vadym909

<but the problem is if everyone did this strategy many companies would go unfunded>

Unfunded by VCs- Not unfunded per se. You can always bootstrap or get Angel-funded. If you are making a dentist office software, find a rich dentist- not a VC.

You want Microsoft

Its hard to put any credibility into scandalous stories like this because there's always 2 sides to a story.

If this was really true, I can't imagine why anyone with multiple options to work elsewhere would tolerate his BS.

Personally, I don't care even a bit about Nest. My $30 non programmable thermostat is just perfect. If his head is bloated over that invention, he needs to get it checked.

holy cow- and people still leave to do startups? They must be really crazy.

Recruiting is F*&^%$ No matter what you do to the interview process Hiring managers are looking for @#$#% and they may be #%@%@ and their company maybe $@%@ and their team dynamics are ##%# Candidates are looking for $@#!@ and they may be $@@$ and their personal situation is $$@@ and their salary expectation is ##%@@

Great idea, but expect some resistance. The worst abusers are fighting even a minor increase $2K in the visa fees. http://in.reuters.com/article/india-united-states-visa-idINK...

It would be cool if more of the senior management with >$5M options did that. If the company prospers they could easily negotiate high rewards again. Its normally the rank and file who get standardized bit-sized options.

I don't think they are protesting the tech industry per se, but they unfairness when rich and speculative companies push unsustainable conditions (high cost of living) on society.

For example- Highly paid engineers from a large Tech Unicorn company that moved to an East Bay city- drive up prices there displacing half the current residents. The city's economy improves- other tech startups follow suit, people buy houses, real estate value go up, people invest in remodeling homes, setting up shops and services.

1 year later Unicorn dies or moves to another city for lower costs. Engineers with high salaries leave, other startups start to fold, city return to pre-Unicorn condition. People left holding the bag are the ones that felt this was long term sustainable or couldn't move because they were tied down.

It's not the entire tech industry's fault, but if you were a resident of that city, who are you going to blame? Probably the company who started it all, although some may argue they also brought prosperity in the first place. Depends on how you were impacted. If you flipped a house profitably, you are happy. If you bought a condo to live in - not so much.

This is really fascinating to me. Since they are fraudulent anyway, why wouldn't they just say they are a recruiter from Google and get you to accept their connection request. Do they get more responses by claiming they are Nigerian Princesses?

I think the author just made this up in an hour with some weak arguments.

No doubt LinkedIn is becoming very spammy from all the puzzles and (gasp) personal stuff like 'My son-in-law is having an operation, please pray for him'.

However, the value that most people derive from it and the ease with which you can ignore the spam will keep it being used until there is non-spammy, non-recruiter funded and 'open networking' alternate.

This is awesome and exactly what I want sometimes when trying to figure out if a restaurant is in a good area, how parking might be near a destination, or if an apt I'm thinking of renting is in a good area. Its possible to do in StreetView but clicking on the arrows is just a pain. This is much nicer.

Not sure about that. My house and that of most friends dropped around 25-35% from the peak in 06-07 by 08-09 and only got back to the peak in 2015.

wow- the price on this house was dropped $500K in the last 6 months. Looks like the bay area prices are finally crashing /s

its not allowed and would blacklist them.

Its actually pretty cool to see Microsoft 'hacking' the visa system. They opened a center in Vancouver and put all their international hires there for 1 year, then brought them into the US on an L1 which allows them to get a greencard in 1 year- which prevents them from being in the 10 year to be free queue.

Got in close to the bottom with the QQQ in 2009. Chickened out and thought we'd reached a top in 2013 and cashed out. Was sitting in cash for 2 years.

Now I believe we're going down. I'm shorting through options to get some bigger action. 3x from SQQQ not good enough- so buying 6-12 month puts on Cloud companies and QQQ. Didn't get in it at the top - started at about 10% below the top.

I'm not sure what the author is getting at but I think the Model X is a mistake- mostly only because of the falcon doors. 1. It is too ostentatious for most people - especially in its biggest market- the bay area. You can hide a gold iphone or Rolex watch but you can't hide when you open the falcon door while dropping off your kids to school. 2. The door also drastically reduces the headroom for the 2nd row and it feels like a Nascar racing car with all kinds of bracing in the back. About making it easy to get into the 3rd row is not really true. It is no different than any 3 row SUVs. The tall fixed headrests also limit visibility in the back rows. 3. I think Elon is a pragmatist and if he decides to change the falcon doors to regular doors, I think the ModelX will trump Acura MDX and BMWX5 in Sales very easily. Everything else in the ModelX just blows everyone else out of the water.

'what it means in terms of stock' Exactly- The problems (big price drop) arise only when the stock price is at unreasonably high levels based on unreasonable growth assumptions by Wall Street. So the same people that cause it go 'bubble' then cause it to go 'burst' wreaking all kinds of collateral damage (employee stock options, morale, etc).

Well then the Govt ought to update their outdated rules. The kids are just meeting a market need and love choosing their hours and being solopreneurs.

What if you are not the consultant? Find a consultant, place him/her on a gig and charge the client a 20% markup. Place 5 consultants and you make 100% of a consultant salary with no time sink.

classic- 'hoping for a Greater Fool literally counts as a business strategy'

Not really- but Google probably thinks they might be able to. Applying it's monopoly power, Google can easily charge more for its services if required. If it's moonshot projects fail to generate returns or its monopoly is threatened, then it may have to resort to Microsoft style 10,000 layoffs to readjust. Till then they can outspend you and anyone else to get what they want. We are in the Developer's market- in time we will be in Employer's market. Cycle of Life.

Given all car makers are investing in driverless cars- why don't they install sensors or guide-wires into roads to mark lanes, etc. the next time they are repaving/repairing roads? won't that be much safer than having to rely on cameras/radars .

LOL- kudos on the guts to admit it. Their portfolio only has a few recognizable names but their anti-portfolio is Silicon Valley- HP, Google, Facebook, Tesla

What are examples of these companies that are public/recently IPO'd?

FXP 2x inverse leveraged ETF of 50 of the largest and most liquid Chinese stocks listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Index goes down 7%, the ETF goes up 14% (roughly). If you love more risk, YANG for 3x inverse leveraged ETF.

I believe this is how a majority of tech people feel and Mark just said it very succinctly. Surprised that PG who I respect as a great writer opted to go 'extremist' with his opinion instead of highlighting the nuance.

Germany has fully free college education and labor fully involved in management. It is a good example of capitalism that benefits the middle class rather than the US system that increasingly feels rigged against the common man. It is great that a smart poor man can become a billionaire- but what about the rest.

They won't. Software oddly, managed to avoid dealing much with the Govt because no one understood it, customers were overseas, it brought in much needed foreign exchange. Software succeeded in spite of all this.

Usually love PG's essays but this one is pretty shallow in how it tackles the subject. Smart as he is I'm sure PG understands what people are talking about- the problem is the 90% that don't work in overhyped and overvalued software startups, but the regular worker- the factory worker at Tesla, the checkout clerk at Walmart, the teacher in the Public School. Unfortunately for them, no one told them software would be it 20 years ago. They can't just go start making chairs or open a private school. Its not that they are lazy or stupid. They just got unlucky because they thought they would get by doing these jobs- based on what they knew- and then the world changed. Is it any surprise they are pissed? and to add insult to injury- they see the rich bend systems unfairly to their favor to enrich themselves even more.