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ystad's comments

ystad | 2 years ago | on: Sundar Pichai received $226M compensation, boosted by a triennial stock grant

Ballmer made bets on the windows phone, Zune, Bing (ads) etc in a bid to strengthen the moat around windows/Office. Most of these bets didn't pay, the strategy to build stuff to protect your core business does stymie company growth. I think Google has gotten itself into a similar position that Microsoft was in circa 2012.

ystad | 3 years ago | on: Layoff spree in Silicon Valley spells end of an era for Big Tech

I'm not so sure I would equate these layoffs as an end of an era. This is just exaggerated reporting by wapo.

In my opinion, these are corrections to the excessive hiring done in 2020. If you take each of the companies, the layoffs cane from bets which didn't make money. I don't think this marks as an end of an era.

ystad | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: How much info should founders share with early stage employees?

With 7 people in the company, I would assume that you are close-knit in terms of trust. If that is not the case, then either you need to verify if there is trust or you have verified and there is some missing trust: I think this is underlying reason that you asked the question in the first place. I think this might present an opportunity for you to build trust.

Why I think you should share strategic information with your early employees? In my opinion, not sharing strategic partnerships to early employees misses the point of building trust with your early employees. Your early employees are in it for the experience of ups and down, and they will be benefit from both. Critical feedback from them is especially important at this time.

You will have situations where an employee or even a co-founder leaves, I think you have to be ready for that.

ystad | 3 years ago | on: H1B rejected – builds unicorn back home

I agree with most, except the quality of my life.

I find my general quality of life to be better. Access to clean air, a great commute, education, a more relaxed lifestyle, better treatment for women in public in the US as compared to India

Of course this is highly contextual, but this my opinion

ystad | 3 years ago | on: Stop Interviewing with Leet Code

Nice article - Leet code style interviews give minimal signal. The fact that we use the word Leetcode makes me think the company is hiring for the masses and it's going to be a boring job. I call such a company a Dinosaur.

I think companies should offer a choice to interviewers if they prefer to give code samples , an at home problem solving or an in-person exercise. This addresses careful thinkers, adapts for anxiety during an interview.

I do appreciate when companies ask relevant questions that they have come across rather than mundane Sudoku questions.

I have interviewed with a few companies, and Stripe's interview style stands out. Coding questions are relevant day to day style questions.

I would say Google, Amazon and Facebook set this trend and have spoiled it for all.

Unfortunately, some companies cannot think on their feet to set a different approach. Maybe it's in your best interest to avoid these places.

ystad | 3 years ago | on: I Write Letters to CEOs (2018)

I write to CEOs when I'm frustrated with a product or a service. The fastest response I've received was with Costco. I got a call within 10 minutes of sending an email.
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