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I am a teenager, and know nothing of starting or running a company. That said, from what I have read, is it not true that investors who hold equity constantly a

I am a teenager, and know nothing of starting or running a company. That said, from what I have read, is it not true that investors who hold equity constantly apply pressure to maximise profits, often leading to companies doing... unethical things? Whenever I've complained about a company being unethical or user-unfriendly, a friend of mine who lives in the US and knows more about this stuff always points out that because of pressure from investors, companies are often forced into such practices, and theorises that any company that takes outside investment in exchange for equity is always going to end up this way.

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
Some people certainly do unethical things to keep their investors happy. That's not really a problem unique to investors, though; other companies do unethical things to keep customers happy or keep their employees happy.
emilsedgh 7y ago
It really depends on the company culture, sector, etc. There's a lot of dynamics in here. Public companies are generally more prone to this issue, as all the ethics become abstract to shareholders. They are not involved in the dirty work. A lot of times, companies do the right thing not because of morality, but because doing the wrong thing has a risk (from a PR disaster to a regulatory issue). If the culture of the company is willing, the whole concept of morality is reduced to a risk/benefit formula. And they start to learn how to reduce risk, and it's a downhill from there.
- rahuldottech 7y ago
  > A lot of times, companies do the right thing not because of morality, but because doing the wrong thing has a risk (from a PR disaster to a regulatory issue). I think we've all seen that at this point in time public outcry and PR disasters matter very little in the larger scope of things for such companies (Equifax, Google, Facebook, et al.)
  - emilsedgh 7y ago
    Yeah. That's right. The pr disaster cost is getting cheaper and cheaper, allowing companies to get away with more and more.
JustSomeNobody 7y ago
> ... companies are often forced into such practices, ... No company is forced into doing anything unethical. What it boils down to is group think. A group of deciders convinces themselves little by little that their current behavior is OK; mostly because of money. And so little by little they slip into the doing unethical behaviors.
ggg3 7y ago
the problem here is not the option to fund a company with investors or not. Everyone keeps mixing subjects here. here the article is about some who instead of choosing one or the other, got the best of both for himself while leaving the worst from both to his employees. nothing else. honest people can still self fund or be a startup with equity all the same without being in the news like this here.
im3w1l 7y ago
The investors got screwed. Why would they apply pressure to hurt themselves?

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago

Some people certainly do unethical things to keep their investors happy. That's not really a problem unique to investors, though; other companies do unethical things to keep customers happy or keep their employees happy.

emilsedgh 7y ago

It really depends on the company culture, sector, etc. There's a lot of dynamics in here. Public companies are generally more prone to this issue, as all the ethics become abstract to shareholders. They are not involved in the dirty work. A lot of times, companies do the right thing not because of morality, but because doing the wrong thing has a risk (from a PR disaster to a regulatory issue). If the culture of the company is willing, the whole concept of morality is reduced to a risk/benefit formula. And they start to learn how to reduce risk, and it's a downhill from there.

rahuldottech 7y ago
> A lot of times, companies do the right thing not because of morality, but because doing the wrong thing has a risk (from a PR disaster to a regulatory issue). I think we've all seen that at this point in time public outcry and PR disasters matter very little in the larger scope of things for such companies (Equifax, Google, Facebook, et al.)
- emilsedgh 7y ago
  Yeah. That's right. The pr disaster cost is getting cheaper and cheaper, allowing companies to get away with more and more.

JustSomeNobody 7y ago

> ... companies are often forced into such practices, ... No company is forced into doing anything unethical. What it boils down to is group think. A group of deciders convinces themselves little by little that their current behavior is OK; mostly because of money. And so little by little they slip into the doing unethical behaviors.

ggg3 7y ago

the problem here is not the option to fund a company with investors or not. Everyone keeps mixing subjects here. here the article is about some who instead of choosing one or the other, got the best of both for himself while leaving the worst from both to his employees. nothing else. honest people can still self fund or be a startup with equity all the same without being in the news like this here.

im3w1l 7y ago

The investors got screwed. Why would they apply pressure to hurt themselves?