41–50 of 144 posts
Are the incoming acquihired engineers that much more worth than the ones you already have? There are certainly exceptions but by and large I can't imagine this being the case.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Golden handcuffs.
That's not really the case here. Golden handcuffs refers to stock that was previously granted but either has not yet vested or has vested but the employee can't keep if they walk away from the job. While the employees in question surely own Yik-yak stock that stock is now worthless. They're starting at Square just like they would start at any other job. Thus they will stay at Square if it is a better job for them (fo…
Yik Yak destroyed itself by ignoring their users and making changes that undermined the reason people used their app in the first place. They're only "struggling" because of a series of self-inflicted wounds.
They faced legal trouble for the anonymity.
Pity, mainly because there seems to be a market for local anonymous communications, but a relatively small, and very vocal subset of users can ruin it for everyone. I wonder if some sort of anonymous reputation system could have saved them from making product decisions that were counter to the reasons for using the app in the first place.
I think the key problem was the hype train and the lack of product-oriented/technical leadership. remembered them doing very well on campus last two years of college. They had on campus reps to hand out "schwag"; probably not very fun to scale. The obvious bullying was the problem. If they had found some way to solve that and snuck their way back into high schools... then again, kids can be so cruel.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not really the case here. Golden handcuffs refers to stock that was previously granted but either has not yet vested or has vested but the employee can't keep if they walk away from the job. While the employees in question surely own Yik-yak stock that stock is now worthless. They're starting at Square just like they would start at any other job. Thus they will stay at Square if it is a better job for them (fo…
They prob have various retention bonuses in place (either cash, square options, or both) to keep the acquired engineers at Square for x months/years.
I've found most acquihire situations unfair to existing employees. It seems that those coming in from the acquihire have a higher reward/payout that talented employees already at the company can never negotiate. Are the incoming acquihired engineers that much more worth than the ones you already have? There are certainly exceptions but by and large I can't imagine this being the case.
I think the key problem was the hype train and the lack of product-oriented/technical leadership. remembered them doing very well on campus last two years of college. They had on campus reps to hand out "schwag"; probably not very fun to scale. The obvious bullying was the problem. If they had found some way to solve that and snuck their way back into high schools... then again, kids can be so cruel.
The issue was their entire app. The exact same reason bullying could happen was the exact reason people loved it (anonymity). Group A (parents, schools, etc) wanted complete de-masking + real-world identity while Group B (the users) wanted some anonymity with no real-world identity. Yik-Yak could've never won as far as I can see.
I've found most acquihire situations unfair to existing employees. It seems that those coming in from the acquihire have a higher reward/payout that talented employees already at the company can never negotiate. Are the incoming acquihired engineers that much more worth than the ones you already have? There are certainly exceptions but by and large I can't imagine this being the case.
Pity, mainly because there seems to be a market for local anonymous communications, but a relatively small, and very vocal subset of users can ruin it for everyone. I wonder if some sort of anonymous reputation system could have saved them from making product decisions that were counter to the reasons for using the app in the first place.