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A comment on Startups.co to Acquire Zirtual, Service to Resume. Parent comment

Re:Startups.co to Acquire Zirtual, Service to Resume by dpiers on Tuesday August 11, 2015 @10:48PM (#10045746)
I have a rather enlightened view of how SV works. I was the primary engineer on Uber's promotion and referral system for most of last year and ended up transferring to the internal audit team. I have a knack for risk identification and management.

There is a difference between a well-run company with manageable burn that must raise capital to continue growing, and a company where the realistic prospects of a capital infusion are slim and the financial situation is dire.

I used to work in the game industry, and both studios I worked at ended up gradually laying people off and eventually shutting down. Layoffs are the expectation for a struggling company - sudden shutdown is a sign of poor executive leadership.

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Re:Startups.co to Acquire Zirtual, Service to Resume by einarvollset on Wednesday August 12, 2015 @12:48AM (#10046057)
Honestly no offense intended; however, even if you're the VP of risk management for Uber currently - a company with 9K employees having raised $6.9B - that in no way what so ever gives you any insight as to the usual way in which young (series A say) companies operate. None. Zero. Zilch.
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Re:Startups.co to Acquire Zirtual, Service to Resume by dpiers on Wednesday August 12, 2015 @01:22AM (#10046160)
I'm not arrogant enough to claim to be an expert, but I have had a decent number of experiences for someone my age. I grew up in a small family-owned sandwich shop (which failed in 06 after 20 years). I worked for multiple mid-sized game development studios before I moved to SF to work for a post-series A 13 person YC startup that I watched grow to 50 people. I spent some time at BitTorrent, which has had its share of financing and staffing fluctuations over the years.

I've been a part of a number of companies as they've succeeded and failed, and I've learned the difference between doing so gracefully or incompetently.

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