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I am going to give Yahoo the benefit of the doubt. I have a hard time believing that they'd pay $30M to gain five programmers. There's a lot more to this than

I am going to give Yahoo the benefit of the doubt. I have a hard time believing that they'd pay $30M to gain five programmers. There's a lot more to this than we are aware of. C'mon folks, if you think the math doesn't add-up (as an acqui-hire) don't you think the folks at Yahoo can do basic arithmetic as well. I've also read a few posts on this thread saying as much as "there are no smart people at Yahoo" or "everyone at Yahoo is an idiot" (paraphrasing). Coming from folks at HN I think these kinds of statements are really unbecoming. Of course there are a lot of amazing people at Yahoo. Tons of them. Here's a bit of news for detractors: Business is hard. No, it is fucking hard. And, at their size and scale it is even harder. And, at the break-neck competitive speed of the internet, even harder still. Mere humans make mistakes. We can read the tea-leaves wrong and take the wrong road --or one that is less than ideal. In business this can cost you years before you regain your prior position. What matters is that you do not give up. I like Yahoo very much. They've been around for a long time and hopefully they'll be around a lot longer. They might eventually find a groove to fall into and light-up the afterburners. Stupid they are not. What they are doing is hard. What all of us are doing is hard, at any scale.

michaelochurch 14y ago
I have a hard time believing that they'd pay $30M to gain five programmers. That's a fairly standard acq-hire, actually. It's not just Yahoo that's paying over $5 million per head. It's ridiculous, when you consider that the value of an employment relationship (which can be ended by either party at any time) is set at 30-60 times the annual salary. (Just think about it: how is a relationship that lasts 4.5 years on average worth 50x salary?) As I said, either engineers are getting screwed, or acq-hires are signs of severe desperation and devastating information poverty. It seems to be both. I've also read a few posts on this thread saying as much as "there are no smart people at Yahoo" or "everyone at Yahoo is an idiot" (paraphrasing). Coming from folks at HN I think these kinds of statements are really unbecoming. Of course there are a lot of amazing people at Yahoo. Tons of them. I am dead sure that there are a lot of amazing engineers at Yahoo. It's just sad that the company is so calamitously bad at recognizing talent at the bottom that it has to hire external 17-year-olds. I'm sure they have plenty of great people who'd be thrilled to do an NLP/R&D project for just their regular salary. If I were at Yahoo right now, after this acq-hire I'd write Marissa Mayer an email: Dear Marissa, Hi, I'm Michael O. Church. My salary is now $500,000 and I have full autonomy to work on whatever project I want. Based on the rate you are paying for external talent, this salary is justified. I am dead sure I will deliver more economic value to Yahoo than I take from it, but I will choose my projects from here on out. If that is not acceptable to you, Friday is my last day. If you're writing $30-million acq-hire checks for 17-year-olds, you should fire every goddamn middle manager, because your ability to recognize talent at the bottom is for shit.
- jrockway 14y ago
  I'm looking forward to the compilation entitled "How to succeed at Yahoo".
  - michaelochurch 14y ago
    Well, first they'd have to acq-hire me. I'm cheaper than $30 million, though. I am seriously considering considering going into business as an "unfuck your culture" consultant. If you're at the point where you're paying $6 million per head for talent, then I'm a fucking steal at $2500 per hour [0]. Sure, I will talk your ear off for 200-400 hours over two months and bill you for almost a million, but I will solve your damn problem. [0] That's my rate for large companies. Startups get a discount. Inquire within.
    - verbalist 14y ago
      Will your company have a yogurt cup for a logo? I'll let you have that idea for $500 - $600.
      - michaelochurch 14y ago
        No, but the Office Olympics will use Yoplait lids for medals.
    - rayiner 14y ago
      Without commenting on Yahoo! specifically, I think it's the case that sometimes companies become so dysfunctional they're beyond redemption. One company I worked at used to do contract work for Nortel. At one time it occurred to me: "you know this seems like stuff they could do in house, why are they paying us to do it?" Apparently the institutional bureaucracy was so bad no R&D-type project could get done internally. Of course the company filed for bankruptcy like a year or two later.
    - MaysonL 14y ago
      These guys seem to have beat you to it: http://shitcreekconsulting.com http://shitcreekconsulting.com

michaelochurch 14y ago

I have a hard time believing that they'd pay $30M to gain five programmers. That's a fairly standard acq-hire, actually. It's not just Yahoo that's paying over $5 million per head. It's ridiculous, when you consider that the value of an employment relationship (which can be ended by either party at any time) is set at 30-60 times the annual salary. (Just think about it: how is a relationship that lasts 4.5 years on average worth 50x salary?) As I said, either engineers are getting screwed, or acq-hires are signs of severe desperation and devastating information poverty. It seems to be both. I've also read a few posts on this thread saying as much as "there are no smart people at Yahoo" or "everyone at Yahoo is an idiot" (paraphrasing). Coming from folks at HN I think these kinds of statements are really unbecoming. Of course there are a lot of amazing people at Yahoo. Tons of them. I am dead sure that there are a lot of amazing engineers at Yahoo. It's just sad that the company is so calamitously bad at recognizing talent at the bottom that it has to hire external 17-year-olds. I'm sure they have plenty of great people who'd be thrilled to do an NLP/R&D project for just their regular salary. If I were at Yahoo right now, after this acq-hire I'd write Marissa Mayer an email: Dear Marissa, Hi, I'm Michael O. Church. My salary is now $500,000 and I have full autonomy to work on whatever project I want. Based on the rate you are paying for external talent, this salary is justified. I am dead sure I will deliver more economic value to Yahoo than I take from it, but I will choose my projects from here on out. If that is not acceptable to you, Friday is my last day. If you're writing $30-million acq-hire checks for 17-year-olds, you should fire every goddamn middle manager, because your ability to recognize talent at the bottom is for shit.

jrockway 14y ago
I'm looking forward to the compilation entitled "How to succeed at Yahoo".
- michaelochurch 14y ago
  Well, first they'd have to acq-hire me. I'm cheaper than $30 million, though. I am seriously considering considering going into business as an "unfuck your culture" consultant. If you're at the point where you're paying $6 million per head for talent, then I'm a fucking steal at $2500 per hour [0]. Sure, I will talk your ear off for 200-400 hours over two months and bill you for almost a million, but I will solve your damn problem. [0] That's my rate for large companies. Startups get a discount. Inquire within.
  - verbalist 14y ago
    Will your company have a yogurt cup for a logo? I'll let you have that idea for $500 - $600.
    - michaelochurch 14y ago
      No, but the Office Olympics will use Yoplait lids for medals.
  - rayiner 14y ago
    Without commenting on Yahoo! specifically, I think it's the case that sometimes companies become so dysfunctional they're beyond redemption. One company I worked at used to do contract work for Nortel. At one time it occurred to me: "you know this seems like stuff they could do in house, why are they paying us to do it?" Apparently the institutional bureaucracy was so bad no R&D-type project could get done internally. Of course the company filed for bankruptcy like a year or two later.
  - MaysonL 14y ago
    These guys seem to have beat you to it: http://shitcreekconsulting.com http://shitcreekconsulting.com