On Saturday, July 27, 2019, 1:17:00 PM EDT, Dave McGuire <mcguire@...> wrote:
> I told him about how I thought this huge shift toward not seeing past
> the end of the current quarter dramatically encourages destructive
> behavior, as does the whole "end goal" of the IPO...after which a
> corporation has but one customer to please and care about: the body of
> stockholders. The behaviors encouraged by these attitutes are not
> conducive to the long-term survival of the company, and almost always
> ...
> We as a society must stamp out this behavior, but it won't happen
> until the whole thing just self-destructs. Some argue that we're seeing
> the beginning of that now, and I can't really disagree.
I have one data point that does provide a little hope. There's a friend
of mine who has done well a few times in the startup game. However,
in his most recent venture, he had a really bad experience with the
VC types who where following the "burn bright and fast to get the
attention of an IPO or and acquisition" philosophy. As expected, it
fell flat. But he was able to get the IP and even the name returned
to him, and has restarted in a smaller form that allows him to focus
on customers the way he always wanted. And he's made it quite
clear that he has no interest in taking VC funding again. So his
customers can count on staying the priority.
Alas, the fact that this is remarkable because it's so rare is itself
depressing.
BLS
