Will.i.am's AI Startup hasn't paid staff in 7 weeks | Hacker News Reader

Will.i.am's AI Startup hasn't paid staff in 7 weeks

theverge.com

> will.i.am's AI startup raised a 100m round.

Nope, no bubble to see here. Definitely just a regular healthy market doing healthy market stuff.

Roger Mcnamee and Bill McGlashan did something similar to Bono, though Mcnamee at least got Bono his cash back. In Will's case, it looks to be some notorious Indian national with a checkered past that took him for a ride. (I can totally relate.) If these people had tried as hard as Bono and Will did but then failed, you can bet these artists would be the first to understand; but that's not what happened. Their product was always about sucking cash from some rich celebrity and using it to take risks that they themselves wouldn't have taken on their own, even if they had the means to do so. It's one of many reasons why many VCs these days simply use OPM (and all of the ensuing chaos that happens while trying to protect their funds LPs). have no fear, Bono and will.i.am are legit enough (again, weird to include them in same sentence) that they can pull millions out of thin air with nothing more than a MacBook and a set of, uh...headphones...make that RED headphones. :)

If you work for a tech company and the contract you sign at the beginning says you're paid every two weeks. If seven weeks pass can you just stop working and not be fired?

I ask because I'm trying to understand why someone would keep working. My only guess is that they're afraid they'll get fired and never paid.

I'm not sure, but I don't work for free. I stop being paid, I stop working. Why should i freely give up my time to make someone else money?

In most at-will-employment countries/states you can just stop showing up and the worst they can do is fire you. Sure, you’d loose your unused holidays and potential bonuses, but if the company is too broke to even pay your salary did you really expect to get those bonuses anyway?

Pretty much and the thing is, businesses that don't remember their employees are the ones there every day making them their money aren't worth working for. Even when/if things get better, the treatment won't change. There'll be something else. It's not like this company is some upstart, starry eyed and hopeful first time startup or anything.

> I ask because I'm trying to understand why someone would keep working

because their H1Bs require sponsorship and because they know they are incompetent but don't want to go back to being slumdogs if they can possibly keep ripping off those who trusted them for even a little longer?

I love how the H1B workers downvote..truth hurts don't it.

The "team" at i.am+ was given money, offices, fame and connections --the (lack of) quality of what they put out speaks for itself (literally haha).

Sounds like another example of company dribbling too many balls and end up making none of the shots.

Smart watch, smart home and a AI powered chatbot with AI retail experience? Sounds like a desperate company getting whoever that would be naive enough trust it’s lies.

Whoever thought a no name tech company founded by the guy from the Black Eyed Peas was a good investment kind of had this coming.

i.am+ was founded by will.i.am, who is globally known to be the founder of The BEPs, which he started with no money.

this story about i.am+ going broke is likely planted by H1B workers that are turning on him and the somewhat notorious Indian CEO that has had his hand in will's pocket for far too long. if they had done their job right, or even done what they obviously promised to do, they might be in better shape over there, don't you think?

by the way, one of those people that you think has "this coming" is widely known to be Marc Benioff, the Founder of Salesforce, who is himself fighting hard to ensure that people treat you right (and let you keep trying to start a tech company) after you finally become homeless.

But there's a broader aspect to this. will.i.am is a pop musician. Obviously he's successful in the music industry but why would anyone think he can suddenly found and run a tech company?

Beats by Dre seems to be doing OK.

Is “Beats by Dre” a “tech” company? I would class it as a traditional manufacturing/sales company that sells audio equipment. And his role as a prolific rapper and producer makes that a good synergy.

Beats is a marketing company IMO

That’s the music equivalent of Martha Stewart slapping her name on some pans. Of course it can do ok.

will.i.am was touring in middle school and he was a signed recording artist years before he and others formed the black eyed peas. Where the are you coming up this lie that he created the group from nothing?

That label famously (and tragically) tanked (due to the death of its founder) and he created the Peas from its ashes using nothing but his own skills. The Peas went on to be signed by a new label and the rest is history. What you are implying is that somehow what was left of that original label bankrolled and promoted and released The Peas, which is just pure bullslit.

I didn’t imply anything about Ruthless Records bankrolling the black eyed peas, but good job calling me on my non-existent bullshit.

Ruthless Records didn’t “famously tank”, they simply changed hands, and the new ownership dropped Atban Klann from their label cause they didn’t share Eazy-E’s enthusiasm for their work. Ruthless Records is still around.

And will.i.am couldn’t have created the Black Eyed Peas from the ashes of Atban Klann, because Atban Klann never dissolved, they (as in a group comprised of more than just will.i.am) merely changed their name and continued to recruit new members and put on shows until they were picked up by Interscope a year later.

> i.am+ co-founder and CEO Chandrasekar Rathakrishnan

This is the same person from the CrunchPad / Joo Joo Linux tablet debacle.

Michael Arrington founder of TechCrunch worked with Rathakrishan’s dev company to develop an affordable Linux tablet (Crunchpad). Disputes arose and the dev company proceeded to release the tablet under a different name (Joo Joo).

sounds like he was chasing too many buzzwords and Masa wasn't interested in bailing him out

When will i.am become i.was?

https://youtu.be/gHN-EhL8x3g

#FiyahFestival?

(No lessons learned.)

The racism is in this thread is something else.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com