[_bxg1]

I'm currently about to change jobs. The company I'm leaving is a small AI company with much of its business coming in the form of speculative investments/proof-of-concept contracts from large corporations with research budgets.

I'm mainly leaving because the new opportunity is more exciting. But between the economic downturn and the "AI autumn", I'm definitely feeling like I made the right decision.

The new company is small but solid, unbeholden to investors, and it provides a very tangibly valuable service to an industry which itself provides a very tangibly valuable product that basically everyone needs. So it feels like a good place to be when the storm hits.

[lioeters]

Knowing nothing about the AI field, I think your point applies in general, that in an economic downturn, companies which are providing practical value to meet an existing demand are likely to fare better than speculative ventures (R&D, startups).

On the other hand, VC money seems to operate on a different sphere and logic, that it will probably continue to be hungry for risk, in search of the big payoff.

The article makes a good point about considering our economic dependency chain. If there's a recession (with the pandemic as a possible contributing factor), surely those chains will be shaken to shed some "weight" - those areas which are not clearly providing tangible, immediate business value.

[DyslexicAtheist]

> unbeholden to investors, and it provides a very tangibly valuable service to an industry which itself provides a very tangibly valuable product

if you wouldn't mind sharing, what do they build/provide?

[brundolf]

This is the company: http://www.marginalunit.com/panorama.html

They provide a dashboard that helps electricity transmission companies make better bids on transmission contracts.

[DyslexicAtheist]

thanks for the link. looks like very cool and interesting place. I bet it's also recession proof. congratulations and also good luck it sure looks exciting :)

[_bxg1]

Thanks :)