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Macrodata Refinement

(lumon-industries.com)
722 points gaws | 3 comments | 01 Feb 25 21:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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pavlov ◴[01 Feb 25 23:18 UTC] No.42903578[source]▶
Working at a startup before product-market fit can feel like this.

You don’t know why the work is important, but it must be done so we can at least discover whether it was important. You may not get that information, but you can take comfort in assuming someone does have it.

You’re mostly disconnected from your previous life.

There is a guy in the next office feeding baby goats, and your reaction is: “Yes, it makes sense that we’re also exploring feeding baby goats.”

People come in as blank slates and you’re grateful to have their companionship in the shared madness.

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1. UncleOxidant ◴[02 Feb 25 05:48 UTC] No.42906283[source]▶
I find this more likely in a large corporation. In my experience, in a startup I know what we're trying to accomplish even if I don't know how we're going to do it, yet. I have a lot of control in a startup and I'm wearing a lot of hats which gives me visibility into how things are going.

By contrast, in a corporation you're handed a small piece of the puzzle and you're not sure how it's important or if it's really necessary and you're reliant on others in far flung parts of the company to relay how things are going.

I kind of think that people who haven't worked in a large corporation probably don't get Severance on a visceral level like those of us who have do.

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2. Apocryphon ◴[02 Feb 25 16:53 UTC] No.42909818[source]▶
Startups can be as siloed and prone to messianic cults of personality as large corporations do. It would be themed differently from Severance, sure, but there are other shows that tackle that.
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3. UncleOxidant ◴[02 Feb 25 20:47 UTC] No.42911664[source]▶
> Startups can be as siloed and prone to messianic cults of personality as large corporations do

Oh, probably more prone to messianic cults of personality than large corps. But as you say there are other shows that tackle that angle. I don't think it's a secret that many tech startup founders have sociopathic tendencies and delusions of grandeur. I've certainly seen that close up even in tiny early-stage startups that never ended up going anywhere.