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Bolt announces layoffs

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Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#491

Post by TimJRobinson »

datavirtue wrote: post #281
nemothekid wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't see why it should be illegal. People take on debt to buy assets all the time. But this is just so irresponsible and immoral; I really doubt the leadership is actually running a sustainable business; and I'm also starting to seriously doubt there was any credibility to the whole YC/Stripe boys club thing. 1. Ryan (was) the CEO, and can pressure employees to buy stock (or let them go because they aren't "commit…

"If leadership plays so fast and loose with other people's money, you have to question how well they are doing their job." Does that apply to Elon Musk as well? Leveraging Tesla to buy fucking Twitter when he could have had a strategic stake in Ford for less?

He leveraged his own personal stock, not the company.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#492

Post by tjs8rj »

koreth1 wrote: post #398
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is that a central 1-click checkout provider will store your payment information, shipping address, and other details after the first time you use a site with their checkout. The next time you checkout on any website that uses the same 1-click checkout provider, they already have your information for “1-click” checkout. The investment thesis is that if 1-click checkout were to take off, it would become a winn…

> The investment thesis is that if 1-click checkout were to take off, it would become a winner-take-all market where every shop wants to use the 1-click provider with the largest customer base. Not saying you're wrong about that being the thesis, but the thesis makes no sense to me. It assumes that consumers are selecting shopping sites based on which payment service the sites use rather than on, say, price or select…

I think the network effects are on the vendor side. As a vendor you integrate with the one-click checkout company that has the largest user base, because that'll have the most coverage for your customers.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#493

Post by mpalfrey »

Aeolun wrote: post #372
sparrc wrote: post #368

I'm a bit naive on this space so forgive if this is an ignorant question; Can anyone explain how any of these companies (Bolt, Fast, 1o) are doing anything different than "checkout with paypal"? What exactly is wrong with paypal that would make a merchant want to use Bolt instead?

Customers do not like paypal? At least I don’t like Paypal.

I quite like Paypal.

I often use it as Paypal accepts Amex when a merchant may not. Works well and I've never had an issue.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#494

Post by ETHisso2017 »

hef19898 wrote: post #479
ryanSrich wrote: post #467

With YC, Craft, and Sequoia all urging their portfolio companies to operate at a When you’re small, and have revenue, it might only take a handful of layoffs to get to “default alive” as a startup. But once you go beyond a series A and start dumping gasoline on every part of your business to scale faster, the risk starts to grow exponentially. These companies with hundreds of employees are insanely inefficient, but t…

Couldn't agree more! Being at now-puplic start-up that needs somewhere north of, IMHO, 500 million to become somewhat profitable (industry specific, some hardware products simply cost a shit ton of money to develop) that is something I think a lot about lately. Especially the, up until now, habbit of inefficiently thtowing money and people at a problem hoping something sticks. In hardware, so nothing that can be grow…

Rivian?

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#498

Post by tomschwiha »

shepherdjerred wrote: post #430
aabhay wrote: post #404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PayPal has had this for a very, very long time. I use it all the time, and it works great. So what am I missing? I also have Apple Pay enabled. It works great as well. The use of hardware verification vs a browser redirect gives it some nice advantages. So what exactly is the differentiated experience I’m getting with Bolt?

PayPay has pretty terrible UX IMO

And a not as smooth DX as Stripe.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#499

Post by vishnugupta »

hef19898 wrote: post #479
ryanSrich wrote: post #467

With YC, Craft, and Sequoia all urging their portfolio companies to operate at a When you’re small, and have revenue, it might only take a handful of layoffs to get to “default alive” as a startup. But once you go beyond a series A and start dumping gasoline on every part of your business to scale faster, the risk starts to grow exponentially. These companies with hundreds of employees are insanely inefficient, but t…

Couldn't agree more! Being at now-puplic start-up that needs somewhere north of, IMHO, 500 million to become somewhat profitable (industry specific, some hardware products simply cost a shit ton of money to develop) that is something I think a lot about lately. Especially the, up until now, habbit of inefficiently thtowing money and people at a problem hoping something sticks. In hardware, so nothing that can be grow…

> habbit of inefficiently thtowing money and people at a problem

I've repeatedly commented on this phenomenon. In my experience this has never worked and unlikely to work. I've seen at least 2-3 startups doing well go completely offtrack by sudden infusion of big VC money. They are then expected to ship features like no tomorrow which leads to rampant hiring. As a result salaries go through the roof messing up internal compensation parity. Also, money attracts a certain persona of people who are good at building empires and not creating value.

I guess what I'm trying to say is; a big infusion of VC money is rarely a good thing for an org. They stop being efficient and innovative orgs. When money is abundant the first response to any challenge is to throw money at it. Is website not able to handle traffic? Throw bigger DB, more machines. Not able to ship a feature on time? Hire a dozen more. Is user sign up down? Run a cash back campaign. This may help them crush a competitor in the short run but by the the music stops and money dries up once efficiency driven org would have lost that DNA.

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