[fenguin]

I've met (and quickly distanced myself from) many people here in the Valley who prioritize short-term/short-sighted goals over long-term relationships. Even if you're not yet part of a tight-knit community here, word travels fast, especially on Secret. Screwing someone over can have long-term repercussions, and the last thing you'd want is for something as trivial as a single employee ruining a strong relationship for life.

Plus, friendships can often lead to far greater payoffs in the long-term -- I've given and received many introductions to stellar employees among my circle of friends; having a reputation as a robber is the fastest way to stop this flow of introductions.

OT: Ben has a lot of really great material on his blog, and I'd highly recommend anyone who hasn't yet to read through everything! He also has a great book that compiles all his wisdom into one place [1]; if you're too busy to read it I've shared my notes on Evernote [2].

[1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Thing-About-Things/dp/0062273...

[2] https://www.evernote.com/shard/s345/sh/7b35d8ab-daba-4181-8b...

[skj]

So, the advice given here is certainly practical and useful, but it's also wrong. Not wrong as in incorrect, but wrong as it's effectively steeling an opportunity from an individual (and you!) in order to appease a relationship with someone who views their employees as property.

The "thing" there is not the employee, but the opportunity.

[justizin]

In addition to the fact that this is inhumane, even from a business perspective, it's important to look at the Apple Google relationship, appeasing Steve Jobs was not a winning strategy for Google and it becomes increasingly clear that they AND individuals who wanted to work for them lost out on great opportunities to do things that were clearly in their mutual interest because it might upset a fucking sociopath.