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by bberenberg 1279 days ago
The business they built is failing. The emotional toll is extreme. Founders I know are either in poor health due to stress, or place an outsized emphasis on staying healthy. You and others who post this every time seem to be saying "Ah yes, you're not suffering enough in my eyes". How much suffering is enough? Should your degree of blood thirst be applied to employee actions? Are blameless retrospectives a mistake and we should start firing people for making mistakes?
3 comments

I think this comes from the broader general fact that we have all lived through recessions (e.g. 2008 housing crisis) very differently with very different outcomes.

I often view these statements with knee jerk cynicism (though I recognize it as such) because too often you read about layoffs while executives get golden parachutes. Why should the CEO get the 30 million payout to leave the failing company while everyone else gets comparative peanuts and loses their job.

I can sympathize a bit with why people feel bitter about these things.

I also know some business owners and people who run start ups, those who do it with integrity do have genuine feelings they have to process around this. I try to also remember that not everyone is Jack Welch.

To paraphrase Don Draper, that's what the insane CEO and founder stock grant is for!
unreasonable people are unreasonable

it’s clear they want people in charge to suffer, because some other powerful person hurt them in the past

sad. start up founder have a lot of benefits but it comes with pain.

pick your poison