5 ms·

At some point it is successful enough that it can survive having people whose only goal is to direct a large amount of money into their pockets. Seen this a fe

by gaius 8y ago

At some point it is successful enough that it can survive having people whose only goal is to direct a large amount of money into their pockets. Seen this a few times, “executives” joining late in the day (weeks before IPO) with 10-100x the stock(options) of early engineers.

candiodari 8y ago
Seen this too. What I can't understand is what makes people hire these clowns ? The first thing you learn about business is that you don't know how it works. The second thing is that no matter how experienced the competition looks, they don't know either. Hiring cannot solve a lack of business knowledge ... and yet everyone keeps thinking, again and again and again, that it does. So what makes people hire these idiots ?
- metajack 8y ago
  If you see such behavior, I encourage you to look for personal relationships. Many of those situations that I have observed the grifting new hires were friends of the investors or founders, etc.
  - gaius 8y ago
    My memory is hazy but the first time I saw this, they were all followers of the same guru as the founders. Not actually Scientology but a similar sort of thing. They lost it all in the dotcom crash anyway!
- kwillets 8y ago
  It seems like a group thing where they buy credibility with industry insiders. IPO's are all about lending credibility (that's why investment banks take a huge chunk), and the do-nothing hires are apparently related to that.
  - laurentl 8y ago
    Yes, signaling plays a big part. At some point you’re basically buying a gold-plated LinkedIn profile for the VCs and the press releases and the keynotes in industry summits, and that feeds on itself - each new prestigious VP position is another layer of gilt on the CV. In other words, they are hired to look good - any productive outcome is a mere coincidence.
    - kwillets 8y ago
      The IPO process is very tricky too; they want large holders to keep their stock as long as possible either to avoid tanking it or to keep the float small so it will bid up quickly. Naturally all these people can get out before the employee lockup ends though.

by gaius 8y ago

candiodari 8y ago

Seen this too. What I can't understand is what makes people hire these clowns ? The first thing you learn about business is that you don't know how it works. The second thing is that no matter how experienced the competition looks, they don't know either. Hiring cannot solve a lack of business knowledge ... and yet everyone keeps thinking, again and again and again, that it does. So what makes people hire these idiots ?

metajack 8y ago
If you see such behavior, I encourage you to look for personal relationships. Many of those situations that I have observed the grifting new hires were friends of the investors or founders, etc.
- gaius 8y ago
  My memory is hazy but the first time I saw this, they were all followers of the same guru as the founders. Not actually Scientology but a similar sort of thing. They lost it all in the dotcom crash anyway!
kwillets 8y ago
It seems like a group thing where they buy credibility with industry insiders. IPO's are all about lending credibility (that's why investment banks take a huge chunk), and the do-nothing hires are apparently related to that.
- laurentl 8y ago
  Yes, signaling plays a big part. At some point you’re basically buying a gold-plated LinkedIn profile for the VCs and the press releases and the keynotes in industry summits, and that feeds on itself - each new prestigious VP position is another layer of gilt on the CV. In other words, they are hired to look good - any productive outcome is a mere coincidence.
  - kwillets 8y ago
    The IPO process is very tricky too; they want large holders to keep their stock as long as possible either to avoid tanking it or to keep the float small so it will bid up quickly. Naturally all these people can get out before the employee lockup ends though.