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If you can't see the writing on the wall early enough to wind down then you really have no business running a business. Yeah, I could come up with some pretty

If you can't see the writing on the wall early enough to wind down then you really have no business running a business. Yeah, I could come up with some pretty out there exceptions to that statement but they are pretty out there exceptions. Let's take an example. Your current revenue/expense ratio has you running out of cash in two-three months and short of a miracle or users all of a sudden finding your product indispensable you are toast. At this point a responsible business manager would say "we're not viable" and begin discussions with vendors, investors, banks and progress to talking to employees and customers. Now, the opposite of waking up one Monday and saying "@#$# I don't have enough money for next payroll - we gotta shutdown" is pretty lame and not the mark of someone I would want to invest in.

tluyben2 15y ago
Yes, that's possible in some cases. I did forget to think about the fact that in EU (where I live) it is hard to fire people, even if you are facing problems in '2-3 months'. Also you say "and short of a miracle or users all of a sudden finding your product indispensable you are toast" ; that happens, but it also happens quite a lot that it's not a miracle; it's just hard and smart work and you'll make it; you pivot your marketing, your start running a bit harder, you hire different kind of sales people or all of the above. So it's not always based on luck and miracles; often it is not. I think you are seeing it oversimplified; The Last Stand of a company can really be very tense and even sudden and can actually make the come back bigger and healthier than before. If you quit (fire your employees, you can no longer deliver anything, so you die) you might actually be much worse of than if you continued with the risk of not being able to pay. Of course, as I said before, I do believe you need to do the correct thing for your employees, even over the event (bankrupt) horizon; they stuck in there even when you told it's not going well. But I, as much as I loathe him, like Bob Parson's first rule; 'security is for cadavers'. It is. And I don't want that from my employees either.

tluyben2 15y ago

Yes, that's possible in some cases. I did forget to think about the fact that in EU (where I live) it is hard to fire people, even if you are facing problems in '2-3 months'. Also you say "and short of a miracle or users all of a sudden finding your product indispensable you are toast" ; that happens, but it also happens quite a lot that it's not a miracle; it's just hard and smart work and you'll make it; you pivot your marketing, your start running a bit harder, you hire different kind of sales people or all of the above. So it's not always based on luck and miracles; often it is not. I think you are seeing it oversimplified; The Last Stand of a company can really be very tense and even sudden and can actually make the come back bigger and healthier than before. If you quit (fire your employees, you can no longer deliver anything, so you die) you might actually be much worse of than if you continued with the risk of not being able to pay. Of course, as I said before, I do believe you need to do the correct thing for your employees, even over the event (bankrupt) horizon; they stuck in there even when you told it's not going well. But I, as much as I loathe him, like Bob Parson's first rule; 'security is for cadavers'. It is. And I don't want that from my employees either.