7 ms·

Ya know.... Founders and CEO's are responsible every day. They created the business for people to have jobs, they have to deal with it when the business cannot

by czbond 4y ago

Ya know.... Founders and CEO's are responsible every day. They created the business for people to have jobs, they have to deal with it when the business cannot support the jobs. When things in the macro economy change, sometimes the business can't operate at the same level it was before. People like to <poop> on CEO's & leaders in good times, but employees often forget that while the employee can just go get another job, the leaders have to keep hundreds, thousands, of people employed while also retaining customers and dealing with investors. They have to deal with keeping those hundreds/thousands employed every...single... day.

eganist 4y ago
Responsibility and accountability are different things.
TomBombadildoze 4y ago
Please. Stripe is privately held so let's look at a market comp, SQ. SQ 2021 Revenue: $17B SQ 2021 cash and short term investments: $5.3B Stripe 2021 Revenue: $12B Similar businesses, operating in the same market, with the nearly the same number of employees (about 8000). Barring exceptional circumstances, we would expect their financial health to be roughly similar. You said it yourself: > the leaders have to... [deal] with investors The economy is contracting and their share price is falling. They could afford to dip into cash and keep everyone on board but their investors are more concerned about propping up the valuation. They don't have two shits to give about the people they're letting go.
- tomnipotent 4y ago
  How can the share price of a private company be falling? > They could afford to dip into cash Why should they risk cash reserves with an uncertain future? So that they can layoff 30% later on if things get worse?
  - TomBombadildoze 4y ago
    Their own internal price target, the FMV they assign to shares. https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-cuts-internal-valuation-by-28-11657815625?mod=hp_lead_pos4 https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-cuts-internal-valuation-...
- czbond 4y ago
  Disagree. A CEO does not cut employees during a time when others are laying off unless business doesn't need / can't support/ not prudent to retain those employees. Why? Because periods like now is the absolute best time to steal market share from established companies - which would grow the team and business. Startups (competitors) begin to post less risk because they'll be hard to find financing. So - if growing the business is a CEO's top responsibility...if the leadership felt they could steal business from others that experience attrition - they would. My guess is they don't seem to feel that way about the current moment.
- conductr 4y ago
  > The economy is contracting and their share price is falling. They could afford to dip into cash and keep everyone on board but their investors are more concerned about propping up the valuation. They're worried about surviving the contraction, nobody knows how long it will last and that cash only goes so far.
- ceres 4y ago
  > They could afford to dip into cash and keep everyone on board but their investors are more concerned about propping up the valuation This an example of how bullshit jobs are created. Why keep people on a payroll if you have no use for them anymore?
  - topaz0 4y ago
    Suddenly realizing that 14% of your employees are not necessary for your business seems like a sign that something is wrong...
    - ceres 4y ago
      Yes, and? Businesses take risks and make mistakes all the time. Why should it be any different when it comes to hiring?
diebeforei485 4y ago
Stripe is large enough that the founders/CEO can retire anytime. It's not like startup founders who haven't been taking a salary (or been taking a below-market salary).
caskstrength 4y ago
> employees often forget that while the employee can just go get another job, the leaders... ...can usually afford to never work again!
floren 4y ago
I'm glad somebody is looking out for those poor Stripe founders!
time_to_smile 4y ago
> They created the business for people to have jobs No, the created the business in attempt to get wildly wealthy and unfortunately they can't do this without also having to hire a bunch of people. They certainly don't create the business for the sake of employing people. > People like to <poop> on CEO's & leaders in good times In my experience the opposite is true, in good times people can't help but <polish the nob> of CEO's & leaders, since easy employment and good pay make the fundamentally exploitative nature of their relationship less visible. > employees often forget that while the employee can just go get another job, the leaders have to keep hundreds, thousands... of thousands of dollars in their account even when they "fail". The key difference is that if I don't get another job, I lose my house and ultimately the ability to feed myself. If I don't play the game I quite literally am sentenced to death. The CEO of that lays off thousands can very easily spend the rest of their days in comfortable retirement at any given point. I need to sell my labor to live, CEOs need my labor to get richer.

by czbond 4y ago

eganist 4y ago

Responsibility and accountability are different things.

TomBombadildoze 4y ago

Please. Stripe is privately held so let's look at a market comp, SQ. SQ 2021 Revenue: $17B SQ 2021 cash and short term investments: $5.3B Stripe 2021 Revenue: $12B Similar businesses, operating in the same market, with the nearly the same number of employees (about 8000). Barring exceptional circumstances, we would expect their financial health to be roughly similar. You said it yourself: > the leaders have to... [deal] with investors The economy is contracting and their share price is falling. They could afford to dip into cash and keep everyone on board but their investors are more concerned about propping up the valuation. They don't have two shits to give about the people they're letting go.

tomnipotent 4y ago
How can the share price of a private company be falling? > They could afford to dip into cash Why should they risk cash reserves with an uncertain future? So that they can layoff 30% later on if things get worse?
- TomBombadildoze 4y ago
  Their own internal price target, the FMV they assign to shares. https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-cuts-internal-valuation-by-28-11657815625?mod=hp_lead_pos4 https://www.wsj.com/articles/stripe-cuts-internal-valuation-...
czbond 4y ago
Disagree. A CEO does not cut employees during a time when others are laying off unless business doesn't need / can't support/ not prudent to retain those employees. Why? Because periods like now is the absolute best time to steal market share from established companies - which would grow the team and business. Startups (competitors) begin to post less risk because they'll be hard to find financing. So - if growing the business is a CEO's top responsibility...if the leadership felt they could steal business from others that experience attrition - they would. My guess is they don't seem to feel that way about the current moment.
conductr 4y ago
> The economy is contracting and their share price is falling. They could afford to dip into cash and keep everyone on board but their investors are more concerned about propping up the valuation. They're worried about surviving the contraction, nobody knows how long it will last and that cash only goes so far.
ceres 4y ago
> They could afford to dip into cash and keep everyone on board but their investors are more concerned about propping up the valuation This an example of how bullshit jobs are created. Why keep people on a payroll if you have no use for them anymore?
- topaz0 4y ago
  Suddenly realizing that 14% of your employees are not necessary for your business seems like a sign that something is wrong...
  - ceres 4y ago
    Yes, and? Businesses take risks and make mistakes all the time. Why should it be any different when it comes to hiring?

diebeforei485 4y ago

Stripe is large enough that the founders/CEO can retire anytime. It's not like startup founders who haven't been taking a salary (or been taking a below-market salary).

caskstrength 4y ago

> employees often forget that while the employee can just go get another job, the leaders... ...can usually afford to never work again!

floren 4y ago

I'm glad somebody is looking out for those poor Stripe founders!

time_to_smile 4y ago

> They created the business for people to have jobs No, the created the business in attempt to get wildly wealthy and unfortunately they can't do this without also having to hire a bunch of people. They certainly don't create the business for the sake of employing people. > People like to <poop> on CEO's & leaders in good times In my experience the opposite is true, in good times people can't help but <polish the nob> of CEO's & leaders, since easy employment and good pay make the fundamentally exploitative nature of their relationship less visible. > employees often forget that while the employee can just go get another job, the leaders have to keep hundreds, thousands... of thousands of dollars in their account even when they "fail". The key difference is that if I don't get another job, I lose my house and ultimately the ability to feed myself. If I don't play the game I quite literally am sentenced to death. The CEO of that lays off thousands can very easily spend the rest of their days in comfortable retirement at any given point. I need to sell my labor to live, CEOs need my labor to get richer.