Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy • Hacker News Board

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#201

Post by niketdesai » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 5:26 AM UTC

lazyjones wrote: post #181

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure $50Bn could get us Fusion. Instead it got us slightly better taxis. We've only invested $1Bn in fusion (according to this article: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/fission-fusion-capital-flow... ). Physicists have been saying "we're close" for like 70 years. It took the Manhattan project the equivalent of $23Bn. If we had the same type of investment, we could have clean and (almost) free energy foreve…

> I'm pretty sure $50Bn could get us Fusion. Instead it got us slightly better taxis. It's not construction work, you can't just hire more people to speed up research. When you have the top 50 or so scientists in the field, you just need to wait for results.

The CFS group at MIT is trying to build a larger test reactor to show Q > 1 results. In some cases, it is a matter of scaling up (construction work) a hypothesis.

Agreed on your research point within the context of one approach in one company.

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#202

Post by TheKarateKid » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 5:34 AM UTC

xnyan wrote: post #117

wolco wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A php stack is the right stack for 2017 or 2019 for a company like Wag. What would a javascript framework offer them? Their core product is connecting people and dogs. A php stack with laravel means they have a working website with authentication on day 1. What would a javascript framework offer them? Emailing tests or documents is very common during the interview process if the company is a startup. Offer them a git…

Maybe I'm dumb - Can anyone tell me why PHP vs JS for a "generic" web application? \In 2019 there are far far far more developers with real experience developing in Javascript vs PHP. There are obviously a lot of other factors in considering the base dev language, but unless you can make a strong case for PHP vs JS, I'm picking JS every time because in the generic case they both meet my needs but a lot more devs work…

PHP an older and more mature language. It also is synchronous so it runs similar to C/Java/Python.

Programming full stack with JavaScript requires a different programming mindset with its asynchronous nature.

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#203

Post by throw313123 » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 5:36 AM UTC

ajmurmann wrote: post #174

thecleaner wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A large part of this vision fund is basically Saudi oil money. These folks realize that oil doesn't have that much future if you think in terms of hundreds of years, so they are looking to diversify. Vision fund is not a tool to be on the cutting edge, its just a means to not be left behind. Hence they let VC market decide which horse is worth backing and then they swing their dollars around to see what happens.

That’s another thing I never got about Saudi’s investments. To me the obvious strategy with all the money would have been to not invest in empty skyscrapers or foreign investments, but pick two or three areas in which you massively bolster research and investment in an area like solar energy. Investment would be local and you try to attract all to talent in the field for both fundamental research as well as to fund c…

The Saudis have also done that with KAUST; from what I heard they have turned off all their weird laws in this region of SA (like a SEZ), and were hiring aggressively a few years ago (from the US). I occasionally stumble on some interesting projects from this University, but I for one would be very weary of moving to a desert region where women were disallowed from driving until a few years back, and need to be draped from head to toe in black.

To be fair, there is something more in the picture. UAE for instance is much more cosmopolitan, but has failed to be a research hub, in contrast to rich city states like Singapore. Iran, their neighbour, produces some very smart people however - who then inevitably move out, considering the flavour regime in that country.

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#204

Post by mikestew » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 5:39 AM UTC

stagger87 wrote: post #41

Edmond wrote: post #34

>Mike Walsh, a general partner at Structure Capital, which was an early investor in Wag, described the brothers to CNN Business as "so smart" that it's "almost difficult to communicate" with them.

Can also be read as smart with poor social skills.

Can also be read as, “Mike Walsh is so poor at sniffing out bullshit, he calls the bull ‘smart’. It’s not the bull’s fault Mr. Walsh can’t communicate him, it’s because the bull’s so smart, Mike can’t understand him.”

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#205

Post by banachtarski » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 5:58 AM UTC

loganfrederick wrote: post #16

What I don't get about the Vision Fund is how so many of its investments lack (pun intended) vision. Other than the ARM, Nvidia, and a few billion in biotech (about $3 billion[1]) investments, so much of the fund has gone into pretty "obvious" traditional startups. If I had a $100 billion fund, I wouldn't be swinging for these singles and doubles (which Uber and WeWork were by the time Softbank got involved, although…

The vision fund was a joke to me ever since the investment into Improbable (which I regard as an outright scam).

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#206

Post by TAForObvReasons » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 6:10 AM UTC

solidasparagus wrote: post #161

drstewart wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have been "sure" there's a bubble for a decade now. I mean take this HN article, posted Apr 19, 2012: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3865744 How much are you investing on your suredness that there's a bubble? Because if you did it in 2012, you'd be down about 70% right now.

It's important to remember that unsustainable things can last longer than you anticipate. I firmly believe the bubble will burst (a bit, there's too much real value for a collapse), but I have no idea if it will be tomorrow or if it will be a decade from now.

saying is "The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent"

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#207

Post by mjfisher » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 6:36 AM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #131

wolco wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A php stack is the right stack for 2017 or 2019 for a company like Wag. What would a javascript framework offer them? Their core product is connecting people and dogs. A php stack with laravel means they have a working website with authentication on day 1. What would a javascript framework offer them? Emailing tests or documents is very common during the interview process if the company is a startup. Offer them a git…

I downvoted you because there is no "right" stack. All popular languages have good web frameworks. The right one to launch with is the one your team knows the best.

I'm not sure that's the case with Javascript - there's plenty of microframeworks (express, hapi) and even a couple with bigger ambitions - like Sails.js

Last time I looked, none were comparable to Rails/Django/SpringBoot/Laravel

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#208

Post by chewz » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 6:39 AM UTC

loganfrederick wrote: post #16

What I don't get about the Vision Fund is how so many of its investments lack (pun intended) vision. Other than the ARM, Nvidia, and a few billion in biotech (about $3 billion[1]) investments, so much of the fund has gone into pretty "obvious" traditional startups. If I had a $100 billion fund, I wouldn't be swinging for these singles and doubles (which Uber and WeWork were by the time Softbank got involved, although…

Masayoshi Son exhibits - in my opinion - typical traits of gambling addict. A person who is trying to replicate the kicks he got from his first, lucky bet on a horse races. (Alibaba in his case)

So you should not analyse SoftBank investments in terms of logic but more in terms of underlying self-destructive behavior.

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#209

Post by chewz » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 6:46 AM UTC

thecleaner wrote: post #81

loganfrederick wrote: post #16

What I don't get about the Vision Fund is how so many of its investments lack (pun intended) vision. Other than the ARM, Nvidia, and a few billion in biotech (about $3 billion[1]) investments, so much of the fund has gone into pretty "obvious" traditional startups. If I had a $100 billion fund, I wouldn't be swinging for these singles and doubles (which Uber and WeWork were by the time Softbank got involved, although…

A large part of this vision fund is basically Saudi oil money. These folks realize that oil doesn't have that much future if you think in terms of hundreds of years, so they are looking to diversify. Vision fund is not a tool to be on the cutting edge, its just a means to not be left behind. Hence they let VC market decide which horse is worth backing and then they swing their dollars around to see what happens.

This should be an obvious warning sign.

Someone whose core business is losing money is trying to recoup them in an area that they have no clue about.

This is a typical guy who feels pressure so he buys at the top and puts his money based on recommendation of others in a business that is going to be next big thing. A typical sucker in other words who will end up penniless.

Poor Saudis.

Re: Dog-walking startup Wag raised $300M, then things got messy

#210

Post by luckylion » Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 6:58 AM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #131

wolco wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A php stack is the right stack for 2017 or 2019 for a company like Wag. What would a javascript framework offer them? Their core product is connecting people and dogs. A php stack with laravel means they have a working website with authentication on day 1. What would a javascript framework offer them? Emailing tests or documents is very common during the interview process if the company is a startup. Offer them a git…

I downvoted you because there is no "right" stack. All popular languages have good web frameworks. The right one to launch with is the one your team knows the best.

You are setting yourself up for a much harder employee market if you're choosing something fresh and hip, though. Finding skilled js people that have experience with your framework choice will typically be harder than finding a developer that knows php and Laravel. Imho if you have no specific reason to choose one stack over another, choose a very common one (for projects where you expect to need other people to join).