It is the company Sports Day today, so while I am starting from home, I will soon be at a sports center for a few hours of activities with colleagues. It is generally a good event and it is liked by most people, but I haven't gone for the last couple years, as last year at least, I had Covid, for the second, or third time by then.
On the bus now.
Realized I forgot gym shoes.
If anyone says anything, I will use the "Don't you know who I am?" line.
No one knows who I am, so it will leave them guessing.
It isn't only a sports day though, as the company is also celebrating a 2023 business accomplishment,
Centaur status.
That is 100M in annual recurring revenue (ARR), which is how they more accurately evaluate SaaS companies. This means that retaining all customers and selling nothing, will still bring in 100M.
In times of economic downturn, subscription services tend to see a decline - churn. However, this is a good test of whether the service is valuable or not, because if the value to the company is greater than the cost, it won't churn. The product this company creates has an almost 300% ROI on average, and therefore, an enviable churn percentage in the industry, as it is so low.
We saw when times were good in 2021, a lot of tech companies expanded rapidly, using their investor cash to buy customers and take on staff. It was always going to end in years at the next dip, because loyalty can't be bought for long, it has to be earned. Now, the cutbacks of staff have been heavy due to unrealistic expectations if continued growth in the future.
It is the same as with all the people buying into Bitcoin at the highs, because of FOMO and greed. They expect it will keep going up forever, which of course can't happen.
This is one of the employee challenges of SaaS tech, because once a company gets large enough, it needn't keep growing as aggressively, so the needs of the job change. Look at Twitter, which has had the majority of the staff fired, but is still providing largely the same service.
If skills rent transferrable to a new role, the person is gone.
I hold no illusion that regardless of what I do, my job is going to change a lot over time and if I can't adapt and pivot, i will have to find more work. This is something that worries me a little, as I am not as adaptable as I once was.
For now though, I am at the sports center, shoeless, and will meet with colleagues. Hopefully, this day will be full of fun and laughs, as well as a little exercise. Pickle Ball is on my list of activities, so at least that will be a first.
Have a great start to the weekend!
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I don't think that we have such day here. So, what do you all do there? Some cardio, weightlifting? It must be a good event for socialising together with colleagues :)
Have a good Friday!
I was signed up for weightlifting for the first session, but did yoga instead. For the second session I played Pickle Ball, which is kind of like an easy indoor tennis. It was easy to play, but I am so unfit!
I seen that happen with a lot of companies in the defense industry here in the U.S. as well. When the gravy train of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wound down, companies that did the same thing you described went through the same challenges. Many are actually closing their doors or are selling out to larger companies.
Pickle ball seems to be something that is catching on. At least over here it is. Who knows, it could be your second career :-)
So much money was made by so few during those times. If I remember correctly, Cheney had his fingers in many of those pies.
I have heard it is huge in the US at the moment. Here, it is "Padel" that is popular, which is a mix of squash and tennis.
Actually quite a few companies popped up out of nowhere during that time. Lots of small businesses to do business with the DoD as they get preference on a lot of contracts.
Yeah, there were some weird shit going on with Cheney and some of his old companies at the beginning of the wars. That is actually what led to some of the wild west to all of the small companies popping up. You get a chance, watch the movie "War Dogs". Although it is sort of a comedy, it is based on a true story. It will explain some of what I am talking about. It is these smaller companies that are now shutting their doors.
Pickle ball does seem to be catching on. I guess there is actually a professional league now with investors and everything. So they have ruined it already.
Congrats on the milestone for your company. I am sure you played no small part in that. If not directly, then indirectly in your training of the other employees. That is a pretty great accomplishment. We have a ton of SaaS contracts and we are always reviewing them and deciding which ones we want to carry over or cut. It's hard because you always have that one teacher who wants to do something different and use this program versus the one we are trying to standardize on.
Indirectly a small role I think, but not a major role for me. We have some pretty decent people at this company!
It is difficult at times, but I think that paring down the tool stack needs to happen, otherwise it gets far too complicated and hard to admin - as you know :D
Yeah, for sure! Look at you all modest!
Laughs why have I never thought of using that line!
My Boss's son once told me a story, he was between a bunch of filthy rich bastards and he voiced his opinion, then one of the men asked him does he have any money..
Ofcourse he said no...
He was then told that his opinion doesn't matter😂😂 he has since then started using that phrase 😂
I'll be using the one you used 😂😂😂
:D
it seems that most people believe that an opinion is only valid from someone who has money, or skill or whatever - but that is not always (it is often) the case. What is interesting however, is very few specialized people will actually help others out, instead they silo their knowledge - especially with money.
I also walked barefoot today, 6 hours on warm ground. On your piece of land.
Looks pretty. How warm is it there now? Still a bit chilly here.
During the day it was +23 degrees and a slight breeze, very comfortable weather. I remember how 2 years ago I walked in Dubai at +42 degrees, this is a very big difference :)
Oops XD Did the shoes you wore to the place cut it?
I made it work - by not telling anyone. :D
LoL yeh that occasionally works XD
Its company sports day and somehow forgetting shoes also shows something advanced driving your mind .There may be lots of back to back thoughts about creating more unique contents and connecting those with the real world.
Firing people from work and still the company in the same mode running means the company is getting more self dependent to manage plenty of work with limited humans that is serious alarming.
AI technology is just in que to remove more humans from work...
Startup companies hire a lot of new people - established companies maintain what they have. If more jobs need to be created, it comes through innovation.
the Company Sport Day is great! A (maybe) funny way to introduce people to sport!
Sorry if I am missing from some comments on your posts that I really appreciate but I have been designed as Guest Curator for Ecency, so among production and curation it's quite a work :D
Most people in Finland are pretty active in general, but these are really good for getting introduced to new sports and trying something different. It is also a good way to get to know colleagues in a completely different setting.
Have fun curating!!
Change is bound to happen and that is to be expected when the company starts growing larger. Technology is going to change a lot of things and I think AI will also be quite transformative in the amount of jobs out there.
The AI team at this company is working on stuff all the time, but it is a different thing to LLMs, and I think they will incorporate some of that in too.
It made me smile. Hehe.
I hope you have a good timeenjoying with friends at the sports centre
It was a great (very long) day :)
Long days are tiring too 😊
Meeting with colleagues and having fun with them is really great. You can do much better if we get the encouragement by them.
It is at least a nice way to get to know people out of work.
You are shoeless today and it reminds me a day when i put two different shoe's in my both feet and when anyone asked to me about it i said it's a fashion 😂😹 that day was full of fun and laughing 🤣
I hope so you also had a fun day with colleagues at gym 💫
:D
Didn't it feel weird?
Yes it was feeling weird
And uncomfortable too 😹😐
Congratulations to you on your company
I'm sure that you will achieve more. I wish you well...
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STOPTechnology moves so fast, but it scales pretty easily without too many more staff, so that bodes well for profit margin.
Still don't get the pickle ball craze... I enjoy covering the full tennis court but all my friends wanna play on the baby court with lame paddles. I'll take my gut string racquets and a full court anyway.
I hope you had fun, regardless of the shoe situation.
Twitter is such a great example of trimming the fat. The service has not only stayed up and running despite losing such a significant part of the work force, but they're actually innovating and release updates and some new features. I'm excited to see where it is in 18-24 months from now.
Seems that the woke voices that said it would fail without them, were wrong.