Okay, I'm convinced something is happening in tech founder circles. They are intentionally downsizing. I don't know why yet. But this isn't coincidence. All these assholes are connected.
Highly probable theory. There are some others though. Like they are being tipped off to some shift in the market. Or they plan to rehire at lower salaries to reset the comp market.
Notice how callous and cruel this is. Imagine being laid off and then your CEO goes on YouTube to tell everybody you were a drag on the company.
Again, there's a reason this is happening publicly. We're just not sure what it is yet.
Y'all think it's a game. It's not. If you are familiar with SV startup culture, you know that all of these folks talk to each other. They generally follow trends. Something is happening.
"Yesterday, we offered everyone at Basecamp an option of a severance package... For those who cannot see a future at Basecamp under this new direction." world.hey.com/dhh/let-it-all…
It's worth reading DHH's pay. It's kind a ramble, but there is important information there. He talks about how they failed to facilitate and meditate contentious discussion at the company.
I believe him when he says it felt disruptive. But I blame a lack of clear and decisive leadership. This is where white men like these show they lack the range. That they're not up to the task of navigating an environment where a diverse group of people all get to have a voice.
I was talking to @operaqueenie about this at lunch. Fried and all these other Owners would have us believe that people are spending all day arguing about these issues instead of working. I think it's important to address that fallacy.
For the record, it is in fact a fallacy. You cannot square the *record* profits that companies have been posting with this idea that people aren't working. It's incredibly disingenuous and dishonest. So what are people actually talking about?
Here's what Fried says in his post.
"It's a major distraction. It saps our energy, and redirects our dialog towards dark places. It's not healthy, it hasn't served us well."
That's sounds ominous. But it's always worth asking. Who is "us"?
More white guys in tech deciding that their company and their money is gonna be separate from what’s happening in the world. - Changes at Basecamp world.hey.com/jason/changes-…
Here’s Fried 10 days ago saying the part he “dislikes” about his job is “trying to please everybody”. The writing was on the wall there I suppose.
Whew. We had some pretty bad technical difficulties on Spaces this time. I think it was mostly still a great conversation. But it brought home to be how important it is for the technology to be rock solid.
How do we take back control of our livelihoods? I can tell you where my thoughts are taking me.
One core idea is that we have to create companies that are not wholly directed by the capitalistic profit motive. @operaqueenie is doing a lot of work around things like co-ops.
This has a lot of implications. The company can still be for profit. Just not at the cost of people's health and happiness. Instead, the leadership of the company is beholden to the employees. So it has to balance profit motive with other things that matter.
It's hard for one company to survive in this entrenched market environment though. Instead we also have to think about bringing companies together into a shared ecosystem based on values. One where we choose to do better together and reject the current set of dominant incentives.