

San Francisco start-up Seesmic laid off 18 employees this week - velus
http://allthingsd.com/20120322/seesmic-lays-off-half-its-staff-as-it-pivots-back-to-social-cross-posting/?mod=googlenews

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Mystalic
I wish Loic and his team the best of luck. It's never easy to lay friends and
colleagues off, and I know that it's taken an emotional toll on Loic.

This is a reminder that even somebody of Loic's stature (he created LeWeb and
is a very successful angel investor) can fail. Hard work, great product, good
timing and luck -- you need them all to succeed.

~~~
markokocic
Why so much sympathy for Loic, and not for people being laid off? Loic will be
fine. He didn't burn his own cash, he burned VC and angel money. And given
that he already has success track record, his reputation will not be damaged
too much.

I hope those 18 guys were working for market salary, and not for some
equity/options schema.

Otherwise, it's 18 more people that learned the hard way that it doesn't pay
taking risks and salary sacrifice if your are not the one that makes
decisions, and will avoid working for startups in the future.

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farrel
This is the 4th pivot for Seesmic? Can early investors ask for their money
back if the nature of the business changes from what they originally invested
in?

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TheCowboy
Nope. That's part of the risk assumed by investors.

Plus "you can't get blood from a stone"---how much of that money exists that
they could pull it out? And whose money is it exactly when you have multiple
investors? At best they would only be entitled to a fraction of a fraction.

It would also set a bad precedent for companies they've invested in if
startsup are not allowed to adapt because they'd lose funding, making it more
likely that investments fail due to stagnation.

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pagekalisedown
I'm all for failing quickly and pivoting into something better, but how does
Loic Le Meur expect to attract future employees with such a track record?

~~~
jtchang
With promises of mounds of equity and hoards of cash?

Startups are inherently risky. Loic made a very difficult decision (layoffs
are hard). I am sure when he first hired those people it was in good faith. No
one wants to fail.

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dhimes
OT: Ghostery picked up 19 scripts on that page. I think that is a personal
record, at least for HN links. Holy Fuck!

