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How is that any different from VCs being board members of various startups and those same startups "magically" being acquired by the more successful one? Why i

How is that any different from VCs being board members of various startups and those same startups "magically" being acquired by the more successful one? Why is it OK when VCs do it and not OK when a rank-and-file engineer does it? I think you too are focusing on the wrong things. The startup and VC ecosystem is all sorts of retarded. This case blowing up just gives you a small glimpse into the startup shell game.

magicalist 10y ago
> * How is that any different from VCs being board members of various startups and those same startups "magically" being acquired by the more successful one? Why is it OK when VCs do it and not OK when a rank-and-file engineer does it?* Well it certainly doesn't sound like he was rank and file, but regardless I'd imagine the difference is that he had a contract that said he wouldn't.
- dkarapetyan 10y ago
  And I think board members are not supposed to have conflicts of interest through insider connections and yet the VC ecosystem mostly operates by insider connections. I'm not condoning what this guy did but the reason he was able to do all of that is not because he was being shady (although from a specific perspective he was being shady I think it is a matter of degrees when it comes to this stuff). It is because the system is set up to enable exactly this kind of behavior and he just happened to overstep a few too many boundaries whereas the people that have been playing this game for a while have a much more measured approach. So instead of jumping on the bandwagon and burning this guy maybe we should reflect on how the ecosystem operates as a whole and whether the rules are slightly rigged. He'll have his day in court but if the rest of us don't learn from the experience then not really sure if all the wasted bits on the matter are worth it in the end.

magicalist 10y ago

> * How is that any different from VCs being board members of various startups and those same startups "magically" being acquired by the more successful one? Why is it OK when VCs do it and not OK when a rank-and-file engineer does it?* Well it certainly doesn't sound like he was rank and file, but regardless I'd imagine the difference is that he had a contract that said he wouldn't.

dkarapetyan 10y ago
And I think board members are not supposed to have conflicts of interest through insider connections and yet the VC ecosystem mostly operates by insider connections. I'm not condoning what this guy did but the reason he was able to do all of that is not because he was being shady (although from a specific perspective he was being shady I think it is a matter of degrees when it comes to this stuff). It is because the system is set up to enable exactly this kind of behavior and he just happened to overstep a few too many boundaries whereas the people that have been playing this game for a while have a much more measured approach. So instead of jumping on the bandwagon and burning this guy maybe we should reflect on how the ecosystem operates as a whole and whether the rules are slightly rigged. He'll have his day in court but if the rest of us don't learn from the experience then not really sure if all the wasted bits on the matter are worth it in the end.