Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Changes at YC

ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

521–530 of 562 posts

Re: Changes at YC

#521

Post by balls187 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #187
balls187 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it absolutely does carry a stigma. What companies layoff their best people? (I say as someone who has been laidoff)

Competent people who were effective at their job are laid off all the time. You're basically saying there's a stigma to not being the best at work.

No, I am saying there is a stigma for being laid off, which comes from the (incorrect) belief that companies don't layoff their top performers.

As noted, there are many reasons why layoffs may occur, however, the stigma of being laid off exists.

Re: Changes at YC

#522

Post by balls187 »

davidw wrote: post #197
balls187 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it absolutely does carry a stigma. What companies layoff their best people? (I say as someone who has been laidoff)

A company might lay off really good people when shutting down an entire business line, for example. It's different than firing someone.

Right, lots of legitimate reasons why a person might get laid off, yet there is an unfair negative association with it.

Hence stigma.

Re: Changes at YC

#523

Post by andsoitis »

ScoobleDoodle wrote: post #442
andsoitis wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think thus it's very easy to guess that Elon would not be a hundred billionaire, or billionaire at all, if he was the exact same brain born to some working class family in south africa. There are many brilliant people in South Africa who are born into wealth and none of them have reached the same heights as Elon Musk. Even if it were the case, wouldn't your argument then predict that there would be many people MU…

It’s a necessary but not sufficient condition.

Here are 10 billionaires who grew up poor:

- Oprah Winfrey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey)

- Howard Schultz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Schultz)

- Ralph Lauren (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Lauren)

- Larry Ellison (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison)

- Kenneth Langone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Langone)

- David Murdock (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_H._Murdock)

- Alan Gerry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Gerry)

- John Paul DeJoria (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_DeJoria)

Re: Changes at YC

#524

Post by astrange »

latchkey wrote: post #517
astrange wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't know about a bank run beforehand. It dies when it dies, it's kind of a surprise that way. (Being insolvent isn't actually enough to kill a bank as long as the run doesn't start. Of course, here the bank dies when the regulator decides it dies anyway.)

> You can't know about a bank run beforehand. Explain the selling of stock by the executives then.

They didn't know there would be a bank run either. They weren't working off private information, you could read their financial statements too.

…but that's not enough to make a bank fail, it's just bad news for shareholders.

Re: Changes at YC

#525

Post by rizzom5000 »

samtheDamned wrote: post #401
hsn915 wrote: post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do they need "taking care" of? Are they fragile school kids? Desparate single mothers who can't make ends meet? What is with this "save our babies!" attitude towards people who are - Well off - Highly skilled ??

Because the risk is supposed to lie in the hands of the investors, the founders, and the people who make the decisions. When the risks taken by the people at the top succeed, they profit, when they fail, they tend to push that onto their employees through layoffs and withholding raises. Then they will turn back around saying that they deserve their lavish lifestyles because they are the ones taking the risks. You can…

You have a point.

It also seems the job wouldn't have existed without someone willing to take the risk? I myself weigh risk in my decisions frequently. I am full aware that a layoff (or firing) is possible every time I accept a job. I'm also fully aware of what my employers obligations are to me. I'm not sure I've ever felt that my employer 'owed' me more than that. Maybe my life would be better if I did?

Re: Changes at YC

#526

Post by uoaei »

User23 wrote: post #399
spir wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you suggesting that YC's success is because of the long-term US monetary policy climate? That's a very incorrect suggestion. It reminds one of how people like to pretend that Elon's money is because his family had an emerald mine. Do you think that a significant percentage of wealth inheritors go on to immigrate across the world and invent electric cars and reusable rockets? Same thing with YC and the investment…

YC's success is due to a combination of luck, skill, and yes, the most juiced bull market in a century. That last one is less of a factor than one might think though. Everyone has benefitted from easy money. So if were a primary factor then every early stage investor would have a 6% unicorn hit rate and that's clearly not true. I'm not an insider and I don't personally know any of their principals. But I have followe…

For the simple fact that investment leverage scales super-linearly with investment size, I think you may have mis-judged how much the market affects valuations.

Re: Changes at YC

#527

Post by ivalm »

darthrupert wrote: post #451
ivalm wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His X.com/paypal was not based on his previous wealth and corresponds to the thing that propelled him to later successes.

He got a $20K investment from his dad for his first company, Zip2, in 1995. That's about $40K in today's dollars. X.com/paypal success seems to have happened in spite of him, not due to him. He got billions from it because he had been lucky enough to be one of the early investors. I'm not actually saying that he's not a great business tycoon, he clearly is based on track record. Plenty of people have the kind of base…

$40k today is not a lot even for a lot of middle class… basically his parents gifted him an equivalent of a slightly nice new car.

With X.com he did quite a bit than invest as all of the other cofounders left prior to launch. By the time they merged with cofinity Elon was the only one of the original team.

Re: Changes at YC

#528

Post by tick_tock_tick »

mlyle wrote: post #307
tick_tock_tick wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wasn't it just recently that YC posted a plea to bailout so that people wouldn't be fired? No, that never happened where did you see that? > So where is the bailout for these impacted people? Unemployment exists and I'd bet a lot they got severance pay.

> No, that never happened where did you see that? He's referring to this: https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/urgent-sign-the-petition-no...

But that's not a bailout. I guess they are just wrong?

Re: Changes at YC

#529

Post by lmm »

aaa_aaa wrote: post #441
lmm wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that you can just throw away an employee is bizzarre to most of the developed world. You have a responsibility to them (usually a legal one); the employee-employer relationship is an unbalanced one in many ways, and relies on that for fairness. If you want people you can get rid of at the drop of a hat you should be hiring contractors and paying the associated premium.

It should not be bizarre. Everybody should adapt and act accordingly, save money and keep your axe sharp. No job is forever, no employer is your friend or family.

I acted accordingly by moving to a country with decent labour laws.

Re: Changes at YC

#530

Post by mlyle »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #528
mlyle wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, that never happened where did you see that? He's referring to this: https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/urgent-sign-the-petition-no...

But that's not a bailout. I guess they are just wrong?

Depositors received a benefit beyond previously promised insurance and benefits. Calling it a bailout or not is based on one's personal biases or semantics.
Post reply on HN