Reply to post: Its more a problem with tech culture

Its more a problem with tech culture

Musk has collided with a problem that he thought he knew but actually doesn't quite know how to handle. Twitter has really exposed a gathering storm. The signs are everywhere -- we've all read about Twitter's layoffs, there's been mention of Amazon shedding staff and elsewhere on this site you'll see "Investor tells Google: Cut costs now and stop paying staff so much". They're all pointing to the same thing -- we've been paying far too many people far too much for too long to make a sustainable business. We have been living a fiction, the idea that 'eyeballs' will generate ever increasing ad revenue which, in turn, will sustain this type of business. It won't, and papering over the cracks with investor capital is just delaying the inevitable.

The one thing that you can say about companies like Tesla and SpaceX is that they have positive net cash flow -- they're making a profit, in other words. They got there using sweat equity, the idea that you're trading labor for not just wages but options (and also seriously enhanced future opportunities). Musk might have mistaken Twitter for a startup. Its not, its like other mature, public, companies with a stable workforce that's grown comfortable with their lot. This might work for Apple or Microsoft, something with stable cash flow, but the lesson of IBM is that nowhere is invulnerable to "the numbers". If its not making those numbers then "headcount will be reduced and more productivity will be required of the remaining headcount". This is a natural business cycle in our world (and as a prole myself I hate it) but as I've seen and experienced several times before employment can switch from "anyone with a heartbeat" to "can't get a job anywhere" practically overnight. So I'd strongly advise all those Twitter employees that are behaving like bees that have their nest disturbed to get behind the program. This tech scene had a great run but the game is over (and if you're smart you'd have been saving like mad for this day....banking not just money but capabilities).

Whether Muck will get away with this is anyone's guess. (I've been informed that I don't know what I'm talking about as well.)