When the axe finally fell, My boss walked my resume over to a sister company in the same private equity group. Had an offer within a few weeks. He gets maximum internet good guy points.
However, in the meantime, I wound up speaking with a diverse assortment of scum, villainy, and ineptitude.
Commercial ads aren't perfect but they represent a decent middle ground for content creators. And have a powerful moderating effect on webmaster behavior.
If you want a nasty experience, look at any non-sponsored digital eco-system which doesn't qualify for display ads. Things tend to get pretty raw in a hurry. (and most nice content creators stop wasting time and get regular jobs)
Sure - and franchises are actively marketed, by a commission sales force and any number of people who get a 'finders fee' should you happen to sign up through their channel. There is an active push to herd people into franchises.
They tend to target unemployed middle-aged managers, since that audience is often driven by ego to "be the boss" and has the disposable funds to pony up a large setup fee. I was aggressively targeted when I was laid off last year.
What they didn't know - until we got on the phone - is I'm the target prospect from hell. I certainly have the funds; however, I got them via two decades of finance and strategy work. Old habits die hard. Due Diligence? Don't mind if I do...
I was polite but I laid out my expectations in financial terms based on investments in businesses of similar size. Actual deals which I had managed. Made it clear I had the funds to deliver if they could meet my goals in writing.
Most organizations lose 30% - 50% of their "mojo" with each layer of separation from an "engaged stakeholder". Generally meaning someone with equity or substantial profit sharing.
I'd also bet that the majority of their owners only own one business, which means they are even more engaged.
Compare that with the typical master franchise operator, who may be running multiple locations and multiple brands. Unless they have an awesome process and technology team, their operational efficiency is probably a full order of magnitude below the typical highly engaged Chick-fil-A...
Get ready for ads to get more annoying. The hidden benefit of using personalized data to target and track prospects was an advertiser could use "soft sell" to build a brand over time.
As that market gets shut off, we're back to aggressively using interruption marketing "shock jock" ads and auto-play video. Click now or forever hold your peace...
The problem with contextually targeted ads is there is no real guarantee of repetition and brand building...
Whoa there... you've got a blessing in disguise... use it wisely before you scamper off.
I've had two of these in my career - extended stays in a role which is "naturally prestigious" but had minimal actual challenge or operational responsibilities. They're fantastic...
The first one (at about your age) I used to court my wife and read / think EXTENSIVELY about business and life. It let me get my shit straight before the next leg up.
Rolled off that into a super-intense turnaround role and fatherhood (also super-intense) which took about 5 years. At the end of that, wound up as an "executive caretaker" managing group with instructions not to disrupt anything while they sold the company. So 3 - 4 years of sideways action with no meaningful opportunities for promotion.
Which turned out to be a MASSIVE gift. My bosses basically didn't care what I did with my time, so I learned how to code (full stack + database management) on company time and leveraged that into a successful side business. They funded me through the low-return slog of learning a new industry and starting a new business....
I think we need to work with people to encourage more of the critical thinking skills to create their own jobs. The average American is considerably less creative than their forefathers were in being able to "figure out" sources of opportunity in a tight labor market (NYC circa 1890's).
What jumped out at me about this data was many of these businesses have robust contribution value per customer. (Not just relative to acquisition cost, like in low-end B2B but successfully adapting the model to go after bigger fish)
Honestly, I hope the employees involved file a massive class action suit against the CEO, head of HR, and the board for creating a hostile environment. Burn the place to the ground.
Somewhere along the line in the past 20 years, HR and senior leadership decided they were not "managers" but "therapists". We don't discuss what happened from a process and policy compliance perspective (depersonalizing it). No - we have to turn it into a holier than thou judgement session about your values and personal beliefs.
The problem is... instead of the brief burst of discomfort produced by a policy compliance discussion (which is often very impersonal), the feedback discussion becomes a very personal judgement about you by a respected authority figure that you have been conditioned to listen to. Far more painful and damaging.
I went thought something similar at a former employer, a nasty web of pseudo-therapy "coaching" to help "align me with corporate values". I had an chance to leave and I took it. 30 days later, my family commented that Dad was finally smiling again....
From an ethical perspective, HR needs to RUN from anything resembling being a therapist. No mental health professional could ethically operate under the realities of their job: they have a massive conflict of interest and policy prohibitions against client confidentiality. You should never open up to HR. Period. They're not a mental health provider.
If you're in HR and want to work as a mental health professional, quit your corporate job, get licensed, and operate in accordance with industry ethics!
Indeed. From what I can tell, it sounds like an e-commerce company is bifurcating into:
- A B2C Shopify store, with the former traffic / audience
- Some kind of e-commerce platform (not yet a business)
To your point, if they were not already actively trying to market the code as a platform, this is an EXTREMELY hard reset for the second project and your best hope (if you're going to continue this path) is negotiate an acqui-hire.
Speaking as an investor again, the commercial side of the second project sounds like a potential goat rodeo. You're basically dealing with the sales cycle for selling a B2B infrastructure product (specialty e-commerce backbone) to small companies...
Guessing at the market size, you would need an average installed price north of $5 K to make a business viable which means you need a B2B outside sales team. Given that you're selling to startups, suspect getting above $100 K ticket price is a challenge. Strong likelihood of issues with customer acquisition costs > contribution margin.
Again... hand waving BS about the business I haven't seen, but much caution would be advised. The other guy definitely grabbed the crown jewels of the remaining business.
It isn't easy but you should be able to clobber $5/hour. Two questions which my customers have never asked me:
- What school did you go to? - What country do you live in / are a citizen of...