7 ms·

I would think Tailwind could keep 3 engineers around if they are getting sponsorship of over $1m/yr.

sodapopcan 10mo ago
Not necessarily. We don't know what all their costs are, but it's a lot more than just salaries. I'm sure there was a lot of uncertainty in how long those sponsorships would last. There are any number of factors. Adam also stated in a podcast [0] that he laid people of now in order to ensure they he could give them generous severance packages. I'm sure people will have thoughts on that but whatever, I think that makes sense. [0] https://adams-morning-walk.transistor.fm/episodes/we-had-six-months-left https://adams-morning-walk.transistor.fm/episodes/we-had-six...
- manmal 10mo ago
  What costs could tailwind the OSS project have besides payroll and SaaS subs of max 20% the payroll?
  - sodapopcan 10mo ago
    Hosting, marketing, other promotional stuff (conferences, maybe other?), there are still three people on the payroll and otherwise I don't know (which was part of my point) as I've never run a business like this before myself. Oh, subscriptions to AI services... that's pricey I hear ;)
    - perks_12 10mo ago
      Hosting for their documentation would only be a noteworthy amount if they chose to host on Vercel. Other than that it's a Hetzner box at $100 per month tops.
      - deleted 10mo ago
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      - deleted 10mo ago
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    - TiredOfLife 10mo ago
      What marketing? Their only marketing is a link in their documentation.
    - manmal 10mo ago
      20% of payroll would cover all that, disregarding marketing which a project like tailwind doesn’t need IMO.
lysace 10mo ago
Obviously, yes. Even in the SV area. We all know engineers' capabilities triple or more if they work from there. /S
zamadatix 10mo ago
I've seen wildly different takes assuming how many people worked at Tailwind and what they did because "3/4 of the engineering team" is confusing without more context, so I decided to go through the podcast episode about it https://adams-morning-walk.transistor.fm/episodes/we-had-six-months-left https://adams-morning-walk.transistor.fm/episodes/we-had-six... to see what the full picture was. Remaining: - Adam (cofounder/owner/original author of tailwind) - Jonathan (cofounder/owner/product/engineering/early co-author of tailwind) - Steve (owner/design lead) - Peter [part time] (partnerships/ops/support) - Robin (engineer) There were 3 other engineers who worked with Robin to make up the 4 person engineering team before being laid off. The ones laid off were claimed to be given a good severance. It did not seem to clarify if the 3 owners are collecting a full salary or not. Importantly, that there is only 1 person remaining on the engineering team doesn't mean they only have 1 person who can fill the role of an engineer on the product. No guarantees this is 100% accurate or exhaustive (or names spelled correctly - apologies in advance!), but hopefully it should be a lot better a reference than guessing what the company structure looks like based on the percentage laid off alone.

Not necessarily. We don't know what all their costs are, but it's a lot more than just salaries. I'm sure there was a lot of uncertainty in how long those sponsorships would last. There are any number of factors. Adam also stated in a podcast [0] that he laid people of now in order to ensure they he could give them generous severance packages. I'm sure people will have thoughts on that but whatever, I think that makes sense. [0] https://adams-morning-walk.transistor.fm/episodes/we-had-six-months-left https://adams-morning-walk.transistor.fm/episodes/we-had-six...

manmal 10mo ago
What costs could tailwind the OSS project have besides payroll and SaaS subs of max 20% the payroll?
- sodapopcan 10mo ago
  Hosting, marketing, other promotional stuff (conferences, maybe other?), there are still three people on the payroll and otherwise I don't know (which was part of my point) as I've never run a business like this before myself. Oh, subscriptions to AI services... that's pricey I hear ;)
  - perks_12 10mo ago
    Hosting for their documentation would only be a noteworthy amount if they chose to host on Vercel. Other than that it's a Hetzner box at $100 per month tops.
    - deleted 10mo ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 10mo ago
      [deleted]
  - TiredOfLife 10mo ago
    What marketing? Their only marketing is a link in their documentation.
  - manmal 10mo ago
    20% of payroll would cover all that, disregarding marketing which a project like tailwind doesn’t need IMO.

lysace 10mo ago

Obviously, yes. Even in the SV area. We all know engineers' capabilities triple or more if they work from there. /S

zamadatix 10mo ago

I've seen wildly different takes assuming how many people worked at Tailwind and what they did because "3/4 of the engineering team" is confusing without more context, so I decided to go through the podcast episode about it https://adams-morning-walk.transistor.fm/episodes/we-had-six-months-left https://adams-morning-walk.transistor.fm/episodes/we-had-six... to see what the full picture was. Remaining: - Adam (cofounder/owner/original author of tailwind) - Jonathan (cofounder/owner/product/engineering/early co-author of tailwind) - Steve (owner/design lead) - Peter [part time] (partnerships/ops/support) - Robin (engineer) There were 3 other engineers who worked with Robin to make up the 4 person engineering team before being laid off. The ones laid off were claimed to be given a good severance. It did not seem to clarify if the 3 owners are collecting a full salary or not. Importantly, that there is only 1 person remaining on the engineering team doesn't mean they only have 1 person who can fill the role of an engineer on the product. No guarantees this is 100% accurate or exhaustive (or names spelled correctly - apologies in advance!), but hopefully it should be a lot better a reference than guessing what the company structure looks like based on the percentage laid off alone.