I agree that if not controlled properly - it can take all sorts of shapes and forms. The best we can do is work with good intentions, put measures in place to avoid bad behavior, and focus on driving more of the positive kinds of interactions.
I think our model is worth trying because the alternative is the status quo, where the only ones with access to this information are family members, top school alums, or people in the elite circles. If you have ideas for how we could do this differently or put measures in place to avoid all the negative examples you gave - I'd love to hear them. deepak@thelobby.io.
I don't think there's a black & white answer here - it will be nuanced and require good execution. Think of all the ways something like Airbnb could go wrong without security checks, going against landlord laws, etc. It still seems to be an overwhelmingly positive addition to the world - we think this can be the same.
> the alternative is the status quo, where the only ones with access to this information are family members, top school alums, or people in the elite circles.
As you yourself pointed out in another sub-thread, "this knowledge is not rocket science" and someone responded, essentially, that it stands to reason that it is already available on numerous web sites.
Some of that knowledge may even be borderline proprietary (for, an admittedly shallow, example, how to prepare for puzzles in interviews), where the site offers anonymity and publishing in exchange for that information.
As such, I'm not convinced that the status quo is how you say it is, unless you actually are trying to offer access to insider knowledge closer to the "rocket science" level.
My point was not that the advice is generic, but that you don't require super specialized knowledge to give it that needs extensive "quality control."
The Telecom, Media & technology group at Goldman Sachs will have specific bankers, preferences, and things they look for in candidates, as well as industry-specific things you need to study to truly prep. But any analyst WITHIN THAT group is capable of providing that information, and they already are when they interview candidates, help their friends/alumni, and more.
To reiterate - the information of how to land a job in a specific group is very unique and not easy to commoditize across an entire industry or with generic blog posts, but the complexity of that knowledge is very low, hence many are qualified to accurately give it without having to have some crazy "quality control" monitor.
Additional comment: I meant rocket science literally, not metaphorically.
This knowledge is exceptionally valuable, but it is not hard to deliver if your personal experience & network has given it to you. Those without that network & experience don't have it.
If you really think the only knowledge worth paying for is rocket science, then every university degree in the world except for that one is worthless.
> the information of how to land a job in a specific group is very unique and not easy to commoditize across an entire industry or with generic blog posts, but the complexity of that knowledge is very low, hence many are qualified to accurately give it
I think that's the key assertion I was missing, the uniqueness of the information to each group.
I suspect that, because that generally does not apply nearly as much in the tech industry, HN readers (including myself) are more likely to respond with skepticism.
This may even be the case for people coming from other industries, so you may want to find a way to emphasize this particular value proposition.
I'm very scared to speak about something I don't know in-depth, but my engineer friends (And even some HN readers in the thread) are very vocal that even in tech this is the case.
For example, the product marketing team at Facebook has pretty different skillsets & requirements they're looking for than the product management team for a specific silo (perhaps even more so than in banking, where the skills are still kind of similar in terms of Excel/PowerPoint and financial analysis).
In tech - I'd bet it's even harder to commoditize advice and every team is even harder to prep for. One team might focus on Python, the other on mySQL, the other might have a manager that likes to test in some weird way. And tech has very high turnover (banking alike), but interviewing processes are more flexible from what I hear so it must be even more dynamic (as in if your manager changes every 12-24 months, interviewing processes for that team change too), whereas banking interviews have largely remained the same for years and still people crave for this advice.
This is what I've heard- so feel free to refute any of this, it's not primary knowledge.
if it doesn't add value to the company and make it better, kind of the same as putting the company office supplies on Ebay. absorbing team members' time monetizing company resources.
They already spend time doing this for friends/alumni/family. Whether or not employees are fully productive at work is a completely different discussion - we're just trying to give people without inside access the same benefits someone with access would get. Also most of our insiders do these calls on weekends, not on company time.
to re-phrase, if it's not something an HR department would want to encourage people to do, like being on LinkedIn and sharing opportunities and referrals, it's essentially parasitic.
I think our model is worth trying because the alternative is the status quo, where the only ones with access to this information are family members, top school alums, or people in the elite circles. If you have ideas for how we could do this differently or put measures in place to avoid all the negative examples you gave - I'd love to hear them. deepak@thelobby.io.
I don't think there's a black & white answer here - it will be nuanced and require good execution. Think of all the ways something like Airbnb could go wrong without security checks, going against landlord laws, etc. It still seems to be an overwhelmingly positive addition to the world - we think this can be the same.