5 ms·

Someone should start an massive incubator that takes in top laid off employees and gives them resources to build a competing product. They will be motivated as

by qaq 3y ago

Someone should start an massive incubator that takes in top laid off employees and gives them resources to build a competing product. They will be motivated as hell and have a ton of domain knowledge and generally have a good idea on how to do things in way more efficient way than what their former employer did. For kicks and to save money replace most of mngmnt roles with AI model.

DrBazza 3y ago
There are often non-compete clauses in employment contracts. Depending on the country, they're not worth the paper they're written on sometimes. In others, legally binding.
- madeofpalk 3y ago
  Illegal in California.
  - dukeyukey 3y ago
    Most people don't live in California.
    - madeofpalk 3y ago
      Google has some employees in California.
    - dymk 3y ago
      Most people do actually live in California (by plurality)
- alangibson 3y ago
  Are there any examples of companies successfully enforcing non-competes against rank and file employees? (I'm excluding high value targets like Jeff Dean here where it might actually make sense to put millions in lawyers behind a suit).
- JonChesterfield 3y ago
  I don't think you get to non-compete people you fire. That's an on-resignation constraint.
  - deelowe 3y ago
    A layoff isn't a firing unless you choose to not accept the package. Accepting a severance is considered voluntary separation. You sign a document stating this.
  - flawn 3y ago
    I'd be genuinely interested what the legal situation here would be, if that's true...
    - tauntz 3y ago
      It would be rather interesting if it would be legal for me to hire somebody, then fire them the next day and they couldn't compete with me for some period of time. But then again, US employment law is rather different from EU so maybe that's possible there?
  - mathgeek 3y ago
    Non-compete clauses are often part of severance packages. You can choose not to take it, naturally.
  - sib 3y ago
    Not true as a general statement. May be true in certain cases. And certainly, in the case of a layoff (such as this one), with a severance package, a non-compete could be part of the severance agreement. (Or not, depending on locale. For sure not in California.)
rixrax 3y ago
Or having only ever worked at FAANG(s), many of them completely lack the skills that would make them effective as an entrepreneurs and it would be nigh useless to try to incubate new businesses out of them. Maybe. Not all. I am thinking of traits and skills such as actually talking to your users, selling product to customers, doing things small scale, being able to work without huge back office support, not having KPIs to game, and such.
- gretch 3y ago
  Completely agree with this take. I worked in FAANG and before that I worked in various startups. Most of the people around me are very adapted to this very specific hyper-structured environment that we are in. This is not a criticism - they are thriving in this environment and everyone is happy. But no way would I want to take these people with me on a new venture. (the inverse is also true; I would not take a shoot-from-the-hip go-getter and put them into a mature product environment that with intense legal scrutiny)
  - sangnoir 3y ago
    How do you reconcile your final paragraph/sentence with your own ability to succeed[1] in both environments? My experience is that the ability to adopt to structured/unstructured environments are not mutually-exclusive: some people may thrive in one but not the other, and others can do well in both (or none!) My motto is to make the right trade-offs in any environment - which is a universal superpower for engineers in my book; especially when coupled with curiosity and a willingness to learn. 1. I'm taking the charitable presumption.
    - gretch 3y ago
      You might be too charitable. There were hard transition phases where I was not necessarily considered successful. And I probably only made it through because my employer had deep pockets and chilled while I took time to adapt. The other direction (big co -> startup) is no where near as forgiving. Mottos are fine, but what we need to succeed is skill and practice with skills. We are susceptible to innovators dilemma on a personal basis, and it’s hard to break habits and intuition hardened over years in a different environment. And when I was in start up land I did watch a lot imported talent from FAANG come in and bomb out - they were trying to care about long term code quality and we needed to slap together a demo in 48 hours. It was like oil and water Edit: btw I don’t mean to signal that it’s impossible to do to be someone who thrives in both situations. It was a comment on the original suggestion of “just start a new company and hire up all these lay offs to get rich quick”. I believe that’s not going to be a good strategy

by qaq 3y ago

DrBazza 3y ago

There are often non-compete clauses in employment contracts. Depending on the country, they're not worth the paper they're written on sometimes. In others, legally binding.

madeofpalk 3y ago
Illegal in California.
- dukeyukey 3y ago
  Most people don't live in California.
  - madeofpalk 3y ago
    Google has some employees in California.
  - dymk 3y ago
    Most people do actually live in California (by plurality)
alangibson 3y ago
Are there any examples of companies successfully enforcing non-competes against rank and file employees? (I'm excluding high value targets like Jeff Dean here where it might actually make sense to put millions in lawyers behind a suit).
JonChesterfield 3y ago
I don't think you get to non-compete people you fire. That's an on-resignation constraint.
- deelowe 3y ago
  A layoff isn't a firing unless you choose to not accept the package. Accepting a severance is considered voluntary separation. You sign a document stating this.
- flawn 3y ago
  I'd be genuinely interested what the legal situation here would be, if that's true...
  - tauntz 3y ago
    It would be rather interesting if it would be legal for me to hire somebody, then fire them the next day and they couldn't compete with me for some period of time. But then again, US employment law is rather different from EU so maybe that's possible there?
- mathgeek 3y ago
  Non-compete clauses are often part of severance packages. You can choose not to take it, naturally.
- sib 3y ago
  Not true as a general statement. May be true in certain cases. And certainly, in the case of a layoff (such as this one), with a severance package, a non-compete could be part of the severance agreement. (Or not, depending on locale. For sure not in California.)

rixrax 3y ago

Or having only ever worked at FAANG(s), many of them completely lack the skills that would make them effective as an entrepreneurs and it would be nigh useless to try to incubate new businesses out of them. Maybe. Not all. I am thinking of traits and skills such as actually talking to your users, selling product to customers, doing things small scale, being able to work without huge back office support, not having KPIs to game, and such.

gretch 3y ago
Completely agree with this take. I worked in FAANG and before that I worked in various startups. Most of the people around me are very adapted to this very specific hyper-structured environment that we are in. This is not a criticism - they are thriving in this environment and everyone is happy. But no way would I want to take these people with me on a new venture. (the inverse is also true; I would not take a shoot-from-the-hip go-getter and put them into a mature product environment that with intense legal scrutiny)
- sangnoir 3y ago
  How do you reconcile your final paragraph/sentence with your own ability to succeed[1] in both environments? My experience is that the ability to adopt to structured/unstructured environments are not mutually-exclusive: some people may thrive in one but not the other, and others can do well in both (or none!) My motto is to make the right trade-offs in any environment - which is a universal superpower for engineers in my book; especially when coupled with curiosity and a willingness to learn. 1. I'm taking the charitable presumption.
  - gretch 3y ago
    You might be too charitable. There were hard transition phases where I was not necessarily considered successful. And I probably only made it through because my employer had deep pockets and chilled while I took time to adapt. The other direction (big co -> startup) is no where near as forgiving. Mottos are fine, but what we need to succeed is skill and practice with skills. We are susceptible to innovators dilemma on a personal basis, and it’s hard to break habits and intuition hardened over years in a different environment. And when I was in start up land I did watch a lot imported talent from FAANG come in and bomb out - they were trying to care about long term code quality and we needed to slap together a demo in 48 hours. It was like oil and water Edit: btw I don’t mean to signal that it’s impossible to do to be someone who thrives in both situations. It was a comment on the original suggestion of “just start a new company and hire up all these lay offs to get rich quick”. I believe that’s not going to be a good strategy