Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by DigitalSea 4387 days ago
This is a problem with most large companies. Once you reach a certain size, you encounter problems with scaling. Paypal is such a big company the only way they and other companies like them innovate is by acquiring other companies and teams because it's cheaper and easier.

The amount of friction within a company like Paypal I would imagine is quite high. Not even those at the top of companies like these can change things at the flick of a switch. Things move very slowly in large companies, this is why smaller startups are able to come along and shake things up so easily before being acquired. It is how it is.
1 comments
yuhong 4387 days ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6455951

I wonder what ended up happening inside PayPal since this post.

link
rehabindian 4387 days ago
Original Poster from the linked thread, Same thing, different day. Most talented people I know have left or "left" (including myself to found my own company), there is a lot of internal Game of thrones. Some of us saw this coming (based on publicly disclosed stock unloading by David)

Now that DM is gone, I am very bearish on PayPal. Good news is he can now openly mentor and advice entrepreneurs in the space.

Shower thoughts: Maybe I should write a full blog post with all the spicy stuff! (with GOT memes)

link
yuhong 4387 days ago
So why did he give up? What do you think of Bill Scott BTW? What about Braintree?
link
rehabindian 4387 days ago
One can only speculate. I would refer you to his statement, seems like he is more interested in "getting shit done" than getting drained by bureaucracy.

As for Bill Scott, its a 2 edged sword. I think he runs a good ship, and great guy if you are part of his team or enjoy his patronage or benefit his goals/vision. Him and his team understand technology, appreciate doing what they do. They are one of the forward looking tech teams at PP. But, it comes with usual red herrings though.

link
yuhong 4387 days ago
One can only speculate. I would refer you to his statement, seems like he is more interested in "getting shit done" than getting drained by bureaucracy.

I know, but why couldn't he fix it? That is the real question.

link
rehabindian 4387 days ago
Like cancer, mediocrity, incompetence, and resistance to ideas (new products etc) was endemic at PayPal when I was there. The easiest way to become irrelevant was to challenge their confirmation bias. In other words, you try to fix it it blows over on you, Similar to the the third rail in politics.

the smartest move will be to move out, create a different world, and show them how its done. (Refer: Exit, voice, & Loyalty by Albert O. Hirschman). Hence I believe going to a better shore is in line with this spirit of california. Hope that helps.

link