Inside Clinkle Link

An interesting story from Business Insider that reads like a slow-motion bus crash.

Startups are supposed to fire fast, and in Clinkle’s case, it had quickly become apparent that hiring a sales team without a product to sell didn’t make sense. Some fired employees say they understand that now, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t sting.

The entire way through I was thinking “how could they not see this coming”. But then I realized how inexperienced most of the employees were and thought about the naiveté of working in my 20’s. I guess that’s one advantage of hiring college grads. They are still idealistic.

I tend to disagree when they describe the excesses of the CEO. This bit totally sounds like Brett Terpstra:

At one point, multiple sources say, Duplan considered installing a motion detector system on his desk, so he could wave his hand rather than call out to his assistant to let her know he needed something. A source close to the company denies this.

Also notable in this article is how much better Business Insider is getting. There are only two pages for the article and fewer obtrusive ads than most of the websites I visit. It’s like they care. Weird.