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I used to work at Overstock as an engineer. It was a wild ride. This guy is explaining this situation better than any combination of people in that company coul

I used to work at Overstock as an engineer. It was a wild ride. This guy is explaining this situation better than any combination of people in that company could ever muster up. Also, AMA, there are plenty of stories.

52358 7y ago
I did a software engineering internship at Overstock circa 2013-2014, and have a couple interesting stories myself. However while an intern there I heard a story that Patrick Byrne locked a team of engineers in a room and didn't let them out until they implemented bitcoin payments into Overstock. Do you happen to know if this story is true? I remember at the time that made Overstock one of the first bigger mainstream websites to support Bitcoin.
- elliotec 7y ago
  It's not precisely true but that story comes from him and it's not too far off. He loved talking about "throwing a bunch of engineers in a room for a couple days and shoving pizza under the door periodically" for that implementation, and they basically did do that, but it was nothing more intense than a normal crunch time overnighter or like a hackathon, and of course they could've gone home if they wanted to. I knew them and most of them were pretty stoked on the project so they kinda wanted to do that anyway, and got a hell of a bonus for it too (and promotions, lots of them).
aybs 7y ago
I'm not even sure where to start asking. What's the first wild story that comes to mind?
- elliotec 7y ago
  I was pretty good buddies with some of the higher-ups that spent a lot of time with Patrick. One of the craziest stories they told me was when they were partying at his ranch in the mountains with a lot of property. Everyone was drinking and laughing or whatever, I think he estimated a handful people were there, and suddenly Patrick gets a notification on his phone and starts freaking out, saying someone was coming onto the property, specifically one of the "men in black" Feds you hear him refer to. Apparently he had people watching cameras around his property for any "suspicious activity," and there were reasons for him to fear for his life over it. He pushes a button and his house shuts down like one of those movies where metal sheets go over all the windows, code red alarm, and literally a gun room opens up. He grabs a bunch of "Halo-style guns" (source's words) and passes them around to the other people in the room, whispering about hiding and waiting it out or they'll have to fight. Hours went by without more incident other than everyone freaking out for a while and I think they started partying again or passing out. People didn't used to believe me when I told them he was like this!
oceanghost 7y ago
Were you around for the Bing partnership days? If so I have so many questions.
dwohnitmok 7y ago
How wild was the company overall vs just Byrne?

52358 7y ago

I did a software engineering internship at Overstock circa 2013-2014, and have a couple interesting stories myself. However while an intern there I heard a story that Patrick Byrne locked a team of engineers in a room and didn't let them out until they implemented bitcoin payments into Overstock. Do you happen to know if this story is true? I remember at the time that made Overstock one of the first bigger mainstream websites to support Bitcoin.

elliotec 7y ago
It's not precisely true but that story comes from him and it's not too far off. He loved talking about "throwing a bunch of engineers in a room for a couple days and shoving pizza under the door periodically" for that implementation, and they basically did do that, but it was nothing more intense than a normal crunch time overnighter or like a hackathon, and of course they could've gone home if they wanted to. I knew them and most of them were pretty stoked on the project so they kinda wanted to do that anyway, and got a hell of a bonus for it too (and promotions, lots of them).

aybs 7y ago

I'm not even sure where to start asking. What's the first wild story that comes to mind?

elliotec 7y ago
I was pretty good buddies with some of the higher-ups that spent a lot of time with Patrick. One of the craziest stories they told me was when they were partying at his ranch in the mountains with a lot of property. Everyone was drinking and laughing or whatever, I think he estimated a handful people were there, and suddenly Patrick gets a notification on his phone and starts freaking out, saying someone was coming onto the property, specifically one of the "men in black" Feds you hear him refer to. Apparently he had people watching cameras around his property for any "suspicious activity," and there were reasons for him to fear for his life over it. He pushes a button and his house shuts down like one of those movies where metal sheets go over all the windows, code red alarm, and literally a gun room opens up. He grabs a bunch of "Halo-style guns" (source's words) and passes them around to the other people in the room, whispering about hiding and waiting it out or they'll have to fight. Hours went by without more incident other than everyone freaking out for a while and I think they started partying again or passing out. People didn't used to believe me when I told them he was like this!

oceanghost 7y ago

Were you around for the Bing partnership days? If so I have so many questions.

dwohnitmok 7y ago

How wild was the company overall vs just Byrne?