> Feels a bit like we are at the tail end of a pretty big macro cycle of tech companies green lighting big initiatives with optimistic mindset and now a few yea

> Feels a bit like we are at the tail end of a pretty big macro cycle of tech companies green lighting big initiatives with optimistic mindset and now a few years later the due bill is coming and the bets just didn't pay off. Exactly my perceptions as well. It seems like VCs and the tech scene in general put growth over profit in a big way for the last 3 - 5 years. That's a fine way to be for a lot of businesses, but my feeling is that companies and the hivemind got a little to comfortable with it, and rather than delaying profits for growth in the short term as an explicit strategy, began to take it for granted as an acceptable way to operate a business in the early days. The days when "Ramen profitable" mantras abounded and everybody praised 37signals have definitely quieted down, including on HN. And now it's been long enough that the tide's going out and we're seeing who's still got trunks on. I don't think the whole thing is going to crash into the ground, but I think "peak easy money" occurred in the past 24 months and has passed. I expect companies to have to work harder to prove they're actually bringing in cash. IMO, this is just as it should be and the market is correcting for valid reasons. ---- Semi-related anecdote: SF's insane rent prices have mostly plateaued in the last 9 months, especially compared to past growth, and I hear the occasional whisper of them falling. Most news orgs get SF rent prices way wrong (by extrapolating bedroom prices from home purchases, not rentals, for example), but as someone who's lived in the city for a few years and changed apartments annually, I've got a decent calibration for the market. This is a trailing indicator, and to me signals that tech workers are less financially risk tolerant, and perceptions of "my financial situation is stable or poised to improve" are on the decline. Nearly all of my friends express worry over finances, despite making north of 100k.