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Restructuring Announcement

(automattic.com)
261 points markx2 | 4 comments | 02 Apr 25 18:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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lenerdenator ◴[02 Apr 25 20:00 UTC] No.43560875[source]▶
Given what I know of the situation (which admittedly isn't much), wouldn't the best course of action be to shitcan the CEO?
replies(2): >>43561002 #>>43561023 #
dangrossman ◴[02 Apr 25 20:16 UTC] No.43561023[source]▶
From Reddit discussions, if they can be trusted, there is nobody who can remove Matt from any position. It's a private company and the investors were given non-voting shares.
replies(3): >>43561058 #>>43562038 #>>43563398 #
mritchie712 ◴[02 Apr 25 20:20 UTC] No.43561058[source]▶
he'd already be out if it was simple to force him out
replies(1): >>43561103 #
lenerdenator ◴[02 Apr 25 20:25 UTC] No.43561103[source]▶
Let this be a lesson to anyone investing in a startup: don't give any cash unless there's real corporate governance.
replies(2): >>43561260 #>>43564888 #
em-bee ◴[03 Apr 25 04:52 UTC] No.43564888[source]▶
but the opposite is true too: don't take money from investors unless they let you keep control of your company. for every case like this there are probably a dozen cases where investors took control of a company and ruined it for the sake of making money.
replies(1): >>43568053 #
pclmulqdq ◴[03 Apr 25 11:26 UTC] No.43568053[source]▶
How did they "ruin" a company if that company made money?
replies(1): >>43568631 #
1. diggan ◴[03 Apr 25 12:25 UTC] No.43568631[source]▶
Not all humans are driven by the same motivations.
replies(1): >>43569663 #
2. pclmulqdq ◴[03 Apr 25 13:52 UTC] No.43569663[source]▶
Presumably if you as a founder are not driven by a desire to make money and your investors are, you 100% should be ousted. This is the principal-agent problem at work.
replies(1): >>43570151 #
3. diggan ◴[03 Apr 25 14:24 UTC] No.43570151[source]▶
> Presumably if you as a founder are not driven by a desire to make money and your investors are, you 100% should be ousted

Presumably, the real world is a bit more nuanced than that.

There is no reason why you cannot run a company for different motivations than "get as rich as possible" while still accepting investments from people whose sole motivation is "get as rich as possible". While difficult, it is possible to align people even when they have different motivations.

replies(1): >>43576612 #
4. pclmulqdq ◴[03 Apr 25 23:16 UTC] No.43576612{3}[source]▶
What you are describing is exactly the principal-agent problem, and it is a real problem at startups when a founder is truly motivated by something that the investors don't care about. You can run a company with different motivations than your investors, but only so long as you return the goods they want. If they see you not returning the goods and not caring about that fact, they will try to replace you. They will try to do that a lot faster if you demonstrate that you don't care about giving them a return than if you show that you do care.

Conversely, investors can be mission-driven or otherwise aligned with you on something other than "maximize my return," but those investors rarely give you the best price.