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Much like different companies need a different set of people, the same company at different stages needs a different set of people. Some people are great at th
by chmod600 3y ago
Much like different companies need a different set of people, the same company at different stages needs a different set of people.
Some people are great at the research / experimentation phase but not great when it comes to scaling up. Other people aren't great at scaling up but are great during the operational phase.
The operational phase is the only place profit is generated, but the other people need to get paid, too.
- hn_throwaway_99 3y agoBut the point is almost nobody believes a Cisco acquisition will lead to "better execution in the scaling phase". Instead, it will lead to the inevitable enshittification as customers are milked for more and more profit while the tech decays because all the good people leave.
- chmod600 3y agoThat may be true for Cisco specifically; I don't know. But some acquisitions really go well and make sense for everyone. I don't think YouTube was profitable before acquisition. Now it's profitable and a great product.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- hn_throwaway_99 3y agoTotally agree with that. I remember reading an article years ago that was talking about how YouTube actually didn't have a ton of runway left before Google bought them - the hosting costs were going to kill them, and they needed someone like Google with their unique expertise at handling massive infrastructure scale (and probably only Google at that time had that experience) to join with. So I'm not saying 100% of acquisitions are shit storms, but so often when you see these old stalwarts buy new, innovative startups, everyone is scared their products will go to shit. Just look at the giant collective sigh of release when the Figma deal fell through.