Trucking startup Convoy closes operations with no buyer

Post by conjecTech » Thu, Oct 19, 2023, 9:43 PM UTC

busterarm wrote: post #281

conjecTech wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the worst take I have ever seen. This company just raised $250 million. That is more money than 99% of companies will ever have in the bank. Being a "startup" does not given you license to wantonly play with your employees' lives and wellbeing. As the quote from Dalton above shows, there are norms around these things which companies 1/100 this size regularly abide by. This is not normal behavior for any compa…

They raised $260 million and had at their peak 1500 employees. Think for a moment how far $260 million gets you when you have 1500 tech employee salaries in Seattle to pay. Plus operating expenses. Don't forget to add 15.3% for payroll tax. Median software engineer compensation in Seattle is 219k. Infrastructure and office space isn't free either. Seattle office space averages $43/sqft and the average employee space…

Post by camhart » Thu, Oct 19, 2023, 9:45 PM UTC

mrguyorama wrote: post #214

camhart wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Planes prepare for basically 0 chance of failure. Most startups fail. And everyone involved should know that going into it. To operate a startup protecting against all risk will likely guarantee failure in almost all cases.

>Planes prepare for basically 0 chance of failure. NO, the entire point of plane safety is that you are prepared for the VAST MAJORITY OF FAILURES, through extensive planning, testing, regulations that force certain choices, redundancy, backups, etc. Maybe companies should stop trying to play check kiting as SOP for business operation, and be willing to admit that they sucked at business, burned a billion dollars, an…

Post by shermozle » Thu, Oct 19, 2023, 9:46 PM UTC

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.

Post by busterarm » Thu, Oct 19, 2023, 9:47 PM UTC

conjecTech wrote: post #321

busterarm wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They raised $260 million and had at their peak 1500 employees. Think for a moment how far $260 million gets you when you have 1500 tech employee salaries in Seattle to pay. Plus operating expenses. Don't forget to add 15.3% for payroll tax. Median software engineer compensation in Seattle is 219k. Infrastructure and office space isn't free either. Seattle office space averages $43/sqft and the average employee space…

None of those factors are unique to this business. Somehow adults at thousands of other companies are able to handle this situation reasonably despite also having to pay rent and taxes. I'm sure very few of the people whose continued work they were depending on for a sale would have stayed this long if they realized they were going to be treated like this. Actions and comments like this are how you kill an ecosystem.

Post by MaxHoppersGhost » Thu, Oct 19, 2023, 9:47 PM UTC

mixdup wrote: post #251

apercu wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be interested in whether the C-level got any severance or healthcare....

regardless, C-level salaries were probably high enough that they can skate by a while without a salary for a bit and pay for marketplace healthcare coverage if absolutely necessary