<story><title>Bob Moore, who founded Bob&apos;s Red Mill, has died</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/business/bob-moore-dead.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nimbius</author><text>In the defense of YC by modern neoliberalist definition bob was a terrible businessman.  The company&amp;#x27;s only worth 50 million, he ran up debts so large it required a partner to bail him out, the company never went public or sold to large agricultural interests to maximize shareholder value, and he committed the cardinal sin of making the employees owners instead of fully capturing the excess capital of his means of production and offshoring production entirely to focus on branding.  he focused on an unprofitable cadre of niche markets.&lt;p&gt;Bob was a great guy though and a sterling example of a leader who really cared about his product and his customers.</text></item><item><author>billiam</author><text>For all you founders and YC aspirants who build companies to get rich as quickly as possible: think of what this man achieved and the lives that have been changed by creating something built to last. By not extracting maximum labor from employees and maximum cash for yourselves but by recognizing you matter less than you think to your company&amp;#x27;s success and your employees matter more. I buy Bob&amp;#x27;s Red Mills flour a few times a year and probably will for the rest of my life. TextPayMe, Loopt, Infogami, Memamp, Simmery- do we even remember what those first YC companies tried to do? Think about making things people will remember in a decade, or even 4.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dotBen</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;to maximize shareholder value&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;You know, philosophically speaking, not every company has to do that.  And before someone steps in and quotes &amp;#x27;fiduciary responsibility for shareholder returns&amp;#x27;, I&amp;#x27;m a VC and I run a VC fund so I&amp;#x27;m acutely aware.&lt;p&gt;Now, if you take venture funding then that&amp;#x27;s a different story.  But there are countless businesses - from small mom+pop to larger ones like Bob&amp;#x27;s Red Mills - which are operating for higher purposes than just shareholder returns.  See B Corps generally.  And the world is better place for it.  I tuck into a bowl of Bob&amp;#x27;s oatmeal every morning and I&amp;#x27;ll be fucked if I&amp;#x27;m buying Great Mills or PepsiCo (Quaker Oats) big company shit.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;&amp;quot;he committed the cardinal sin of making the employees owners instead of fully capturing the excess capital of his means of production and offshoring production entirely to focus on branding&amp;quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Many would say this was anything but a cardinal sin.  Try reading fewer Ayn Rand books.</text></comment>
<story><title>Bob Moore, who founded Bob&apos;s Red Mill, has died</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/business/bob-moore-dead.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>nimbius</author><text>In the defense of YC by modern neoliberalist definition bob was a terrible businessman.  The company&amp;#x27;s only worth 50 million, he ran up debts so large it required a partner to bail him out, the company never went public or sold to large agricultural interests to maximize shareholder value, and he committed the cardinal sin of making the employees owners instead of fully capturing the excess capital of his means of production and offshoring production entirely to focus on branding.  he focused on an unprofitable cadre of niche markets.&lt;p&gt;Bob was a great guy though and a sterling example of a leader who really cared about his product and his customers.</text></item><item><author>billiam</author><text>For all you founders and YC aspirants who build companies to get rich as quickly as possible: think of what this man achieved and the lives that have been changed by creating something built to last. By not extracting maximum labor from employees and maximum cash for yourselves but by recognizing you matter less than you think to your company&amp;#x27;s success and your employees matter more. I buy Bob&amp;#x27;s Red Mills flour a few times a year and probably will for the rest of my life. TextPayMe, Loopt, Infogami, Memamp, Simmery- do we even remember what those first YC companies tried to do? Think about making things people will remember in a decade, or even 4.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nerdponx</author><text>Other than running up too much debt and getting bailed out (is that functionally different from getting outside funding?), I don&amp;#x27;t see any reason why these things are bad business.&lt;p&gt;Even if you&amp;#x27;re a steely-eyed capitalist, you have to admit that these were wildly successful long-term investments in developing loyal lifelong customer base.&lt;p&gt;The only difference is that the time horizon on those investments are much longer than your typical VC or PE firm cares for.</text></comment>