4 ms·

I've heard the name 42Floors many times over the years as they seem to get a lot of press for being a hot startup. For the first time, I just visited their webs

I've heard the name 42Floors many times over the years as they seem to get a lot of press for being a hot startup. For the first time, I just visited their website as I'm in the market for some office space. This product is pretty underwhelming. I was expecting something game changing--on par with Redfin or Zillow. There's no maps, no ability to filter by zip code or name of areas within the city of Los Angeles. Craigslist is actually more advanced in several key ways. They've been working on this since 2011? Where has that $17 million gone?

brandnewlow 12y ago
They've actually dropped a lot of those features after A/B testing showed they performed worse: http://blog.42floors.com/behind-scenes-ab-split-testing/ http://blog.42floors.com/behind-scenes-ab-split-testing/
- reverius42 12y ago
  Seems like they might have found a local maximum/global minimum.
  - frozenport 12y ago
    Saddle point?
    - Dylan16807 12y ago
      No, that's a minimum in one dimension and a maximum in another. reverius42 is simply using a bit of hyperbole with "global minimum". obviously they could do worse if they tried, but they might be on a small hill.
suckystartup 12y ago
From http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floors.com/interviewing-at-a-startup/ http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floo... Another quick story before I really dive into this blog post. We had a gentleman over to interview for one of our account executive positions at 42Floors. He had strong experience leasing SF office space: great resume, great cover letter, did well in our initial phone screen. When he walked in the door, we could hear the clacking of his shoes on our hardwood floor. He was dressed impeccably in a suit that probably cost more than my first car and was carrying one of those leathery-thingys that seemed to exist only for the purpose of being carried during interviews. I stole a glance to a few of the people from my team who had looked up when he walked in. I could sense the disappointment. We’re all happily wearing blue jeans and sneakers. It’s not that we’re so petty or strict about the dress code that we are going to disqualify him for not following an unwritten rule, but we know empirically that people who come in dressed in suits rarely work out well for our team. He was failing the go-out-for-a-beer test and he didn’t even know it. I don't know where the $17 mil has gone but anyone working at a startup that displays this kind of head-up-your-arse arrogance should expect layoffs. Maybe if this company hired for skill and not for beer buddies it would have been able to close deals.
lzhou 12y ago
A technology-enabled brokerage is very different from a technology company with brokers. First, there is a cultural difference in who the heroes of the company are. Also, the latter is much more capital intensive. I suspect they probably would have needed another 20-30MM to really get moving on the latter. A lot of that money going to consolidation of existing brokerages and monopolizing listing content. Being a neutral aggregator is mutually exclusive from being a dominant brokerage.
lmartel 12y ago
I'm reposting a comment from `suckystartup` below that got tor-killed because I think it illustrates your point well. From the 42Floors blog posts that pop up so often on HN, they sometimes give the impression that they care more about "startup culture" than about their industry or product. --- From http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floors.com/interviewing-at-a-startup/ http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floo... > Another quick story before I really dive into this blog post. We had a gentleman over to interview for one of our account executive positions at 42Floors. He had strong experience leasing SF office space: great resume, great cover letter, did well in our initial phone screen. > When he walked in the door, we could hear the clacking of his shoes on our hardwood floor. He was dressed impeccably in a suit that probably cost more than my first car and was carrying one of those leathery-thingys that seemed to exist only for the purpose of being carried during interviews. > I stole a glance to a few of the people from my team who had looked up when he walked in. I could sense the disappointment. > We’re all happily wearing blue jeans and sneakers. It’s not that we’re so petty or strict about the dress code that we are going to disqualify him for not following an unwritten rule, but we know empirically that people who come in dressed in suits rarely work out well for our team. > He was failing the go-out-for-a-beer test and he didn’t even know it. I don't know where the $17 mil has gone but anyone working at a startup that displays this kind of head-up-your-arse arrogance should expect layoffs. Maybe if this company hired for skill and not for beer buddies it would have been able to close deals.
- smcl 12y ago
  I suspect the guy in the sharp suit realised he dodged a bullet as soon as he read the blog post giving him a public dressing down. I've heard a lot of stuff about the startup scene in SV, but honest question: would anyone ever consider showing up for a job interview in anything more informal than shirt-trousers-shoes? And if the interviewee in that showed up to that interview in jeans/tshirt would the blog post have been different, or was the interviewer just looking to pad it out with an interview\culture-clash horror story and would we instead have been reading: > Another quick story before I really dive into this blog post. We had a gentleman over to interview for one of our account executive positions at 42Floors. He had strong experience leasing SF office space: great resume, great cover letter, did well in our initial phone screen. > When he walked in the door, we could hear the squeaking of his sneakers on our hardwood floor. He was dressed shabbily in a tshirt and jeans that he probably picked up off his floor five minutes before heading for the interview...

brandnewlow 12y ago

They've actually dropped a lot of those features after A/B testing showed they performed worse: http://blog.42floors.com/behind-scenes-ab-split-testing/ http://blog.42floors.com/behind-scenes-ab-split-testing/

reverius42 12y ago
Seems like they might have found a local maximum/global minimum.
- frozenport 12y ago
  Saddle point?
  - Dylan16807 12y ago
    No, that's a minimum in one dimension and a maximum in another. reverius42 is simply using a bit of hyperbole with "global minimum". obviously they could do worse if they tried, but they might be on a small hill.

suckystartup 12y ago

From http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floors.com/interviewing-at-a-startup/ http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floo... Another quick story before I really dive into this blog post. We had a gentleman over to interview for one of our account executive positions at 42Floors. He had strong experience leasing SF office space: great resume, great cover letter, did well in our initial phone screen. When he walked in the door, we could hear the clacking of his shoes on our hardwood floor. He was dressed impeccably in a suit that probably cost more than my first car and was carrying one of those leathery-thingys that seemed to exist only for the purpose of being carried during interviews. I stole a glance to a few of the people from my team who had looked up when he walked in. I could sense the disappointment. We’re all happily wearing blue jeans and sneakers. It’s not that we’re so petty or strict about the dress code that we are going to disqualify him for not following an unwritten rule, but we know empirically that people who come in dressed in suits rarely work out well for our team. He was failing the go-out-for-a-beer test and he didn’t even know it. I don't know where the $17 mil has gone but anyone working at a startup that displays this kind of head-up-your-arse arrogance should expect layoffs. Maybe if this company hired for skill and not for beer buddies it would have been able to close deals.

lzhou 12y ago

A technology-enabled brokerage is very different from a technology company with brokers. First, there is a cultural difference in who the heroes of the company are. Also, the latter is much more capital intensive. I suspect they probably would have needed another 20-30MM to really get moving on the latter. A lot of that money going to consolidation of existing brokerages and monopolizing listing content. Being a neutral aggregator is mutually exclusive from being a dominant brokerage.

lmartel 12y ago

I'm reposting a comment from `suckystartup` below that got tor-killed because I think it illustrates your point well. From the 42Floors blog posts that pop up so often on HN, they sometimes give the impression that they care more about "startup culture" than about their industry or product. --- From http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floors.com/interviewing-at-a-startup/ http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floo... > Another quick story before I really dive into this blog post. We had a gentleman over to interview for one of our account executive positions at 42Floors. He had strong experience leasing SF office space: great resume, great cover letter, did well in our initial phone screen. > When he walked in the door, we could hear the clacking of his shoes on our hardwood floor. He was dressed impeccably in a suit that probably cost more than my first car and was carrying one of those leathery-thingys that seemed to exist only for the purpose of being carried during interviews. > I stole a glance to a few of the people from my team who had looked up when he walked in. I could sense the disappointment. > We’re all happily wearing blue jeans and sneakers. It’s not that we’re so petty or strict about the dress code that we are going to disqualify him for not following an unwritten rule, but we know empirically that people who come in dressed in suits rarely work out well for our team. > He was failing the go-out-for-a-beer test and he didn’t even know it. I don't know where the $17 mil has gone but anyone working at a startup that displays this kind of head-up-your-arse arrogance should expect layoffs. Maybe if this company hired for skill and not for beer buddies it would have been able to close deals.

smcl 12y ago
I suspect the guy in the sharp suit realised he dodged a bullet as soon as he read the blog post giving him a public dressing down. I've heard a lot of stuff about the startup scene in SV, but honest question: would anyone ever consider showing up for a job interview in anything more informal than shirt-trousers-shoes? And if the interviewee in that showed up to that interview in jeans/tshirt would the blog post have been different, or was the interviewer just looking to pad it out with an interview\culture-clash horror story and would we instead have been reading: > Another quick story before I really dive into this blog post. We had a gentleman over to interview for one of our account executive positions at 42Floors. He had strong experience leasing SF office space: great resume, great cover letter, did well in our initial phone screen. > When he walked in the door, we could hear the squeaking of his sneakers on our hardwood floor. He was dressed shabbily in a tshirt and jeans that he probably picked up off his floor five minutes before heading for the interview...