4 ms·

Am I the only one feeling that we should be thankful that these unicorns (whether actually profitable or driven by crazy VC money) have created so many jobs in

Am I the only one feeling that we should be thankful that these unicorns (whether actually profitable or driven by crazy VC money) have created so many jobs in the past several years?

mylons 6y ago
what did those jobs produce?
- twic 6y ago
  Robust property prices in San Francisco!
- pjc50 6y ago
  Money?
- PunchTornado 6y ago
  I always feel thankful that I don't have to deal with taxi drivers when I travel.
  - californical 6y ago
    It's interesting that you say that, since it was one of my favorite parts about Europe being able to just walk up to any main street corner and have a ride somewhere. No need to have an app or anything, always works, no privacy/data issues. And it was never a big deal to walk a couple blocks to the main roads
    - PunchTornado 6y ago
      When I went to Paris I was cheated so much and almost beaten, had a physical altercation with a taxi driver at destination. Never again would I use taxi if I have another option.
    - xvector 6y ago
      In the US I’ve never come across a taxi driver that wasn’t an asshole, but Uber drivers are usually chill and fine.
    - nwsm 6y ago
      That's how I feel about NYC. When I'm there I couldn't even fathom trying to get an Uber. Why would I? 5 taxis pass me a minute Everywhere else though, I take Uber/Lyft.
- victords 6y ago
  For Uber specifically? Money, better and cheaper transportation where it sucked, and jobs for much more people than just developers.
  - luckydata 6y ago
    had advantages but remuneration for drivers lately it was very comparable to taking a reverse-mortgage on your car. I'm still convinced Uber is not a sustainable business at the scale they operate at.
    - wutbrodo 6y ago
      > remuneration for drivers lately it was very comparable to taking a reverse-mortgage on your car I've still yet to see any analysis show this that didn't have serious problems. The most common, and most severe, failing of these studies is the way they assume that time-based depreciation on a car is zero...implying that buying a car and letting it sit idle would maintain 100% of its value. That is to say, these studies define away the possibility that increasing utilization of your car allows you to get more value out of the asset, which IMO is at the core of the value calculation. I wouldn't be shocked if better analyses found that the net income of being an Uber driver was pretty poor, but the fact that every analysis includes this glaring flaw makes me slightly more suspicious of the claim than I otherwise would be. And I don't think your unqualified statement of this claim as fact is warranted.
      - luckydata 6y ago
        the cost per mile of maintaining a fleet car is one of the subject matters best studied and quantified in the entire universe. My wife is a fleet manager, I'm very damn well sure what I'm talking about (contrary to you). I'm also a product manager so I did some back of the envelope math because I REALLY wanted to understand to what I was missing that Softbank wasn't. Turns out, absolutely nothing, I'm the sane one.
        wutbrodo 6y ago
dbancajas 6y ago
> middle-management kept asking for more developers, though, so everyone was happy. > reply not at the expense of pension funds used by VCs.
- mbesto 6y ago
  > not at the expense of pension funds used by VCs. This trope needs to die. Pension funds are heavily diversified investment vehicles of which VC is one part of the asset allocation. If a pension fund CIO (Chief Investment Officer) weights their asset allocation towards too much of the VC asset allocation then yes this is a problem - but they don't. In fact they have made size-able returns as a result of simply being disciplined about the risks and rewards of VC as an asset class.
rodgerd 6y ago
Given that they've produced jobs for already-affluent programmers by gutting the security and incomes of the working class, not really,

Am I the only one feeling that we should be thankful that these unicorns (whether actually profitable or driven by crazy VC money) have created so many jobs in the past several years?

mylons 6y ago

what did those jobs produce?

twic 6y ago
Robust property prices in San Francisco!
pjc50 6y ago
Money?
PunchTornado 6y ago
I always feel thankful that I don't have to deal with taxi drivers when I travel.
- californical 6y ago
  It's interesting that you say that, since it was one of my favorite parts about Europe being able to just walk up to any main street corner and have a ride somewhere. No need to have an app or anything, always works, no privacy/data issues. And it was never a big deal to walk a couple blocks to the main roads
  - PunchTornado 6y ago
    When I went to Paris I was cheated so much and almost beaten, had a physical altercation with a taxi driver at destination. Never again would I use taxi if I have another option.
  - xvector 6y ago
    In the US I’ve never come across a taxi driver that wasn’t an asshole, but Uber drivers are usually chill and fine.
  - nwsm 6y ago
    That's how I feel about NYC. When I'm there I couldn't even fathom trying to get an Uber. Why would I? 5 taxis pass me a minute Everywhere else though, I take Uber/Lyft.
victords 6y ago
For Uber specifically? Money, better and cheaper transportation where it sucked, and jobs for much more people than just developers.
- luckydata 6y ago
  had advantages but remuneration for drivers lately it was very comparable to taking a reverse-mortgage on your car. I'm still convinced Uber is not a sustainable business at the scale they operate at.
  - wutbrodo 6y ago
    > remuneration for drivers lately it was very comparable to taking a reverse-mortgage on your car I've still yet to see any analysis show this that didn't have serious problems. The most common, and most severe, failing of these studies is the way they assume that time-based depreciation on a car is zero...implying that buying a car and letting it sit idle would maintain 100% of its value. That is to say, these studies define away the possibility that increasing utilization of your car allows you to get more value out of the asset, which IMO is at the core of the value calculation. I wouldn't be shocked if better analyses found that the net income of being an Uber driver was pretty poor, but the fact that every analysis includes this glaring flaw makes me slightly more suspicious of the claim than I otherwise would be. And I don't think your unqualified statement of this claim as fact is warranted.
    - luckydata 6y ago
      the cost per mile of maintaining a fleet car is one of the subject matters best studied and quantified in the entire universe. My wife is a fleet manager, I'm very damn well sure what I'm talking about (contrary to you). I'm also a product manager so I did some back of the envelope math because I REALLY wanted to understand to what I was missing that Softbank wasn't. Turns out, absolutely nothing, I'm the sane one.
      - wutbrodo 6y ago

dbancajas 6y ago

> middle-management kept asking for more developers, though, so everyone was happy. > reply not at the expense of pension funds used by VCs.

mbesto 6y ago
> not at the expense of pension funds used by VCs. This trope needs to die. Pension funds are heavily diversified investment vehicles of which VC is one part of the asset allocation. If a pension fund CIO (Chief Investment Officer) weights their asset allocation towards too much of the VC asset allocation then yes this is a problem - but they don't. In fact they have made size-able returns as a result of simply being disciplined about the risks and rewards of VC as an asset class.

rodgerd 6y ago

Given that they've produced jobs for already-affluent programmers by gutting the security and incomes of the working class, not really,