Congrats, Garry! Seems appropriate to start to unblock founders on Twitter?
Readit Newsanotherfounder commented on Welcome Home, Garry Tan ycombinator.com/blog/welc... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti
Hi all... I'm the new-ish Heroku/DX GM for Salesforce, and in prior job was the Kubernetes GM for AWS. I always read these threads with great interest. Very much appreciate the unvarnished feedback about Heroku we get here.
In the main thread on Hacker News, you still haven't addressed any of the issues raised by developers on closing down the free tier. What alternatives did you consider? What stats? What about folks who have both free and paid dynos?
Also, please read all the feedback on the communication style in the blogpost.
anotherfounder commented on Removal of Heroku free product plans help.heroku.com/RSBRUH58/... · Posted by u/countspongebob
I hate the corporate speak of 'Next Chapter', 'Public Roadmap' - just be direct and confident enough to say upfront that you are removing the free tier, instead of hiding it in the blog post. Come on, Bob!
anotherfounder commented on Coinbase lays off around 1,100 employees coindesk.com/business/202... · Posted by u/kripy
I'm not settled on this yet. I'm from the USA, and one thing that concerns me is the geopolitics of billionaires. What happens when USA taxes billionaires out of existence? Russia and China still have billionaires. Does that do something to the power relationships in the world? Is there such a thing as "our" billionaires?
The other question I have has to do with feudalism. If we let "our" billionaires exist, does that mean that we keep feudalistic pressures at bay? Or do we enhance those pressures? Is that even the right question?
If there was fair taxation on billionaires, and there was a wage growth where all the productivity gains didn't only stay at the top, then I think folks would be less incensed at billionaires.
anotherfounder commented on Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs blog.coinbase.com/a-messa... · Posted by u/npalli
Maybe the letter last week was more right than it was wrong.. they only forgot to include Brian in the list himself.
anotherfounder commented on Coinbase Announces 18% Layoffs blog.coinbase.com/a-messa... · Posted by u/npalli
Just 3 months ago many people thought the markets could potentially bounce back (e.g. if the ukraine conflict didn't escalate and if inflation came down on its own - neither of which happened).
Not so long ago, CNBC was still talking about the probability of a recession a quoting probability percentages less than 50%.
I think the reality is that 2-4 months ago, very few people thought things would get as bad as they are right now.
In an environment of extremely high unpredictability, sometimes week-by-week decision making is the only way to operate. Re: your point on publicity, I think they will get less negative publicity now that they're announcing layoffs after many other companies have already done the same
Um, just a month ago, in the earnings call, he reiterated continuing to grow and invest. For those following the markets and economy closely (like any public company CEO should), literally nothing in the last month has been a much of a surprise. So, to go from, 'we're so totally gonna hire to' to 'pause' to 'cancel' to 'fire' in a month doesn't seem to inspire much confidence in them.
anotherfounder commented on Coinbase employees petition to remove execs web.archive.org/web/20220... · Posted by u/shh-shhh
Known him since grad school. He's a little bully (literally and figuratively). He acts all tough, until you call him out, and then he'll change the subject.
Amazing that he keeps making it past reference checks..
anotherfounder commented on Coinbase employees petition to remove execs web.archive.org/web/20220... · Posted by u/shh-shhh
FWIW, Surojit the CPO has a long colorful history of being a horrible person to work with. Just in the last couple of months, I think Blind had atleast a few threads on him. Here are a couple I could find:
https://www.teamblind.com/post/Coinbase-product-team-culture...
anotherfounder commented on Coinbase employees petition to remove execs web.archive.org/web/20220... · Posted by u/shh-shhh
The initial petition alleged problems at exec level. Brian's response confirmed it. And he wonders why the employees wouldn't bring this up internally..
Aside from the fact that his response is likely illegal according to California labor code, threatening to fire employee for discussing workplace conditions, it blows my mind how ignorant and illiterate he is when it comes to understanding power dynamics, and even the basic history of labor.
How do you go from being a startup founder to a public company CEO without deeply reflecting about workplaces, employee happiness, dysfunction, power dynamics and history of all of that?!
This is disappointing.
YC needs a fresh perspective. Recycling older members is not a positive sign for continued innovation. I wouldn’t point to “HODL diamond hands” crypto hype (suddenly disappeared..) and personal brand-building content creation as the type of leadership YC needs at this stage.
Specifically in this, someone who has been running a large VC fund for the past half-decade with considerable inside deal access through YC. The conflicts of interest are sizable, and we can’t really pretend that they won’t compound now that Garry’s at the head of YC.
Lastly, to balance flood of positive reviews, there have been consistent (if quiet, again, small world) reports of pettiness and using power/influence against personal grudges. I have not worked with Garry directly, founder friends have and back channels are..not same as the public comments here. Everyone has weaknesses. This isn’t a good one for the position.