7 ms·

I'm actually pleased to hear that a tech company is going to perish. Too many of them think they are invincible (airbnb)

by _RPM 10y ago

AndrewWarner 10y ago
What makes you say that Airbnb feels invincible? They seem like humble guys who are constantly at battle to save their company.
- deleted 10y ago
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- deleted 10y ago
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- joering2 10y ago
  I think you should re read your statement. In particular: "They seem like humble guys..." http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-co-founders-freshman-roommate-says-hes-a-spammy-scumbag-2011-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-co-founders-freshman-r...
  - _RPM 10y ago
    He seems pretty ruthless; willing to do anything to make money. Running a spam operation is a questionable act. These same attitudes and acts of moral wrongdoing seem to perpetuate along the operations of his current company (Airbnb). What's to stop him except of course the risk of facing criminal legal charges?
    - joering2 10y ago
      I don't think ruthless because I don't know if he physically hurt anyone, but its a secret how he got off FBI top list with no consequences whatsoever. Perhaps high connected friends - who knows? But there are people sending 1/1000th of spam volume he did and are doing 10 years in jail, so ultimately that's where I think Nathan belongs.
- _RPM 10y ago
  I think you should re read your statement. In particular: "..constant battle to save their company". Is a person who raises 500 million in funding constantly at a battle to save their company?
  - chrisrogers 10y ago
    That capital comes with an expectation of significant return. It's not an unstrung purse with guarantee of perpetual safety. I think the comment more refers to hospitality industry litigiousness (and sometimes, competition). I think any feeling of invincibility would be curtailed by constant embattlement in their own headquarter city.
    - wavefunction 10y ago
      That or breaking zoning laws in cities and making the rest of us miserable while our "neighbor" profits. You ever had a surprise AirBnB right above you? At 4AM on a Wednesday morning? Yeah, the tenant got dinged, eventually... maybe. I still had the joy of feeling someone's musical choices during time I had planned to be asleep with no real recourse from security or the police.
      - aianus 10y ago
        Why are you mad with airbnb and not with your local police? It's not airbnb's job to handle noise complaints, but it is the job of your local police to enforce the law (whether it's the law against short term sublets or the law against noise).
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  Honest question: at what point does a company stop being called "[two] guys (...) at a battle to save their company", and starts being called a multinational enterprise with ~2000 employees?
  - AndrewWarner 10y ago
    It's fair to say they're a multinational company and that they're big. I was talking about the founders being humble. My point was that the company doesn't seem to think they're invincible. They seem aware of the dangers.
    - j-walker 10y ago
      >I was talking about the founders being humble. http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/22/9591596/airbnb-san-francisco-ad-campaign-proposition-f http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/22/9591596/airbnb-san-franci...
      - _RPM 10y ago
        This perfectly illustrates the founders and CTO. Their arrogance is striking.
  - gotrecruit 10y ago
    i know this is a popular talking point in tech forums, the whole "when does a startup stop being a startup when they have more employees than etc etc" personally, i think the point where a startup becomes a company is very clear: the point where the company's core business is able to provide sustainable positive cash flow. i believe that as long as a company is still in the "burn rate" phase where instead of trying to figure out where they can squeeze more profits, they're simply trying to figure out how long they can keep running with what money they have left, then they're firmly still in the startup phase.
- WayneBro 10y ago
  I know their lead JavaScript guy is not too humble at all. He's a real asshole on IRC and you'll see exactly what I mean if you have a disagreement with him.
- randycupertino 10y ago
  Humble guys?? How about those ads where they basically bragged about how benevolent they were for finally being strong armed into paying their back taxes? And then the PR guy was completely unprofessional to the reporters who asked if it was really an actual ad campaign because it was so shockingly distasteful and absurd. http://archives.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2015/10/21/passive-aggressive-pro-airbnb-ads-appear-on-muni-shleters http://archives.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2015/10/21/passive-ag... "We emailed Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty to ask whether the library ad was "real." He responded by email, "as opposed to a fake one :)" A follow up email, explaining that we were in fact seeking confirmation as to whether the ads are actually from Airbnb received the following response: "Are you seriously writing on this?" Nulty did not respond to another follow up email. "
- metaphorm 10y ago
  to me they seem like neighborhood crashers who are intensely disrespectful to communities in crowded cities.
agentgt 10y ago
IMO You really shouldn't want benign things such a med tech company to fail unless they were doing something really egregious. I normally never down vote but this comment is pretty negative. (Wishing others to fail) I repeat for the downvoters the OP said he is rejoicing in the failure of a company. Screw people loosing their jobs. I don't care if theranos is Exxon mobile or JP. I would rather they learn and adapt for the better. Stop doing what ever is bad. Btw this my first downvote ever of which I wrote a comment why. Edit I wish I could delete my comment as I guess I must have said something terrible to get so downvoted. I assumed I must have offended someone. I just don't like some one "hoping" for the down fall of others and I feel strongly about it.
- duaneb 10y ago
  I would consider selling faulty tests to be egregious for a med tech company. I'm happy they are going down in flames; this is a public health concern. Their tact was borderline fraud.
  - kordless 10y ago
    You are layering rationalization around the original negative comments blaming statements and speaking for others. It's not appropriate to raise dissonance and then wish for more failure of startups. The startups are not to blame, but their business models are.
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      > The startups are not to blame, but their business models are. That's kind of like saying it's not the robber who killed, but the blade of his knife, therefore the robber should not be blamed. Business models don't just appear out of thin air to strike at unsuspecting people. They're willingly created and perpetuated by people in the process of running their companies, and thus the people (and the companies) are ultimately responsible for the consequences.
    - duaneb 10y ago
      Startups failing is a healthy effect of the market differentiating good ideas from bad. Of course we all want it.

I'm actually pleased to hear that a tech company is going to perish. Too many of them think they are invincible (airbnb)

by _RPM 10y ago

I'm actually pleased to hear that a tech company is going to perish. Too many of them think they are invincible (airbnb)

AndrewWarner 10y ago

What makes you say that Airbnb feels invincible? They seem like humble guys who are constantly at battle to save their company.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
joering2 10y ago
I think you should re read your statement. In particular: "They seem like humble guys..." http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-co-founders-freshman-roommate-says-hes-a-spammy-scumbag-2011-10 http://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-co-founders-freshman-r...
- _RPM 10y ago
  He seems pretty ruthless; willing to do anything to make money. Running a spam operation is a questionable act. These same attitudes and acts of moral wrongdoing seem to perpetuate along the operations of his current company (Airbnb). What's to stop him except of course the risk of facing criminal legal charges?
  - joering2 10y ago
    I don't think ruthless because I don't know if he physically hurt anyone, but its a secret how he got off FBI top list with no consequences whatsoever. Perhaps high connected friends - who knows? But there are people sending 1/1000th of spam volume he did and are doing 10 years in jail, so ultimately that's where I think Nathan belongs.
_RPM 10y ago
I think you should re read your statement. In particular: "..constant battle to save their company". Is a person who raises 500 million in funding constantly at a battle to save their company?
- chrisrogers 10y ago
  That capital comes with an expectation of significant return. It's not an unstrung purse with guarantee of perpetual safety. I think the comment more refers to hospitality industry litigiousness (and sometimes, competition). I think any feeling of invincibility would be curtailed by constant embattlement in their own headquarter city.
  - wavefunction 10y ago
    That or breaking zoning laws in cities and making the rest of us miserable while our "neighbor" profits. You ever had a surprise AirBnB right above you? At 4AM on a Wednesday morning? Yeah, the tenant got dinged, eventually... maybe. I still had the joy of feeling someone's musical choices during time I had planned to be asleep with no real recourse from security or the police.
    - aianus 10y ago
      Why are you mad with airbnb and not with your local police? It's not airbnb's job to handle noise complaints, but it is the job of your local police to enforce the law (whether it's the law against short term sublets or the law against noise).
TeMPOraL 10y ago
Honest question: at what point does a company stop being called "[two] guys (...) at a battle to save their company", and starts being called a multinational enterprise with ~2000 employees?
- AndrewWarner 10y ago
  It's fair to say they're a multinational company and that they're big. I was talking about the founders being humble. My point was that the company doesn't seem to think they're invincible. They seem aware of the dangers.
  - j-walker 10y ago
    >I was talking about the founders being humble. http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/22/9591596/airbnb-san-francisco-ad-campaign-proposition-f http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/22/9591596/airbnb-san-franci...
    - _RPM 10y ago
      This perfectly illustrates the founders and CTO. Their arrogance is striking.
- gotrecruit 10y ago
  i know this is a popular talking point in tech forums, the whole "when does a startup stop being a startup when they have more employees than etc etc" personally, i think the point where a startup becomes a company is very clear: the point where the company's core business is able to provide sustainable positive cash flow. i believe that as long as a company is still in the "burn rate" phase where instead of trying to figure out where they can squeeze more profits, they're simply trying to figure out how long they can keep running with what money they have left, then they're firmly still in the startup phase.
WayneBro 10y ago
I know their lead JavaScript guy is not too humble at all. He's a real asshole on IRC and you'll see exactly what I mean if you have a disagreement with him.
randycupertino 10y ago
Humble guys?? How about those ads where they basically bragged about how benevolent they were for finally being strong armed into paying their back taxes? And then the PR guy was completely unprofessional to the reporters who asked if it was really an actual ad campaign because it was so shockingly distasteful and absurd. http://archives.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2015/10/21/passive-aggressive-pro-airbnb-ads-appear-on-muni-shleters http://archives.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2015/10/21/passive-ag... "We emailed Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty to ask whether the library ad was "real." He responded by email, "as opposed to a fake one :)" A follow up email, explaining that we were in fact seeking confirmation as to whether the ads are actually from Airbnb received the following response: "Are you seriously writing on this?" Nulty did not respond to another follow up email. "
metaphorm 10y ago
to me they seem like neighborhood crashers who are intensely disrespectful to communities in crowded cities.

agentgt 10y ago

IMO You really shouldn't want benign things such a med tech company to fail unless they were doing something really egregious. I normally never down vote but this comment is pretty negative. (Wishing others to fail) I repeat for the downvoters the OP said he is rejoicing in the failure of a company. Screw people loosing their jobs. I don't care if theranos is Exxon mobile or JP. I would rather they learn and adapt for the better. Stop doing what ever is bad. Btw this my first downvote ever of which I wrote a comment why. Edit I wish I could delete my comment as I guess I must have said something terrible to get so downvoted. I assumed I must have offended someone. I just don't like some one "hoping" for the down fall of others and I feel strongly about it.

duaneb 10y ago
I would consider selling faulty tests to be egregious for a med tech company. I'm happy they are going down in flames; this is a public health concern. Their tact was borderline fraud.
- kordless 10y ago
  You are layering rationalization around the original negative comments blaming statements and speaking for others. It's not appropriate to raise dissonance and then wish for more failure of startups. The startups are not to blame, but their business models are.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    > The startups are not to blame, but their business models are. That's kind of like saying it's not the robber who killed, but the blade of his knife, therefore the robber should not be blamed. Business models don't just appear out of thin air to strike at unsuspecting people. They're willingly created and perpetuated by people in the process of running their companies, and thus the people (and the companies) are ultimately responsible for the consequences.
  - duaneb 10y ago
    Startups failing is a healthy effect of the market differentiating good ideas from bad. Of course we all want it.