If I was worth ~100 million dollars, I would definitely quit my job to have fun with my family.

If I was worth ~100 million dollars, I would definitely quit my job.

If I was worth ~100 million dollars....

Well I'd buy you a K-Car (a nice Reliant automobile)

Inflation has not been kind to the dreams of BNL.

It still probably works, but you won't have much left over.

https://www.reddit.com/r/theydidthemath/comments/7dyi7r/requ...

All day long, I'd biddy biddy bum

If I was worth ~100 million dollars, I would definitely quit my job AND my family

That's why, if you're going to pay someone 100 million dollars, you make sure they're the kind of person who won't quit first.

Which means you're selecting for someone so covetously greedful they put the dragons of legend to shame with their avarice.

I was going to say someone who's in a lot of debt, but maybe you can't get in that much debt…

Getting into a position like this (and keeping it!) requires an extreme amount of dedication and sacrifice. People who are willing to go to such lengths are unlikely to be the kind of person to give up all that for their child.

Additionally, you rarely hear the actual reason for someone quitting from a position like this; there will nearly always be a nice cover story. Being honest this time around, especially given the actual problems the company has, seems unlikely.

I'm not saying the child was no factor, but intuitively it seems quite unlikely that this is the full story.

I don't know why you'd say that, for a lot of people, the birth of their first child changes their priorities very fundamentally, especially if they have the luxury of being able to do so. Like, for example, if they had sold their company to Amazon for a literal dump truck of money. I just calculated it, it went for about 11 tons of $100 bills (the capacity of a large dump truck is about 14 tons, apparently, 7 for some smaller ones).

I don't know Emmett, but if he was totally set in terms of wealth, and if the main thing keeping him there was because it was satisfying work, well, then he could quite reasonably decide that doing something less demanding so that he could have the spare time and energy to be a very good father to his child might be more satisfying. That's certainly the decision I'd make.

> for a lot of people, the birth of their first child changes their priorities

CEOs are not a lot of people. By definition they are extremely few in number, and those who become CEOs of top companies have a perhaps pathological drive to get there. For someone like that, an entirely predictable event -- like the birth of a child -- is the last thing that would make them sacrifice the position they've worked so hard for.

Now would I quit my job for $100 million? Absolutely! But maybe that just means I'm most people...

He’s been at twitch since 2006. How many founders stay that long? Mark Zuckerberg I guess? I just don’t think the numbers back up your premise that being a CEO of a top company requires a pathological drive to stay there until death

I honestly don't understand the mentality that drives someone to keep working after they've made, say, $100 million. Maybe that's why we're all not that person. Even if you're the most single-minded, driven person ever, once you get that much wealth you've pretty much won the game. You did it, you're done. The show's over.

It's like continuing to play your Civilization game for "Just... One... More... Turn..." after you defeated everyone and you're the only civ left.

I imagine the work gets less stressful when you have FU money. As a CEO you're delegating a lot of the day to day work, and as a subsidiary of Amazon they're probably giving a lot of the macro direction.

So you get into the office (maybe) at 10am (maybe), reading some emails, firing off some responses, maybe taking a call or two. Then a ritzy lunch for an hour. Coming back to some more emails and meetings.

Some days you will be putting out fires all day. But the more mature the company is the less you have to do that. After 15+ years the company should have a mature executive team that can handle all but the biggest fires by themselves.

> I honestly don't understand the mentality that drives someone to keep working after they've made, say, $100 million.

Most people reading this site are in the 1% of the world and could easily retire to a lower cost of living area right now or after a few years of saving. They usually don't: Firstly, because the drive that gets you to earn that kind of money also keeps you going. If you're used to and can handle 80 hour weeks, going to 0 is likely to make you feel unfulfilled quite fast (which is also why I don't fully buy the child story). Secondly, you always judge yourself in regards your friend group, and usually quite badly. This might seem absurd to us, but they might be looking at their friends with private jets, yachts and paintings valued more than their total net worth and not feel like they are at the top.

There are exception, of course, but I doubt you'll find many of them in the extreme environments at the top of the business hierarchy.

I don't think we're talking about the same group of people. A highly paid tech worker who makes, say $250K a year, and maybe has a little $800,000 retirement account? Sure, they could retire in Kazakhstan or something, but there's still something to work for (maybe they want to step up and retire in Thailand or heaven forbid the USA).

But if you've banked $100 million, that's a totally different world. You have wealth that grows by itself passively, and you'll never be able to spend it. You can live wherever you want in the world and never have to work, and neither will your offspring for multiple generations. Any work you do at that point is firmly in the "Play the video game after you won" territory.

Paul Graham wrote an article [0] on this that provided some insight into this for me. I still don’t completely get it but that’s probably because I’m not that kind of person either, or maybe we just haven’t found the thing yet that is able to drive us on all cylinders with no brakes.

[0] http://www.paulgraham.com/ace.html

If you read the article, or know the story of Justin.tv (one of the very earliest YC startups, from before YC was a big thing), you’ll know that he’s a cofounder, not someone who climbed up the ranks via ruthless political maneuvering to get there.

It’s not the “position” he worked so hard for, it was to build a company. Being CEO is a means to doing that, not the end goal. He did that, it is extremely successful, it will probably continue to be successful without him.

He even says it in the article - that for a long time, he wasn’t sure if he could leave and have it continue to function well. As someone who started, ran, and sold a (much, much smaller) company, I understand that viscerally. If you’re somewhat tired of it, it can feel like you’re trapped. But then you work on that, making sure that the things you do get well covered by someone else. And then, one day, there’s nothing it needs you for anymore, and you’re finally free.

But a firstborn is a good way for everybody involved to save face

I don't disagree, but quitting from a position is certainly a sacrifice.

I'm certain it happens once in a while when someone has a personal realization and decides to change their life's trajectory fundamentally. Maybe their own (role model) parents died and they discovered that time with your children cannot be substituted with gifts and money.

Now in this case it's unlikely given Twitch problems but sometimes important humans are just humans.

Definitely not when it's "effective immediately".

The person who's stepping into his spot has been President for three years, and has been attaching his name to public communications/policy, this doesn't seem like a rushed replacement.

They don't have to say why.

Platforms always have issues, that will never change. Despite that, Twitch is doing pretty well. Most of the complaints are saying that it could be better, not that it's bad. Though, there is the problem that Amazon is juicing the platform, and that's also something that won't change. And I would say Emmett Shear generally did improve the platform over the years. So he is going on a height.

Nope, I totally agree. Most of the complaints I'm seeing are valid, but a lot of people see Twitch as a dying platform when in reality it's just getting bigger and bigger. There was a momentary huge spike in viewership during covid, but I believe viewership in total is still climbing.

I've known Emmett for many years and I 100% believe it. He was working because he enjoyed it. Now he has something else to enjoy more.

Couldn't be happier for the guy!

Both can be true, especially since they don't contradict each other. When it comes to human decisions, it's usually a multitude of reasons. It could be that Twitch is in trouble and he has a child and maybe a host of other factors. I too take what he said at face value while allowing other things people have said about the platform to be true too.

It does seems plausible. I'm not sure why some folks are thinking that there must be some ulterior motive.

Maybe there are supermen who can simultaneously raise a baby and be the successful CEO of a sizeable operating unit, but in practice usually one or the other is neglected.

As the father of an 11 month old, yeah, I don't see how many human could be a CEO and an involved parent.

Now if twitch were a perfect turnkey operation the CEO could step away for a few weeks here and there... But also maybe that's just not realistic

What's wrong with that? Working since 2006 watching some dude named Justin livestream his life to what it has become is quite an accomplishment that seems justified for an early retirement?

Why would you possibly think I'm against this?

Not saying you’re against this. I’m saying that he’s been in an exec role for a long time, much longer than average. This should be seen as a natural conclusion and not “twitch problems”. He would’ve been replaced many moons ago if investors weren’t getting what they wanted.

Quitting because of family is the standard "everything is fine stockholders, don't freak out" message. Same message from Susan Wojcicki and countless other execs.

The thing is that it's super close to the migration of various streamers (some with a very high viewership) to a new platform. Though I also take it a bit at face value, in the sense of he was waiting for this and tired of all the shit that comes with Twitch.

I made a fifth of what he did and literally did exactly that: quit my job to spend time with my kid.

I’ll never be a billionaire, but I’m feeling on excellent terms with myself and with the universe.