A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#471

Post by aianus » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 4:01 PM UTC

distances wrote: post #388

aianus wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly agree with this. A lot of people are happy in college and they're almost all living on less than $24k a year despite working over 40h a week (although schoolwork is a lot more engaging than industry IMHO).

That's because it's expected, all their friends are living in the same way, and they see this as temporary, with a larger income not that far off. I can say I was very happy with minimal income in my university years, but would not be anymore as my friends are out of the campus and getting forward with their lives.

Yes, so it is not the lack of money that makes one unhappy (say, at ~$24k/yr and no health problems), but comparison to others and attachment to worldly things.

This is what causes people in the West who earn $35k and $350k alike to feel 'poor' despite the fact that even the former income is already in the global 99th percentile.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#472

Post by rwmurrayVT » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 4:05 PM UTC

ant6n wrote: post #366

alexhutcheson wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come to the US and ride a Greyhound then.

That's a bit presumptious, isn't it. Half my experience is on Greyhound, and a couple of years ago they started using a new bus fleet with more legroom, wifi, leather-ish seats, plugs at all seats.

I took a greyhound back from prison. We broke down in Cumberland, MD and I spent 8 hours on the side of the interstate. The guy I was with said he takes the route 3x a week and it has happened to him 6 times in the last year. No WiFi but we did have plugs.

I rode the Pittsburgh to Washington D.C./Baltimore route on May 20th 2019.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#473

Post by Phillipharryt » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 4:09 PM UTC

DoubleGlazing wrote: post #464

Phillipharryt wrote: post #378

So I've actually done a fair amount of research on this speech, and there a few skipped points most times people report on it. Firstly the audience loved the jokes, they laughed at them all. It wasn't like he delivered them to stunned faces and immediate shock. The only thing that brought him down was a newspaper reporter noted it down and newspapers pushed it as an artificial scandal. Everyone buying 5 pound earring…

Plus it was only the Ratners brand that was damaged. The Ratners group owned a shed load of other Jewellery brands and they were unaffected. The group renamed itself Signet Group and rebranded some the of Ratners stores and closed the rest. The group carried on and became one of the biggest jewelery companies on the planet. The speech scandal was merely a blip in the history of the company.

Well it was the Ratners group that lost 99% of its listed value, so not just the Ratner's brand that felt the damage. It definitely affected Gerald more than it did the company though, but there was definitely a touch and go moment there where the group nearly went under entirely. They've managed to recover really well and after it rode it out properly (they fired Gerald a couple of years later then rebranded) they returned to the original stratospheric trajectory.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#474

Post by Arcadian » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 4:43 PM UTC

Initially, Ratner tried to play it off by featuring special in-store promotions that put a “humorous twist” on his remarks — but within a few weeks, it was clear that what he’d said had taken an irreparable toll on his business.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#475

Post by NikkiA » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 4:51 PM UTC

timthorn wrote: post #465

NikkiA wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't the newspapers, 1991 was the peak of the 1990 recession in the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1990s_recession#Civil_un...

Raters was well placed amongst jewellers to ride the recession. I remember the news coverage of this well - the decline in sales was rapid and directly attributable to the speech, and the implication that his customers were mugs.

Based on what? they were selling cheap costume jewellery to the working and lower middle class, both of which were exceptionally squeezed by the 10 years of thatcher that had just ended.

Luxuries are typically the first thing to go for those close to poverty in a recession.

I would argue that Ratners were uniquely placed to suffer the worst in a recession, and that they hadn't collapsed during the aftermath of Black Monday is the bigger surprise.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#476

Post by tomhoward » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 5:09 PM UTC

digitaltrees wrote: post #470

tomhoward wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was 19. Neuroscientists tell us that in most people, the pre-frontal cortex (the rational decision-making part of the brain) doesn't fully form till the mid 20s, which is why everyone says douchey things, well into their 20s. We have no idea what his real thinking/motivation was behind that comment, but a combination of adolescent bravado and incredulity that this stupid little app he'd hacked together was working…

People typically refer to 13-18 as teenage. 18 and over. College in general is referred to as young adult or even adult.

It's a pedantic point and it doesn't contradict anything I wrote in the rest of the comment.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#477

Post by skrebbel » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 5:18 PM UTC

spuz wrote: post #430

skrebbel wrote: post #400

I've always been amazed at how important it appears to be to lie about selling crap. I find that invariably, businesses who compete on price make it iff they say it's good stuff, even if everybody knows it isn't. Eg Holland has a number of cheap shoe chains. Schoenenreus and Scapino both breathe an air of cheapness, and one went bust and the other is struggling bad. Their direct competitor Van Haren sells exactly equ…

For what it's worth, I think Ryanair successfully markets itself as both cheap and poor quality. Whenever for example they announce they are considering charging passengers to use the loo, or in fact charging people to carry on a bag, it negatively affects their brand which paradoxically increases their presence in the minds of customers looking to fly in Europe cheaply.

Another comment in this thread suggested that they do this because otherwise people will be afraid they skimp on safety. By treating their customers as cattle, they underlines that that's where the savings are and not elsewhere (eg maintenance).

I guess the trick only works because it's a safety sensitive business, and the same approach wouldn't work for, say, a supermarket or a jewelry brand.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#478

Post by skrebbel » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 5:19 PM UTC

Scarblac wrote: post #415

skrebbel wrote: post #400

I've always been amazed at how important it appears to be to lie about selling crap. I find that invariably, businesses who compete on price make it iff they say it's good stuff, even if everybody knows it isn't. Eg Holland has a number of cheap shoe chains. Schoenenreus and Scapino both breathe an air of cheapness, and one went bust and the other is struggling bad. Their direct competitor Van Haren sells exactly equ…

> Their direct competitor Van Haren sells exactly equally crappy shoes, and everybody knows it, I'm Dutch and I didn't know that. I don't buy shoes frequently enough to notice such things, so I might be fooled by their looks. So the looks matter.

If you actually dare enter a Scapino, you'll find that the shoes look pretty good. It's just the surroundings that's off-putting.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#479

Post by BackToSchool » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 5:44 PM UTC

Within months, all Ratners locations were plastered with vibrant orange and red posters with all-caps pitches like “LAST CHANCE — MEGA RED STAR SALE!” and “SALE SALE SALE: HALF PRICE!” Everything in the window was clearly marked with a price tag.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#480

Post by arcturus17 » Thu, Aug 29, 2019, 6:04 PM UTC

carlob wrote: post #402

arcturus17 wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lululemon has a weak presence in many parts of the EU and we still have people wear gym clothes in their normal lives...

People wearing gym clothes in their normal lives in Europe? Really not as much as in the US.

Seen hundreds of girls wearing the style in the streets of Madrid and London. Granted London has ONE Lululemon store AFAIK, but it has hundreds of other brands doing the same thing too, so I doubt they set the trend.