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The article is about Lambda School, for those who have not been following on Twitter. if you’re a startup CEO and you spend a year relentlessly bragging about

by tempsy 7y ago

The article is about Lambda School, for those who have not been following on Twitter. if you’re a startup CEO and you spend a year relentlessly bragging about your startup publicly you invite scrutiny on yourself. You are practically begging others to ask questions you might not want asked. His chief of staff literally insulted the intelligence of anyone who dared suggest Lambda School was worth less than $100B https://web.archive.org/web/20190921045339/https://twitter.com/trevmckendrick/status/1175267394433863680 https://web.archive.org/web/20190921045339/https://twitter.c...

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
When I read a tweet like that, I have to ponder the actual, underlying belief (at a personal level) versus the public image you must present as a function of your role, in this case, C-level executive. It's like you have to be completely blind to anything critical of your business. Your investors expect it. Your colleagues expect it. It appears to be a genuinely unenjoyable position to be in. Lambda School is even 1/10th of an Apple? It's mind boggling.
- SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
  At that point it’s not even meant as a statement of fact, not really. Surely his response to an investor offering less than a $100B valuation wouldn’t be “you don’t understand the economy haha”. Some people just take the attitude that any claim which won’t get you indicted for fraud is a legitimate PR tactic.
meowface 7y ago
Thanks for providing the exact link, because I think you completely mischaracterized what he actually said. I personally agree that this business model and market has potential to be worth $100 billion someday. Lambda School is one of the leaders in that market right now, as far as I know, so they have that potential, too. Now, will they remain the dominant leaders for long enough for them to actually be worth that? I think it's pretty unlikely; I think that pie is more likely be split by different, future companies. But of course any company executive is going to believe in their company's potential and future growth. He's just making an inspirational and aspirational comment about the market they're in and their business, like almost every company executive does. He's not insulting anyone's intelligence. I have no idea how well his company in particular is executing that model at the moment (I do see some criticisms of their program), but I think the company's general idea is a good one, in theory. I'd feel the same if they went bankrupt tomorrow - eventually some other company will try it and get it right.

by tempsy 7y ago

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago

When I read a tweet like that, I have to ponder the actual, underlying belief (at a personal level) versus the public image you must present as a function of your role, in this case, C-level executive. It's like you have to be completely blind to anything critical of your business. Your investors expect it. Your colleagues expect it. It appears to be a genuinely unenjoyable position to be in. Lambda School is even 1/10th of an Apple? It's mind boggling.

SpicyLemonZest 7y ago
At that point it’s not even meant as a statement of fact, not really. Surely his response to an investor offering less than a $100B valuation wouldn’t be “you don’t understand the economy haha”. Some people just take the attitude that any claim which won’t get you indicted for fraud is a legitimate PR tactic.

meowface 7y ago

Thanks for providing the exact link, because I think you completely mischaracterized what he actually said. I personally agree that this business model and market has potential to be worth $100 billion someday. Lambda School is one of the leaders in that market right now, as far as I know, so they have that potential, too. Now, will they remain the dominant leaders for long enough for them to actually be worth that? I think it's pretty unlikely; I think that pie is more likely be split by different, future companies. But of course any company executive is going to believe in their company's potential and future growth. He's just making an inspirational and aspirational comment about the market they're in and their business, like almost every company executive does. He's not insulting anyone's intelligence. I have no idea how well his company in particular is executing that model at the moment (I do see some criticisms of their program), but I think the company's general idea is a good one, in theory. I'd feel the same if they went bankrupt tomorrow - eventually some other company will try it and get it right.