throwaway503

That is entirely possible. All I am trying to say is, be it Cook or Jobs, Apple is probably getting to a point where they are actually listening to the customers.

Well, Cook is definitely coming out more approachable. Even if you look at iPhone5 innards, it is actually the most repairable iPhone since iPhone 3G. Does it look like Cook is willing to be more open to customers and take their inputs? At least it looks like that to me....

Looking at the recent proceedings at FaceBook, I am not so sure how many investors would be interested in introductions from "The Zuck".

Really? A reference would have made his career and that to from someone who does not have a shining reputation in the tech circles?

> For founders, this seems like an easy way to guard themselves against dilution.

I think the most important property of a good leader is behave like an umbrella. Guard the shit and magnify the happiness. If someone takes the stance of firing employees to justify dilution then, in my not so humble opinion, they dont deserve to lead.

>Nobody is perfect. Be it life or work, we all do mistakes.

And be man enough to own up, learn from the mistake and don't repeat it again.

>If Mark Zuckerberg used this tactic so that he could have more value for his stocks at the end of the day, then it is quite a disgusting one. I have great respect for Mark. I hope it is not true.

"I'm a CEO, bitch". Does that sound familiar? The whole of Facebook works with the preamble of "Mark is always right". That sounds more like a dictator than a founder. And a dictator is only interested in his own interests.

>If so many people were fired, then clearly there was a problem with hiring the right people.

Or, the founder just wanted to get work by paying less. Ideally these people should have been hired as contractors. But the founder decided to create an illusion of a long term commitment to compromise on the Cost to the Company.

Disclaimer: I had worked for Facebook, got fed up with the idiocy and resigned after 3 months.

Martin, no intention to hurt your feelings but companies hire people to work, not to enjoy. My first job was utopian. I was the second employee and my primary goal was to build the product. After securing a 2M USD funding in 2005, they thought I have completed my tenure and fired me just 3 days prior to the day my shares vested.

Therefore, I learnt it the hard way and try to be an arse at work speaking in short and to-the-point sentences and keeping my mouth shut and slogging for the 40 hours I am contracted for. What matters to me is the hard cash employers bring on the table and no longer give a flying fuck about stocks, RSUs, et all. I don't even bother to check my email or answer phones unless I am on-call and being paid extra for it.

dude, I would say at least the takeaway from the whole episode was "Personal Life should always have higher priority than work". Your employer can be replaced, your personal life can't.

Even I learnt it the hard way :)

The entire story about a startup is about money. I hear people saying stuff like "I add value by creating something wonderful", but I consider that a truckload of horseshit. It is always about money and firing people just before equity vesting bolsters that idea.

This is the precise reason I work as an independent contractor for companies and explicitly make an effort not to get into an employment.

If you consider Noah as a good friend, then by definition you do not have an unbiased opinion.