dpcheng2003
Joined 15 years ago
Karma
380
Submissions
105
Member since
Nov 1
Capchase - Product
Chime - Product
Atrium - Product
Gusto - Product, Growth
VendorStack / ShareBloc - Founder, CEO
ex VC, ibanker
View on Hacker NewsRecent submissions
Comment · 6 years ago
Congrats on the launch guys!
Full disclosure, I worked with Nick and Omar at Gusto. I saw firsthand how much software can help an ops team. Since we didn't have Flowdash at Gusto, we often scrambled for resources to empower our operations team. We also probably could've done a better job responding to user feedback since we were so resource constrained.
Having a tool that the Ops team can truly own is a game-changer for that iterative feedback loop and frees up the eng team. Really looking forward to seeing this product grow.
Comment · 8 years ago
My 2c as a former Gusto employee:
The watermelon interview was no joke and not a rubber stamp. I wasn't on the watermelon crew but it was a real badge of honor at Gusto to "represent" Gusto's values.
When we hired 200+ people from 2015-2016 across two offices, the watermelon interview was critical to make sure we were hiring the right culture fit Gusties.
Glad to see this covered by FRV and posted on HN.
Comment · 8 years ago
I used to be a PM at Gusto so I can add to Eddie's answer. As Eddie mentioned, it's non-trivial to keep the existing applications running as well as they do. That being said, a non-trivial amount of time/resources is spent making an already amazing product that much better. For example, my friends just launched a new product that lets you pick your payday (https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/21/gusto-flexible-pay/). To get this to work, there's a lot of data science involved to make sure you're not exposing Gusto to financial risk (it's effectively lending money). Since taxes are withheld with every paycheck, the payment flows associated with flexible pay become incredibly challenging. They're an amazing team. Go Eddie!
Comment · 8 years ago
I think there's also some anchoring bias that happens with easy mental math calculations like 20 on 80, or 40 on 360, since the financial fundamentals don't matter at the earliest stage companies.
Comment · 12 years ago
I'm confused by this comment. Doesn't Box sell an actual product that actual customers pay for? That's revenue.
Now if you're referring to profit, then there's enough precedence of (technology) companies choosing to invest in operations over generating a profit for growth. Amazon is barely profitable; Twitter still isn't. There's even financial engineering reasons to run a deficit. Why pay taxes when you can re-invest in your company's growth and use the carried losses as a future tax shield? Unless you assume Box and comparable companies are running a Ponzi-like scheme, which I don't think you are.
I think we can agree that investors at large firms who invest in IPOs like Fidelity and T.Rowe Price are not idiots. They use the information that is available to them and make a determination on valuation. If they make an investment in the IPO, their investment thesis is that this stock will go up (some companies do flip at IPO but it's a small minority. Source: I used to price IPOs for a living).
The market isn't a homogenous mass. It's filled with thousands of opinion-makers like you. Your opinion is entirely valid but it's weighed against the opinions of thousands of others who can shape Box's valuation. And that weighted opinion says Box was worth X six weeks ago, and now worth Y.