| ▲ | guywithahat 3 days ago |
| The company leadership of oxide concerns me. My biggest mistakes in my (not successful) startup were when I got distracted and chased politics or some corporate goal instead of solving my customers real problems. Giving all employees the same pay or advertising social media links to small, political sites makes me worried they've taken the 100 million and are about to crowd the market with a product that's not focused on solving customer problems |
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| ▲ | cdaringe 3 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| What observations have you made that they are not or would not be focused on solving customer problems? |
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| ▲ | guywithahat 3 days ago | parent [-] | | That they're instead focused on standardizing employee salary, or promoting their company through niche political websites. These are decisions that the CEO is making, which means they're distracted. This is fine when you've received nearly 200 million in total funding, but won't work once you're expected to add the same level of value while being profitable. | | |
| ▲ | steveklabnik 3 days ago | parent | next [-] | | > promoting their company through niche political websites. Just to be clear, you mean that we have a BlueSky account, in addition to X? I struggle to think of what you mean. Generally speaking, advertising on a wide array of platforms is considered a good thing, as you reach different audiences. | | |
| ▲ | guywithahat 3 days ago | parent [-] | | Only your bluesky is listed on your website, which is what people see when they go to your site. This feels the same as past startups where I thought I hit a pmf because of how excited "potential" customers got when I mentioned politics. We built out "political" features, came back, and none of them converted but the excitement grew stronger. Politics is a trap because it adds no value, drives away potential real customer bases, but you will get enormous positive reinforcement because people are excited you're pushing their brand of politics. In my mind, there's a risk you start creating teams to manage "corporate culture" and brand outreach, and if politics sneaks into management they'll actively steer the company in the wrong direction. Also I'm sorry, if you're actually an executive at oxide I don't mean to be harsh, I thought I was speaking into the void. I've witnessed this destroy companies I've worked on and been involved with, and doing something like only listing a bluesky account is exactly the kind of thing that's a distraction which costs potential real customers. | | |
| ▲ | steveklabnik 3 days ago | parent [-] | | I am not an executive, I just work here. I agree that it's difficult to balance features customers say they want vs the ones they'll actually convert over in an early stage company. I just don't think "has a BlueSky" means that that is what happens. |
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| ▲ | panick21_ a day ago | parent | prev [-] | | > That they're instead focused on standardizing employee salary That's kind of a strange statement. Because every company has some salary policy and structure. Would you for other companies say 'obsessed with finding different salaries for each employ'? Seems to me having a fixed salary will lead to less overall discussion and less time spent on salary discussions. Letting the executives actually focus on the product instead of endless salary discussions. |
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| ▲ | sunshowers 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| A consequence of us all making the same amount of money is that we don't waste time on performance reviews! |
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| ▲ | jhickok 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Huh, what I read and hear leads me to believe that they will succeed because of their leadership. |
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| ▲ | cestith 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Does it follow that because you lost focus that someone else will? |
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| ▲ | guywithahat 3 days ago | parent [-] | | In theory yes, but in practice only so many companies receive nearly 200 million in funding, and they'll be able to buy out competitors and consolidate the market for years to come. Oxide will likely be with us for a while, and in 5-10 years I wouldn't be surprised if people start to hate them while their exec team hangs out with Tom Brady |
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