Tech Bros Are Too Sensitive
Criticism is a part of the game, stop whining about it
Jeffy Yu, the founder of crypto AI project Zerebro, may or may not have killed himself.
The story is basically that Zerebro had horrible price action, so Jeffy received a bunch of criticism, some of which definitely went over the line, like doxxing. So, to escape the pressure, he either killed himself or faked it.
The general reaction is along these lines.
We can all agree it’s a very sad story. It always is when someone dies. But, that tweet, well-intentioned as it is, has an undertone to it I find disturbing: that builders, traders, and other people “in the arena” should be free of criticism. You can see this sentiment more clearly from the master of crashing out.
This is so soft, entitled, and stupid that it hurts.
Shaw was not complaining when his project was booming and everybody was showering him with praise. He wasn’t complaining when he was able to dunk on the “ai16zero” gravedancers. It was all good then.
On a higher level, nobody forced him to make a crypto project. Nobody forced him to bullpost relentlessly on the way up. Nobody is forcing him to keep his comments on. And nobody is forcing him to stick around if it sucks so much. So, he has no right to throw a pity party now that people are complaining that his project has lost them money, often directly because of his actions. You don’t get to just privatize the profits and socialize the losses.
It’s the same thing with traders. Tons of traders tweet about how they don’t share as much anymore because of the reply guys chirping when they get a call wrong. But, they never complain when the reply guys praise them when they get a call right. This means they want all praise and no criticism, even when they are wrong. I’m sorry, but that’s not how this works. If you are in public life because you want the publicity and the associated benefits, you also have to be able to take the heat. They are a package deal.
This is why I’ll never understand tweets like this.
Imran is very successful. He is probably just engagement-baiting here, but if he’s not, then this tweet is just plain stupid. He wants to sell his startups to these people, but they aren’t allowed to criticize him? Why is he letting people whose opinions he obviously doesn’t respect bother him anyway?
Founders talk nonstop about how they are like modern-day gladiators, only to hop on Twitter or LinkedIn to bitch and moan when somebody says something mean to them.
Perhaps I’m just ignorant because I haven’t had to deal with it myself. But, from what I can see, the average startup founder or trader doesn’t receive nearly as much criticism as a professional athlete, politician, or someone like Elon. So, if part of being a founder is having that dog in you, maybe this is a good way to screen for that quality.
None of this is downplaying that some people take things too far. Doxxing, physical harassment, or going to somebody’s house to intimidate them is obviously sicko behavior. But, overall, being in the arena should not be a riskless venture. If you want the praise, you also have to deal with the criticism.
So, can we please just stop bitching about it?
