Comment by qwibbler | Hacker News Reader

Comment by qwibbler | Hacker News Reader

This article is so short sighted, it's hard to know where to start. My advice is to delete it, as you may have trouble hiring engineers in the future and anyone will find this when they google your name / research your company. As an engineer, weighing the options you suggest in public is a massive red flag and I would always have a seed of distrust in the back of my head.

Regardless of the fact that the culmination of the article is that you don't REALLY want to be an asshole (I'm not so sure), it shows that:

A) You imply engineers are just people to build your dreams and dispose of when you're done. "I'll just not fire them". Good engineers can make or break your company.

B) You're hanging out with terrible advisors (camp 1? wtf)

> "You don’t get to the top without making a few enemies, though." Most people don't make enemies of their employees or show such blatant disrespect.

I considered deleting the article, and you may be right about that. But if I can't take criticism, and can't be accountable for what I write, I'm not a very good founder.

What I was trying to discuss was the fact that this spectrum of advice really makes someone an asshole. But then does it take being an asshole to get to the top?

To your point A, the idea that engineers are just tools is exactly what's wrong with the advice I was given. I found it shocking, but there are levels of big business where the line of humanity and numbers can be blurred. My goal is to develop a relationship with someone, and back that up with honest business.

To your point, B, this was from a very select set of people I got advice from and represents a small fraction of my mentorship spectrum. These people are all very very successful. They've built and sold multi-million dollar companies, which is why it's so interesting to me to consider that people operate this way.

Rather than deleting it, you might want to edit it to make it clearer it's a thought experiment. It's clear from the reactions here that people took it rather more literally than i think you meant it.

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