andrew_lettuce

8 ms·

91.
by andrew_lettuce 11mo ago
PE puts very little of their own money into the deal though, while they own it they don't buy it. They use incredibly high leverage and often saddle the company with monstrous debt, then loot the assets to pay the interest and take man
92.
by andrew_lettuce 11mo ago
Because a PE fund is at most a seven year timeline, and everybody knows it. There is absolutely no incentive to add value beyond the next sale, and often you only need to add the perception of value. To quote my CTO of a PE owned company: &
93.
by andrew_lettuce 11mo ago
How the hell does consolidation, monopolization, externalizing costs and extreme leverage "clear the room for new businesses"? Even on HN playing the role of PE apologist is not going to fly ...
94.
by andrew_lettuce 11mo ago
Most people would say that extracting wealth and concentrating it into an ever shrinking group of elites is making the world worse. They do this both from the companies you and I might work for, but more importantly from the markets that ha
95.
by andrew_lettuce 11mo ago
They could do this, but there's not enough targets of this type for the money invested in the sector. They've also proven to not have the advertised & applicable expertise to run companies any more efficiently than current man
96.
by andrew_lettuce 11mo ago
That's not true at all! Funds often look for mature companies with predictable cash flow. They can make returns while also squeezing margins under the illusion of expertise and economies of scale and seek to the next fund for a multipl
97.
by andrew_lettuce 11mo ago
30 for a company that doesn't pay anything and may never pay off at all is crazy in my book, so as a best case scenario it's an obvious hard pass.
98.
by andrew_lettuce 11mo ago
This isn't really true. IPOs provide access to much more money in a very short time frame. They also allow parties involved to make huge coin before, during and immediately after the process.
99.
by andrew_lettuce 11mo ago
When you add in money managed on behalf of retail investors it gets big fast, thinking indexed funds, pensions etc. they are not immune, and ETFs by definition need to participate
100.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
I think there's a fundamental difference between software with strong opinions and software that fights and tricks you. I definitely use some applications "wrong" but I recognize and accept that's on me. The programs don
101.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
Way to move the goalposts. The argument is not about the usefulness, it's about baked-in on by default features for what are obvious extension workflows. About the only marketing advantage FF has at this point is customizable and lack
102.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
The GP says this is helpful but not autonomous discovery, you then reply we're holding AI to increasing expectation (both highly debatable and the fault of AI hypers) and say this is success. They are not mutually exclusive, and actual
103.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
The politics in small companies are far more extreme in my experience.
104.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
If you think corporate politics is just a stupid game you'll never be happy with what you accomplish and lucky to keep your job. Awareness and understanding, being able to tie effort to outcomes, positioning and sales; these are not gu
105.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
I'll add that all this goes up the food chain and is good advice for engineering managers too. As a director reporting to the CTO I tried to do this as well.
106.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
I think what you're describing is communicating the value in terms that the audience understands and appreciates. This is really a sales skill and most developers have little experience or recognize it as such. A good manager can help
107.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
Vibe always meant "specific feel" and makes sense related to AI coding "by touch" vs. understanding what's actually happening. It's just the results have now made the word pejorative.
108.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
The Google podcasts are so cringey positive it emotionally pains me. Nobody finds pineapple on pizza that amazing.
109.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
I bet it's even simpler than that: people who can play tennis a few times a week are a healthier cohort than people who are unable to physically do this
110.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
Thank you for bringing this up. Sears really didn't have a choice, they were a victim of the most pernicious LBO, Gordon Gecko-style strip mining nonsense on the PE spectrum. All private equity is not the same but after seeing two PE d
111.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
We all know the AI part is largely meaningless because of the hype and nonsense, but what defines you as an engineer? When you consider that classical engineers are responsible for the correctness of their work, combining it with AI seems l
112.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
Most of the companies where I've had first hand experience test customer experience in the aggregate, ie NPS and similar. Part of this is scale, but a big part is also CS is viewed as a cost center and it's a rare individual who d
113.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
This isn't true in Canada and we're seeing as big of price increases for beef, greater than the US for ground beef. This is a supply issue while demand has increased. Drought and costs have also impacted herd size
114.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
If they're selling it why wouldn't you name your company here?
115.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
And who are these shadowy data brokers listening to everything. Heavy on the FUD, light on any details...
116.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
This is wrong. You need to provide your travel documentation id and they share your personal info well before you get on the plane
117.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
This isn't misunderstood, just not relevant. Google sells to a funnel that plays a numbers game, not for individuals to be targeted.
118.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
The supposedly in-the-know responses here are full of bravado but not much other than "trust me, bro"
119.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
This is pretty naive based on my experience. I find it hard to get the LLM to consistently use the tools defined, so "always" is doing some questionable lifting here. I've had easy better luck with pretty simple, linear workf
120.
by andrew_lettuce 1y ago
That's pretty stupid on their part, considering you're not permitted to break the law because the aggrieved party is "ok with it". This is typically a civil rights issue handled by government enforcement

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