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Rhetoric aside, isn't this really just another example of "... Highlights Perils of Hard-Charging CEOs"? It's that simple. We can wander far from fast-growing s
by GCA10 11y ago
Rhetoric aside, isn't this really just another example of "... Highlights Perils of Hard-Charging CEOs"? It's that simple. We can wander far from fast-growing startups and find the same kind of conduct anywhere in business.
The guy running my corner grocery store decided to set up a sit-down cafe without getting a city license. The folks running a nearby office suite are in no hurry to put in city-mandated sprinklers. Business founders/owners like to get things done without asking permission. That's how they roll. Trying to invoke unicorn valuations, VCs, etc. is silly. It's a classic case of finding an exciting anecdote and trying to attach causality theories after the fact.
- unoti 11y ago> The guy running my corner grocery store decided to set up a sit-down cafe without getting a city license. The guy at the corner grocery store isn't discussing my employee's private medical records with me in between slamming down hits on the beer bong.
- mdonahoe 11y agoAre you referencing something in particular with this beer bong comment, or just being hyberbolic?
- untog 11y agoReasonably sure it is exaggeration for comic effect. We are not in a court room.
- mcguire 11y agoBam! mdonahoe is overruled!
- bronson 11y agoIt's FTFA: "There was a laxity about rules and decorum. Zenefits offered beer kegs in its offices, and in the Scottsdale, Ariz., office, people freely imbibed during the workday."
- chetanahuja 11y agoExcept that, taking VC money at high valuations is a huge factor in options open to the CEO and/or founders. All that money comes with a lot of obligations, hyper-growth being the biggest one of them. VC money and valuations are absolutely part of this equation.
- GCA10 11y agoYou're totally right about VC obligations ... but that burden exists with any kind of financing. Let's suppose my grocery store guy has a $300,000 loan from Bank of America, with interest due every month. He needs to meet payroll, buy his supplies and service his debt. He's getting sweated by his financial backers just as much. Maybe more so.
- chetanahuja 11y agoA bank loan doesn't come with board seats a large equity stake in your company and is not premised on fast growth of the existing business. If the business owner decides that the current size of the business is just right to keep everyone in the company employed and make the loan payments, they're good. A VC backed company doesn't have that option. TL;DR VC capital is very very different from a bank loan.