4 ms·

How do you do due diligence though? I worked one job as PC support for a white box manufacturer. They were dabbling in telephony, even to the point of hiring e

How do you do due diligence though? I worked one job as PC support for a white box manufacturer. They were dabbling in telephony, even to the point of hiring engineers to build custom boxes to handle PSTN to VOIP conversion, leasing fibre from other companies to carry their call traffic. It was cute at the time, apart from the management who were all deadset focussed on saving pennies. Turn off the computer when you go home because those 20 cents a year it costs to run the thing in standby are extra profit! I left that job, that company ended up becoming the third biggest telco in the country. I signed up with another company that was already in the telco space but it turns out the CEO of this one was a clown, at one staff meeting shortly after Apple had released the iPhone 3G he held up the Nokia Navigator and said, “this is the future of phones, that Apple stuff is expensive crap.” That company doesn’t exist anymore (it was bought for scrap value by the third largest telco in the country)

yowlingcat 6y ago
Somewhat tautologically, by doing due diligence over and over. Take your former company for example. You see a couple examples of how they operate, but it does seem like frugality is an operating principle they hold dear. Is this a pennywise pound foolish mentality, or is it a mentality that follows from attempting to use resources efficiently to accomplish tasks and reduce waste? Take a look at the latter. The CEO makes a bold proclamation about the future; is he a visionary who anticipates the unmet needs of the present that will served by the future, or is he being opinionated for its own sake? Unfortunately, there isn't really enough information here to make a decision one way or another. You have to drill down both above and below to figure out what the company's overall story to their investors is. And you have to consider yourself one of them. You will be investing your time and your opportunity cost into them. Do you feel sufficiently sold? Always be asking this.

yowlingcat 6y ago

Somewhat tautologically, by doing due diligence over and over. Take your former company for example. You see a couple examples of how they operate, but it does seem like frugality is an operating principle they hold dear. Is this a pennywise pound foolish mentality, or is it a mentality that follows from attempting to use resources efficiently to accomplish tasks and reduce waste? Take a look at the latter. The CEO makes a bold proclamation about the future; is he a visionary who anticipates the unmet needs of the present that will served by the future, or is he being opinionated for its own sake? Unfortunately, there isn't really enough information here to make a decision one way or another. You have to drill down both above and below to figure out what the company's overall story to their investors is. And you have to consider yourself one of them. You will be investing your time and your opportunity cost into them. Do you feel sufficiently sold? Always be asking this.