5 ms·

I don't want to be such a hater, but every time I see this company and this guy posting something, it's not about what they do, it's about the trials and tribul

I don't want to be such a hater, but every time I see this company and this guy posting something, it's not about what they do, it's about the trials and tribulations of being a startup. They don't seem to care - at all - about their industry, their space, whatever their value proposition to their customer is. They just care about being a startup. It's super annoying to be honest. Weren't these the guys that famously wrote a blog post saying that culture is everything, and that people that come to interviews in suits are automatically denied?

missblit 11y ago
> Weren't these the guys that famously wrote a blog post saying that culture is everything, and that people that come to interviews in suits are automatically denied? https://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floors.com/interviewing-at-a-startup/ https://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42flo... Not automatically denied. That's only ding #1. You also lose-- ahem don't win-- points for leaving the interview on time, neglecting to bring a fancy gift, and failing to obsessively read the company blog.
- bshimmin 11y ago
  I think it's terrific that they post things like that so openly. If I were ever going to apply for a job again (and I hope never to), I would definitely read up about the company and read at least some of their blog posts. And if I found a post both so intensely dim and so offensively exclusionary as the one on archive.org that you link, I would immediately know that this was not a company for me. My personal favourite bit is sneering at the guy for saying "you can never overdress for an interview" - I can just imagine the poor candidate sitting there in his suit, feeling horribly out of place amongst these imbeciles, trying desperately to make light of his situation with that remark (it's probably just what I would say myself, in fact) and unwittingly providing more fodder for their asinine blog.
  - throwaway128363 11y ago
    I was once in that situation and my life-saver was: "Yeah, I'm a big Leonard Cohen fan". Turned out the team-lead was as well. It got me through the awkward moment, but I didn't get the job.
  - jackgavigan 11y ago
    It's interesting that they've removed that post from their blog. I just asked Jason on Twitter why they removed it: https://twitter.com/JackGavigan/status/620915571052412928 https://twitter.com/JackGavigan/status/620915571052412928
    - jackgavigan 11y ago
      His response: "because it was crap" https://twitter.com/jasonfreedman/status/620956827870720000 https://twitter.com/jasonfreedman/status/620956827870720000
      - bshimmin 11y ago
        Now I feel slightly (only slightly) bad for using the word "imbecile".
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- will_hughes 11y ago
  I thought you had to be kidding about the gift thing. Does anyone else see that as odd? You're not trying to date the company, nor are you family. Don't get me wrong - being enthusiastic and passionate about your work is important. You don't know these people though - any form of gifting just seems like an opportunity to make things really awkward.
  - njloof 11y ago
    Bribery and reducing your net compensation -- what's not for a company to love?
  - aplummer 11y ago
    I work at a big corporation, and the stuff he said is literally against the rules. The intro, the gift, how could you give someone of a different culture and from a different area a fair chance if people are getting bonuses for that?
- br3w5 11y ago
  That blog post could be a metaphor for 42floors foray into the brokerage market - the guy in the suit being 42floors: "it’s totally fine to ask someone before you come into the office what appropriate dress means" = it's totally fine to understand the market before deciding to enter it "He was failing the go-out-for-a-beer test and he didn’t even know it" = they just failed the go-into-a-new-market-beyond-your-means-test Maybe Jason Freedman's lack of humility in the past led him to the idea that led to these lay-offs, and hopefully he now has some humility and focuses on the business not how much of a cliché he can make his startup.
  - br3w5 11y ago
    But yeah do remember to check what you should wear/company culture before going to an interview :)
    - michaelt 11y ago
      I remember back in the nineties when tech company culture was a reaction against the stuffy, seemingly irrational dress codes of older companies. The refrain used to be "we want people who can get the job done, who cares if they wear a tee shirt and jeans instead of a suit and tie?" Perhaps we're going full circle and the people who want to tell their employees how to dress are back in charge. But now instead of getting a choice between a button-down shirt in white and one in light blue, the choice is between a tee with a funny picture on it and one with a vendor logo on it :)
- scott_s 11y ago
  HN submission and discussion on why the attitude expressed in that blog post is harmful: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7930430 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7930430
  - bshimmin 11y ago
    Thanks for posting that. It led me to the best comment I've ever seen on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7932261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7932261
skewart 11y ago
I'm pretty sure these tell-all blog posts about running a startup are a key part of their marketing strategy. Their product is largely targeted at startups (or, at least it was, maybe they're expanding). I suspect there are more startup decision-makers interested in reading about running a startup than reading about trends in commercial real estate. Being a little over-the-top now and then - or just brutally honest - only gets them more attention.
austenallred 11y ago
> I don't want to be such a hater Then don't be. What on earth is wrong with transparently talking about the difficulties of starting a company? What is wrong with writing about the people side of things? In my experience there's nowhere near enough of that stuff. I don't get the sense they're just trying to be a startup. But they're talking about what it's like to run a startup. I really appreciate that.
briandear 11y ago
I always confuse these guys with Vooza.
Simulacra 11y ago
This right here. This encapsulates the view of why my company never gave them a second thought. The leadership was not the kind of people we ever wanted to do business with.

missblit 11y ago

> Weren't these the guys that famously wrote a blog post saying that culture is everything, and that people that come to interviews in suits are automatically denied? https://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floors.com/interviewing-at-a-startup/ https://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42flo... Not automatically denied. That's only ding #1. You also lose-- ahem don't win-- points for leaving the interview on time, neglecting to bring a fancy gift, and failing to obsessively read the company blog.

bshimmin 11y ago
I think it's terrific that they post things like that so openly. If I were ever going to apply for a job again (and I hope never to), I would definitely read up about the company and read at least some of their blog posts. And if I found a post both so intensely dim and so offensively exclusionary as the one on archive.org that you link, I would immediately know that this was not a company for me. My personal favourite bit is sneering at the guy for saying "you can never overdress for an interview" - I can just imagine the poor candidate sitting there in his suit, feeling horribly out of place amongst these imbeciles, trying desperately to make light of his situation with that remark (it's probably just what I would say myself, in fact) and unwittingly providing more fodder for their asinine blog.
- throwaway128363 11y ago
  I was once in that situation and my life-saver was: "Yeah, I'm a big Leonard Cohen fan". Turned out the team-lead was as well. It got me through the awkward moment, but I didn't get the job.
- jackgavigan 11y ago
  It's interesting that they've removed that post from their blog. I just asked Jason on Twitter why they removed it: https://twitter.com/JackGavigan/status/620915571052412928 https://twitter.com/JackGavigan/status/620915571052412928
  - jackgavigan 11y ago
    His response: "because it was crap" https://twitter.com/jasonfreedman/status/620956827870720000 https://twitter.com/jasonfreedman/status/620956827870720000
    - bshimmin 11y ago
      Now I feel slightly (only slightly) bad for using the word "imbecile".
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
will_hughes 11y ago
I thought you had to be kidding about the gift thing. Does anyone else see that as odd? You're not trying to date the company, nor are you family. Don't get me wrong - being enthusiastic and passionate about your work is important. You don't know these people though - any form of gifting just seems like an opportunity to make things really awkward.
- njloof 11y ago
  Bribery and reducing your net compensation -- what's not for a company to love?
- aplummer 11y ago
  I work at a big corporation, and the stuff he said is literally against the rules. The intro, the gift, how could you give someone of a different culture and from a different area a fair chance if people are getting bonuses for that?
br3w5 11y ago
That blog post could be a metaphor for 42floors foray into the brokerage market - the guy in the suit being 42floors: "it’s totally fine to ask someone before you come into the office what appropriate dress means" = it's totally fine to understand the market before deciding to enter it "He was failing the go-out-for-a-beer test and he didn’t even know it" = they just failed the go-into-a-new-market-beyond-your-means-test Maybe Jason Freedman's lack of humility in the past led him to the idea that led to these lay-offs, and hopefully he now has some humility and focuses on the business not how much of a cliché he can make his startup.
- br3w5 11y ago
  But yeah do remember to check what you should wear/company culture before going to an interview :)
  - michaelt 11y ago
    I remember back in the nineties when tech company culture was a reaction against the stuffy, seemingly irrational dress codes of older companies. The refrain used to be "we want people who can get the job done, who cares if they wear a tee shirt and jeans instead of a suit and tie?" Perhaps we're going full circle and the people who want to tell their employees how to dress are back in charge. But now instead of getting a choice between a button-down shirt in white and one in light blue, the choice is between a tee with a funny picture on it and one with a vendor logo on it :)
scott_s 11y ago
HN submission and discussion on why the attitude expressed in that blog post is harmful: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7930430 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7930430
- bshimmin 11y ago
  Thanks for posting that. It led me to the best comment I've ever seen on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7932261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7932261

skewart 11y ago

I'm pretty sure these tell-all blog posts about running a startup are a key part of their marketing strategy. Their product is largely targeted at startups (or, at least it was, maybe they're expanding). I suspect there are more startup decision-makers interested in reading about running a startup than reading about trends in commercial real estate. Being a little over-the-top now and then - or just brutally honest - only gets them more attention.

austenallred 11y ago

> I don't want to be such a hater Then don't be. What on earth is wrong with transparently talking about the difficulties of starting a company? What is wrong with writing about the people side of things? In my experience there's nowhere near enough of that stuff. I don't get the sense they're just trying to be a startup. But they're talking about what it's like to run a startup. I really appreciate that.

briandear 11y ago

I always confuse these guys with Vooza.

Simulacra 11y ago

This right here. This encapsulates the view of why my company never gave them a second thought. The leadership was not the kind of people we ever wanted to do business with.