Interesting Links for 01-11-2023

[andrewducker]

1. Israeli Intelligence Ministry 'concept paper' proposes transferring Gazans to Egypt's Sinai

(tags:israel palestine egypt )

2. Hw locational pricing could save businesses (and everyone) on electricity bills

(tags:electricity location uk economics )

3. Sports (and competitions) shouldn't worry about keeping themselves simple, learning the complications keeps experienced fans interested

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(tags:fandom sports competition viaDanielDWilliam )

4. I'm glad Neil Gaiman liked this post about Sandman, which meant I got to think about bits of it in ways I hadn't before

(tags:sandman neilgaiman dreams )

5. Edinburgh's Gorgie Farm Site: Community Consultation Questionnaire

(tags:Edinburgh farming animals community )

6. Black 4.0 Is The New Ultrablack

(tags:colour art )

7. Samhuinn Fire Festival - photos as hundreds gather in Edinburgh to mark beginning of winter at Holyrood Park

(tags:fire beltane edinburgh photos )

8. What The Goddamn Hell Is Going On In The Tech Industry? (So very very badly run)

(tags:Technology business epicfail organisation )

Comments

[conuly]

I feel like I've been doing a lot of typo cleanup lately, and I apologize, but you have accidentally added an accent mark in between the link for 3 and the list of related tags.

[dewline]

1. What bugs me - in addition to everything else in this report - is that the authors of that "concept paper" think they can find a way to get Canada to take the people they plan to force out of Gaza.

3. That's been the same with comic book continuity, too.

8. I know, right?

8.

[channelpenguin]

8. hmm, well, a bit behind the curve there. I think it was 20 years ago that I figured out corporate IT (or any job in any big company, to be honest). The only way it made ANY sense was

1. it is NOT about getting the job done
2. it is NOT about making money
3. it IS about "minion herding" and monkey status games

"startups" in contrast just want to work you to death to try to get rich quick and avoid being organised.

Re: 8.

[jducoeur]

"startups" in contrast just want to work you to death to try to get rich quick and avoid being organised.

Having spent much of my career in startups: not necessarily. There are lots of startups that are just trying to get the job done, have pretty sensible working practices, and generally aren't stupid.

People just don't talk about them much, because they're boring. At least in this respect, boring is good.

Unsurprisingly, these are precisely the companies that aren't get-rich-quick schemes, and don't have billion-dollar investments. I've learned that any time a recruiters brags at me that they're pitching a company that has already raised 250 million dollars, I should back away quietly...

Re: 8.

[channelpenguin]

Well I've worked for those too. We used to just call them "businesses":-). You know, doing stuff people want, trying to turn a profit and to build the company for the long term. If they have "funding" it's bank loans and state grants and maybe founders money. As you say, boring. Boring is good. Just like I like my releases :-)

Re: 8.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, that sounds like "small businesses" to me. Startups are designed to go big as fast as possible. Very different business model.

Re: 8.

[jducoeur]

Serously -- it's not that simple. The media claim that it's that black-and-white, because it sounds cool and exciting, and the VC industry tries its utmost to feed the impression that it's not a startup unless it's blitz-scaling. But that's bullshit, and always has been.

The objective is to achieve a high rate of growth eventually, and/or be acquired for a reasonable multiple. (In practice, most startups, large or small, are really trying to be acquired.) But it is untrue that you have to buy into Musk-style faster-faster-faster abuse to get there. It's an evil meme, and really deserves to be squashed.

Re: 8.

[andrewducker]

Interesting - how long are VCs in that kind of situation willing to wait for a return?

Re: 8.

[jducoeur]

Depends on the VC and the company. The maximum window I've heard of is ten years, but they'll usually get impatient before then. In my experience, the VCs will be looking for the exit somewhere around 4-6 years, so you'd better be achieving growth (or have a good story about how you're turning things around) by then.

Of the two successful exits I've been through, I think one was at six years and the other at eight.

One of the unsuccessful ones got the tap pulled after just three years, but that was a weird situation (we had very little money and had used it extremely well, and were on the verge of a successful exit when the nuclear winter of 2002 train-wrecked us).

Another got the plug pulled after five years and at least one deeply ridiculous pivot, after which I more or less took over the company, pivoted us again, and the Board decided to call time on us a couple of months later.

The one that only survived for less than two years was the dotcom company, which did attempt to blitzscale, tripped over its own feet, and crashed with little to show for it. (Fun project, but wow we did a lot of things wrong.)

Re: 8.

[andrewducker]

Thank you for the information!

Re: 8.

[jducoeur]

Yes and no. I do mean startups here -- angel or venture backed, with a goal of serious growth. But the ones that have been good to work for have raised sensible amounts of money, husband that money carefully, have business plans that actually make sense (sadly rare in today's tech world), and understand that their employees are important stakeholders who shouldn't be abused.

I've worked for a bunch of such, and they've been good, fun jobs. Sometimes they even succeed -- I'm now at Slack because they acquired Troops, a small startup that spent six years gradually and carefully getting its product and technology to the point where it was a no-brainer to acquire.

[anef]

7 Looks like a huge amount of fun!

[andrewducker]

If you're ever going to be up on either Beltane or Samhain (May 1st or November 1st) then I would say it's definitely worth going to them. Although it can be pretty cold, and the views are tricky because of the number of other people doing likewise. Still a very different experience that's worth taking in.