[Fhios]

You mean like ever increasing standards until you can’t increase anymore and then you’re replaced with somebody who can?

What’s the life of a dot.com? Aside from the freaks of nature and the ones that simply caught the wave, there’s no reason for long term strategy at keeping employees.

[rellimpank]

—yeah ?—most of them probably need to learn that if it sounds too good to be true, it is a lie-—

[2banana]

The irony is that they would do so much better as an electrician’s or plumber’s apprentice.

But that is beneath them...

[Soul of the South]

This is no different than the 50 and 60 year old middle managers being kicked out of companies to be replaced with younger managers who are paid 1/3 of their salaries and are low consumers of company paid benefits (medical, matching 401K payments, vacation).

Ironically, many companies whose financial people have convinced them they can replace seasoned highly experience workers with lower cost drones have been forced to rehire as consultants some of the gray haired ex employees to deal with information systems, legal issues, customer relationships, technical problems, and manufacturing process breakdowns. There are some business problems and issues where there is no substitute for experience.

[SamAdams76]

I often wish I was born 20 years later than I was, so that I could live the "dot.com" dream I missed out on. I'd be a 20-something in on the ground floor of a "dot.com" working 20 hours a day six days a week in some converted warehouse space, with comfortable jeans, sandals and a black T-shirt with an ironic message. Fueled by an endless (and free) supply of Starbucks beverages and Red Bull, I'd be sitting crosslegged on the floor of my communal office space at 2AM, punching out code on my MacBook, surrounded by other people's dogs, beanbag chairs, those colorful little plastic balls all around, and alternative college rock piped in on the wireless speakers.

Can't believe I missed my opportunity for that lifestyle and instead I have to suit up at 5 in the morning, catch a train to Manhattan and do my best Don Draper imitation at the office. Such old school! I missed being a dot-commer by only 20 years.

[Regulator]

Anyone who hasn’t worked for a VC backed company should do a little research to understand the game.

And the game is, they make all the money, they own your IP, and if you’re lucky - REALLY lucky - your options won’t be wallpaper for your bathroom.

[discostu]

Same as 20 years ago with the bubble. Heck same as 30 years ago in the building of the industry. I know somebody with a “100” shirt for working hundred hour weeks in the crazy days of Apple. The young, impressionable, and unmarried are easy pickin’s for the rah rah and promise of rich. And sometimes it works out, sometimes you get to retire at 30 and a couple years of crazy work isn’t bad. And sometimes it doesn’t.