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CEOs are literally paid to deal with these emotions constructively. In this case, that would have looked like welcoming a competitor to the space and being read

CEOs are literally paid to deal with these emotions constructively. In this case, that would have looked like welcoming a competitor to the space and being ready to win on execution, because ideas are free.

rchaud 4y ago
Yeesh, I'm glad he didn't say that. What a vapid soundbite. I don't mean that to reflect on you, you worded it exactly as a CEO would. "We welcome competition", what a joke!
- eli 4y ago
  What would you say? Making it personal I don't think helps anyone.
  - unethical_ban 4y ago
    I get the CEO speak, but I think rchaud is saying "no one welcomes competition - everyone wants a monopoly and to make as much money as possible". So saying otherwise sounds like garbage. People only "want competition" in the manner of controlled opposition, where they know they can beat someone.
    - darkerside 4y ago
      Competition is going to come whether you like it or not. You can whine about it, or you can use it as a tool to push yourself to be better. rchaud find this to be a platitude, but frankly, I don't give a shit what he thinks. If I'm a good CEO, I care much more about how my employees react to the new competition than to how this internet rando feels about my public response.
      - unethical_ban 4y ago
        Speaking of effective communication, I don't think your tone effectively persuades skeptical listeners. You are on a forum of Internet randos, having a polite discussion.
        sillysaurusx 4y ago
        I’ll attempt to gently point out something that’s important to me: this is also an example of how males discuss things. It’s very difficult to bring up this topic in a constructive, thoughtful, and impactful way. But I urge you to really sit down and think carefully about it, even for a few minutes. His tone was the tone I used to use. I still do, sometimes. I have to catch myself, because old habits are hard to break. The reason I decided to break the habit is because it discourages people like my wife from becoming engineers, let alone founders. She’s one of the most talented hackers I know. And you’d be reasonable to suspect that I’m exaggerating or being nice because she’s a woman, but you’d be mistaken. If you’re a react dev, there’s a very strong probability that if you went head to hews with her in a “who can ship a great looking website faster?” contest, you would lose badly. I didn’t believe it until I saw it more than once. The world is worse without people like her as engineers. And — most importantly — it’s worth altering our behavior in the default case, not to be nice or to be more inclusive, but because it will make everyone’s lives better in the long run. Just some food for thought. It didn’t sink in for me until I pointed out she could be paid a lot more if only she’d aggressively negotiate. She mentioned “yeah, I know it’s how men do it.” A little switch flipped in my head. It doesn’t need to be this way; we decide to be this way.
        darkerside 4y ago
        Please see my other response to your peer comment. It's a better example of how I typically communicate and describes why I chose to say what I did in the more controversial comment I posted. I agree with everything you said, and I'd add that this is not unique to women. There are many creators who don't want to operate in a bro culture. Personally, I consider it a strength to be able to work with _all kinds of people_, and communicate in ways that are effective to each of them. Edit to add: My default communication is more inclusive. But there are definitely situations where a leader needs to be aggressive (e.g. against an external threat), and failure to do so can jeopardize the well-being of your own employees who aren't prone to that communication style themselves.
- benjaminwootton 4y ago
  A lot of CEOs say this platitude. They are initially worried, but it often turns out to be good news because it accelerates or is a sign of a growing market.
  - jonny_eh 4y ago
    See: Zuckerberg's response to the launch of Google Plus.
pastor_bob 4y ago
A CEO like Steve Jobs would have sought to destroy them and wouldn't have been afraid to openly snub them. Sometimes you go for the jugular
- hobs 4y ago
  And Steve Jobs was an asshole who died believing citrus would cure his cancer while parking in handicapped parking lot zones so, maybe don't idolize him.
bernardom 4y ago
"NBA players are literally paid to entertain us. They should just absorb the verbal abuse." "Waiters are literally paid..." Or we could be humans?
- caylus 4y ago
  Where did you get "verbal abuse" from? We're talking about competition, so a far closer analogy would be an NBA player having to play a a game against one of their friends. Should they not have to do that in exchange for their salary?
- bestcoder69 4y ago
  What’s the analogy here exactly? Non-coordinated competition is akin to verbal abuse? Isn’t there a much more obvious NBA analogy here, which would actually make the CEO-empathy pleas appear even more ridiculous? Were you attempting the move “X=Bad to me, Y=Bad to you, Bad=Bad, therefore X=Y”?
SnowHill9902 4y ago
Ideas are not free. Good execution is better than good ideas alone, true. But ideas can definitely be worth a lot.
- darkerside 4y ago
  Any sufficiently good idea is really hard to communicate but really easy to demonstrate. That means you get a head start, but the next person gets it for free. That head start is your time to build a business with a moat. If you haven't done it by then, the next person will.
  - davidatbu 4y ago
    > Any sufficiently good idea is really hard to communicate but really easy to demonstrate. I'm gonna steal this.
    - SnowHill9902 4y ago
      That phrase was his idea.
      - bornfreddy 4y ago
        But it was just communicated. Wait till they demonstrate it.
      - darkerside 4y ago
        It's free :)
  - jonny_eh 4y ago
    > Any sufficiently good idea There are all sorts of good ideas. Some are easy to communicate, some demonstrate, some both, some neither.
    - darkerside 4y ago
      They're not sufficiently good for my theorem!
itslennysfault 4y ago
A prime example of this is the response Slack gave when Microsoft launched Teams. It was a direct copy-cat and they didn't throw a temper tantrum. They welcomed Microsoft into the space and saw it as validation of their product.
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > it was a direct copy-cat and they didn't throw a temper tantrum I’m seeing people conclude a lot more about Plaid from the CEO’s outburst than from Stripe’s announcement. If a competitor throws into your ring and your first move is to call foul on technicalities, it suggests you don’t think you can win on merit alone.
  - 60secz 4y ago
    This. Moat harder.
- doktorhladnjak 4y ago
  That may have been true at first but then why did they go to the EU antitrust regulator with a complaint? https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/slack-accuses-microsoft-of-anticompetitive-practices-in-eu-complaint.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/slack-accuses-microsoft-of-a...
  - darkerside 4y ago
    Welcoming competition is different from approving of a competitor abusing their platform to sell only their own products. Note that I am not saying this is what Microsoft is doing, just saying that this is what Slack claims to believe they are doing. IMO, their welcoming of competition, on an even playing field, only strengthens their request that Microsoft compete fairly.

rchaud 4y ago

Yeesh, I'm glad he didn't say that. What a vapid soundbite. I don't mean that to reflect on you, you worded it exactly as a CEO would. "We welcome competition", what a joke!

eli 4y ago
What would you say? Making it personal I don't think helps anyone.
- unethical_ban 4y ago
  I get the CEO speak, but I think rchaud is saying "no one welcomes competition - everyone wants a monopoly and to make as much money as possible". So saying otherwise sounds like garbage. People only "want competition" in the manner of controlled opposition, where they know they can beat someone.
  - darkerside 4y ago
    Competition is going to come whether you like it or not. You can whine about it, or you can use it as a tool to push yourself to be better. rchaud find this to be a platitude, but frankly, I don't give a shit what he thinks. If I'm a good CEO, I care much more about how my employees react to the new competition than to how this internet rando feels about my public response.
    - unethical_ban 4y ago
      Speaking of effective communication, I don't think your tone effectively persuades skeptical listeners. You are on a forum of Internet randos, having a polite discussion.
      - sillysaurusx 4y ago
        I’ll attempt to gently point out something that’s important to me: this is also an example of how males discuss things. It’s very difficult to bring up this topic in a constructive, thoughtful, and impactful way. But I urge you to really sit down and think carefully about it, even for a few minutes. His tone was the tone I used to use. I still do, sometimes. I have to catch myself, because old habits are hard to break. The reason I decided to break the habit is because it discourages people like my wife from becoming engineers, let alone founders. She’s one of the most talented hackers I know. And you’d be reasonable to suspect that I’m exaggerating or being nice because she’s a woman, but you’d be mistaken. If you’re a react dev, there’s a very strong probability that if you went head to hews with her in a “who can ship a great looking website faster?” contest, you would lose badly. I didn’t believe it until I saw it more than once. The world is worse without people like her as engineers. And — most importantly — it’s worth altering our behavior in the default case, not to be nice or to be more inclusive, but because it will make everyone’s lives better in the long run. Just some food for thought. It didn’t sink in for me until I pointed out she could be paid a lot more if only she’d aggressively negotiate. She mentioned “yeah, I know it’s how men do it.” A little switch flipped in my head. It doesn’t need to be this way; we decide to be this way.
        darkerside 4y ago
        Please see my other response to your peer comment. It's a better example of how I typically communicate and describes why I chose to say what I did in the more controversial comment I posted. I agree with everything you said, and I'd add that this is not unique to women. There are many creators who don't want to operate in a bro culture. Personally, I consider it a strength to be able to work with _all kinds of people_, and communicate in ways that are effective to each of them. Edit to add: My default communication is more inclusive. But there are definitely situations where a leader needs to be aggressive (e.g. against an external threat), and failure to do so can jeopardize the well-being of your own employees who aren't prone to that communication style themselves.
benjaminwootton 4y ago
A lot of CEOs say this platitude. They are initially worried, but it often turns out to be good news because it accelerates or is a sign of a growing market.
- jonny_eh 4y ago
  See: Zuckerberg's response to the launch of Google Plus.

pastor_bob 4y ago

A CEO like Steve Jobs would have sought to destroy them and wouldn't have been afraid to openly snub them. Sometimes you go for the jugular

hobs 4y ago
And Steve Jobs was an asshole who died believing citrus would cure his cancer while parking in handicapped parking lot zones so, maybe don't idolize him.

bernardom 4y ago

"NBA players are literally paid to entertain us. They should just absorb the verbal abuse." "Waiters are literally paid..." Or we could be humans?

caylus 4y ago
Where did you get "verbal abuse" from? We're talking about competition, so a far closer analogy would be an NBA player having to play a a game against one of their friends. Should they not have to do that in exchange for their salary?
bestcoder69 4y ago
What’s the analogy here exactly? Non-coordinated competition is akin to verbal abuse? Isn’t there a much more obvious NBA analogy here, which would actually make the CEO-empathy pleas appear even more ridiculous? Were you attempting the move “X=Bad to me, Y=Bad to you, Bad=Bad, therefore X=Y”?

SnowHill9902 4y ago

Ideas are not free. Good execution is better than good ideas alone, true. But ideas can definitely be worth a lot.

darkerside 4y ago
Any sufficiently good idea is really hard to communicate but really easy to demonstrate. That means you get a head start, but the next person gets it for free. That head start is your time to build a business with a moat. If you haven't done it by then, the next person will.
- davidatbu 4y ago
  > Any sufficiently good idea is really hard to communicate but really easy to demonstrate. I'm gonna steal this.
  - SnowHill9902 4y ago
    That phrase was his idea.
    - bornfreddy 4y ago
      But it was just communicated. Wait till they demonstrate it.
    - darkerside 4y ago
      It's free :)
- jonny_eh 4y ago
  > Any sufficiently good idea There are all sorts of good ideas. Some are easy to communicate, some demonstrate, some both, some neither.
  - darkerside 4y ago
    They're not sufficiently good for my theorem!

itslennysfault 4y ago

A prime example of this is the response Slack gave when Microsoft launched Teams. It was a direct copy-cat and they didn't throw a temper tantrum. They welcomed Microsoft into the space and saw it as validation of their product.

JumpCrisscross 4y ago
> it was a direct copy-cat and they didn't throw a temper tantrum I’m seeing people conclude a lot more about Plaid from the CEO’s outburst than from Stripe’s announcement. If a competitor throws into your ring and your first move is to call foul on technicalities, it suggests you don’t think you can win on merit alone.
- 60secz 4y ago
  This. Moat harder.
doktorhladnjak 4y ago
That may have been true at first but then why did they go to the EU antitrust regulator with a complaint? https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/slack-accuses-microsoft-of-anticompetitive-practices-in-eu-complaint.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/22/slack-accuses-microsoft-of-a...
- darkerside 4y ago
  Welcoming competition is different from approving of a competitor abusing their platform to sell only their own products. Note that I am not saying this is what Microsoft is doing, just saying that this is what Slack claims to believe they are doing. IMO, their welcoming of competition, on an even playing field, only strengthens their request that Microsoft compete fairly.