I agree, but then of course, spending a shit ton of money just to make yourself feel better is one of the luxuries of not being beholden to outside investors.
Between ludicrous offices and the 37s "4 days a week" plan, I'd probably go with 37s.
Heh, you just won't let go of that "beholden to outside investor" thing, will you?
Are you suggesting that investors keep startups from getting ludicrous office space? From my experience with well-funded dotcom startups, they all tend to spend staggering amounts on sexy office space. We're lightly funded, so we sure as hell didn't.
In any case, Joel isn't spending a shit ton-- he's spending ~4-6% of revenue, as he said. Decent investors would only involve themselves if you were spending an unreasonable amount of money. Joel could be up to his armpits in Series D financing and not have an investor blink at this expenditure.
(if it isn't obvious, I think it's a dumb expenditure for an unprofitable startup, and a fine expenditure for Joel)
Between ludicrous offices and the 37s "4 days a week" plan, I'd probably go with 37s.