this before rapid expansion?

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#162

Post by Apocryphon »

oh_sigh wrote: post #159
sushid wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't realize wanting healthcare while getting let go from a company I worked for was desiring to be "coddled."

You can buy healthcare on the free market. And you aren't being "let go" - the entire company is going under. If you are laid off and the company stays healthy, it makes sense to have some concessions. But if the entire business ceases to exist. I don't know why would you expect anything from it.

Wonder if it might make sense for the social safety net to include such a provision for workers of businesses that go under. If we're not going to have universal public coverage, might as well add provision for such an extenuating circumstance as that.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#163

Post by freedomben »

lawlessone wrote: post #100
bradleybuda wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think the executives are making anything from this? It's a startup, it ran out of money, it failed, there is nothing left. Joining a startup is risky.

>What makes you think the executives are making anything from this? If the CEO was still speaking for the company then he's being paid.

I don't know about Convoy specifically but generally speaking it's not even certain a CEO is getting a paycheck at all, even when the company is still solvent. Some take all their compensation as stock, especially while it's early days and risk is high.

If it's not certain they are getting paid even while things are still working, how can you say he is getting paid after running out of money? Unless you mean "paid with worthless stock" in which case I would say "you can't fund severance and health care with worthless stock."

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#164

Post by __loam »

benced wrote: post #72
vogt wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>CEO said there'll be no severance or healthcare. Classy. Learning a lot about how certain people treat their employees during these last couple of admittedly insane years. Good for future reference, I guess - though not much solace now. I feel for the employees. Edit: Wow, more responses than I thought! I admit that the tone of my comment was too reactionary, but my opinion stands. I won't modify the original commen…

Ex-Convoy employee here: if a company is shutting down, it obviously can't provide severance. It's not a matter of class or not.

There's no money left to provide lol

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#165

Post by surgical_fire »

busterarm wrote: post #137
vogt wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>CEO said there'll be no severance or healthcare. Classy. Learning a lot about how certain people treat their employees during these last couple of admittedly insane years. Good for future reference, I guess - though not much solace now. I feel for the employees. Edit: Wow, more responses than I thought! I admit that the tone of my comment was too reactionary, but my opinion stands. I won't modify the original commen…

Startups are not established businesses. They are inherently risky ventures. If you want to be coddled and showered with benefits, go join a Fortune 500. Startups are not for you.

How dare you people don't want to be treated like a subhuman to make some early investors insanely rich?

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#166

Post by dymk »

sushid wrote: post #155
busterarm wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Startups are not established businesses. They are inherently risky ventures. If you want to be coddled and showered with benefits, go join a Fortune 500. Startups are not for you.

I didn't realize wanting healthcare while getting let go from a company I worked for was desiring to be "coddled."

Take it up with your elected representative, healthcare should not depend on your employer. Convoy literally does not have money. That's why they're shutting down.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#167

Post by Fordec »

sushid wrote: post #155
busterarm wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Startups are not established businesses. They are inherently risky ventures. If you want to be coddled and showered with benefits, go join a Fortune 500. Startups are not for you.

I didn't realize wanting healthcare while getting let go from a company I worked for was desiring to be "coddled."

This is why dissolution isn't some whopsey-doodle word. When there's nothing left, there's nothing left. If that is a risk, including in that is your private healthcare provision, leave this stuff up to the 20 year olds that don't have the health concerns. Coddled might be too diminutive of a phrase, but if it's a risk you can't live with by your life expectations, don't get involved. Pick another job on the market.

Now healthcare shouldn't be tied to employment, and it's not in my country. But this is the political choices of Americans in America. Not the fault of the individual companies who are subject to the system.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#168

Post by adastra22 »

wferrell wrote: post #133
adastra22 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not when a company shuts down like this. If they did, the investors would claw it all back through the courts. The founders and executives walk away from this with $0.

Not if they sold secondaries.

Sure they may have made money from a sale months or years ago. But they’re not walking away from this incident with a payout.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#169

Post by avalys »

bart_spoon wrote: post #127
adastra22 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A startup will never survive long enough to close the next round with that logic.

Of course they will. What is the magic that separates success from failure that apparently only magically appears within the last 4 weeks with operating capital in the bank? Move your time tables up by 4-8 weeks, including funding raises and closing operations, and none of this is an issue.

If you can still operate the business for another 8 weeks, there's a chance that things will still work out, and it's pretty pessimistic to preemptively shut it down because you assume you're going to fail. Pessimists don't generally find themselves in the role of founder/CEO of a startup in the first place.

Re: Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

#170

Post by v1l »

sushid wrote: post #155
busterarm wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Startups are not established businesses. They are inherently risky ventures. If you want to be coddled and showered with benefits, go join a Fortune 500. Startups are not for you.

I didn't realize wanting healthcare while getting let go from a company I worked for was desiring to be "coddled."

Is that part of the contract that if the business is shutting down or laying people off that they need to continue to pay for things for you? I don't see why there's any obligation.
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