I worked at a very hip startup that was once on the move but then had crested and was on the slight decline.
1/

I was running a team of people who did video conferencing. They were really good at it, and I didn't know anything about the technology. One of the tricks I sometimes use in management is to shut up when I don't know anything.
2/
it was IT in a different gear than I'd seen before
e.g. your wiring had to be perfect, there would be decisions by people that required insane costs &
white gloves
3/
a day or two after they announce earnings, they want to do an All Hands where the CEO, CFO and various bigwigs claim credit for the smart work of their teams.
4/
This team runs that conference setup. It's a big deal and a lot of work, and this was the first one I'd run by myself. None of the old leaders
5/
In reality, of course, I didn't run a goddamn thing. C_____ was an expert at running a conference setup and it was going silky smooth. I did press a button that kept the stream from going down. Go me 😊
6/
As the largely conventionally pretty and hip employees walk in, the lights go berserk and they have loud bass heavy music to hype everyone up.
7/
https://t.co/Q8tf0zJYdF
If I recall it right, it was Video Phone by Beyoncé
8/
I get back to my desk after doing sweaty work in my nice clothes, and there's a scathing email from H______. She's an HR woman on the move, and my boss' boss is being asked to account for what's being said in the song.
9/
This is before #metoo, so nothing like that. Just an HR worker on the way up asking questions about sexism in the workplace. I recall thinking it was fair play. So I go to ask C_____ just to have my facts straight.
10/
I bring it up to C_____ and he stares at me blankly.
"That's a playlist we've used for five years."
2009ish checks out.
11/12
I had to write this contortionist both apology, and "say, fuck off with that shit."
12/12

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So the cryptocurrency industry has basically two products, one which is relatively benign and doesn't have product market fit, and one which is malignant and does. The industry has a weird superposition of understanding this fact and (strategically?) not understanding it.


The benign product is sovereign programmable money, which is historically a niche interest of folks with a relatively clustered set of beliefs about the state, the literary merit of Snow Crash, and the utility of gold to the modern economy.

This product has narrow appeal and, accordingly, is worth about as much as everything else on a 486 sitting in someone's basement is worth.

The other product is investment scams, which have approximately the best product market fit of anything produced by humans. In no age, in no country, in no city, at no level of sophistication do people consistently say "Actually I would prefer not to get money for nothing."

This product needs the exchanges like they need oxygen, because the value of it is directly tied to having payment rails to move real currency into the ecosystem and some jurisdictional and regulatory legerdemain to stay one step ahead of the banhammer.