
TokBox Fires 50% Of Engineering Team, All Founders Gone - vaksel
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/09/tokbox-fires-50-of-engineering-team-all-founders-gone/
======
sho
Man, look at the "team" page: <http://www.tokbox.com/view/team>

Why the hell do they need a "VP of Human Resources"? A "Community Evangelist"?
I count 20 people on that team, I would have expected a third of that.

Good lessons here for startup hopefuls. First, don't take $14m for your fairly
simple flash video app. Second, if you do, don't waste that money on feeding
your ego with a large headcount. Third, if you do, don't be surprised when
you're kicked out and someone else is in control of your baby.

------
rokhayakebe
Sometimes when you have too many employees some will show up, start their
computer, sip on some coffee and pretend to work for the entire day. Then one
magical day someone with a decision power realizes that this guys are just
trading "showing up for 8 hours" for fat checks. On that day the collector
gets fired.

This does not necessarily mean that the company is having trouble. It just
means they can hire people who can actually do some work or be more productive
than the ones who were fired.

Do your job. Do it damn well or at least show everyone that you are trying
hard enough and if they bear with you a little bit more you will succeed at
it. Otherwise enjoy the checks and know that sooner or later your circus will
end.

------
rms
Ouch. And not fired by crappy VCs, but by Sequoia and Mitt Romney. That's
gotta be bad for their self-esteem.

~~~
whughes
Seems like it would be better for their self-esteem if they could rationalize
the firing as being by crappy VCs who don't know what they're doing. This way,
it's much harder to blame it on the VCs.

------
bkrausz
Good to know that not dropping out of school to work for them 2 years ago was
the right choice.

~~~
jacquesm
Who knows, you might have been their new CEO and you might have kicked some
serious butt in that position...

Alternative universes have one small drawback, we don't get to experience
them.

------
sarvesh
Seems like a case of raising too much money too soon and getting kicked out by
the VCs. But I could be wrong and I am curious to know the founders side of
the story.

~~~
Harj
the founders took money off the table (the ones who left right after the
funding round at least) so they're fine

~~~
sarvesh
It's not about the money or may be it's just me I want see my products succeed
not just work. If the founders left right after the funding round that just
doesn't seem right to me, it isn't fair to the VC's either. I guess we'll
never know what exactly transpired unless one of the founders speak up.

