6 ms·

This paragraph seems pretty straightforward: >Today, in 2019, if the company was a person, it would be a young adult of 21 and it would be time to leave the ro

This paragraph seems pretty straightforward: >Today, in 2019, if the company was a person, it would be a young adult of 21 and it would be time to leave the roost. While it has been a tremendous privilege to be deeply involved in the day-to-day management of the company for so long, we believe it’s time to assume the role of proud parents—offering advice and love, but not daily nagging!

organsnyder 7y ago
From the outside, it feels much more like the company is hitting a midlife crisis (feeling unsettled, not as agile as they used to be) than a young adult.
- nostrademons 7y ago
  Company lifespans these days are a lot shorter than human lifespans. 25-40 years seems typical, making a company-year 2-3x a human year. By that yardstick, Google was in its young adolescence when it IPO'd (seems reasonable), was an idealistic young adult when I joined in 2009 (also reasonable), is now hitting a midlife crisis, and will die sometime around 2040.
  - tyingq 7y ago
    Ignoring the lifespan, they are pretty stodgy and conservative now, so middle-aged just seems a better fit.
  - cmrdporcupine 7y ago
    Yep I'm down with your timeline. I joined in 2012 and it felt like a person in their late 20s or 30s in an energetic but responsible part of their career, just settling down to have kids... But before all the buying of sailboats and sports cars and treatments for baldness...
  - stallmanite 7y ago
    So IBM is like a 300ish year old vampire then? They really seem like an outlier longevity-wise.
    - jquery 7y ago
      Well, unlike people, companies don't begin to die at a super-exponential rate once they hit a certain age.
    - ddalex 7y ago
      Certainly it feels like that :D
    - SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
      If IBM is a "300ish year old vampire", Nintendo is basically God.
    - SuoDuanDao 7y ago
      A better comparison is likely an old tree that is mostly dead tissue, but that dead tissue is solid enough to support its own weight.

organsnyder 7y ago

From the outside, it feels much more like the company is hitting a midlife crisis (feeling unsettled, not as agile as they used to be) than a young adult.

nostrademons 7y ago
Company lifespans these days are a lot shorter than human lifespans. 25-40 years seems typical, making a company-year 2-3x a human year. By that yardstick, Google was in its young adolescence when it IPO'd (seems reasonable), was an idealistic young adult when I joined in 2009 (also reasonable), is now hitting a midlife crisis, and will die sometime around 2040.
- tyingq 7y ago
  Ignoring the lifespan, they are pretty stodgy and conservative now, so middle-aged just seems a better fit.
- cmrdporcupine 7y ago
  Yep I'm down with your timeline. I joined in 2012 and it felt like a person in their late 20s or 30s in an energetic but responsible part of their career, just settling down to have kids... But before all the buying of sailboats and sports cars and treatments for baldness...
- stallmanite 7y ago
  So IBM is like a 300ish year old vampire then? They really seem like an outlier longevity-wise.
  - jquery 7y ago
    Well, unlike people, companies don't begin to die at a super-exponential rate once they hit a certain age.
  - ddalex 7y ago
    Certainly it feels like that :D
  - SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
    If IBM is a "300ish year old vampire", Nintendo is basically God.
  - SuoDuanDao 7y ago
    A better comparison is likely an old tree that is mostly dead tissue, but that dead tissue is solid enough to support its own weight.