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Comment by errcorrectcode | Hacker News Reader

One observation: the longer companies go on without big wins and innovative leadership, the more stressful, messy, and generally horrible they become. The cool peeps left first, and then it tends to circle the drain into oblivion from there.

Edit: Like "rats" fleeing a "sinking ship."

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A colleague I worked with at a dying startup called this the “Dead Sea effect.” All the choosers chose to leave and all that was left was salt.

Not sure if that’s an industry term or not.

I've definitely seen this happening more than once, so to me this is a thing for real. The people you you'd want to stay leave, and the people you'd want to leave stick forever.

I always heard it along the lines of "The elves have sailed into the west."

You're probably thinking of "The elves have left Middle Earth"? That's slightly different -- it's a reference from this blogpost[0] which is talking about bean-counters taking over from focus on product, i.e., basically fiddling more with costs than trying to innovate to improve revenues.

https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear...

Yep. I worked as a consultant in the Valley. Sometimes, folks wanted me to work at these dying shops. I was always hesitant because they're not fun places but they do have more technical and political challenges than elsewhere.

Not very well known, but not new.

http://brucefwebster.com/2008/04/11/the-wetware-crisis-the-d...

Seems like a mistake to assume ability/cost of getting a new job is indicative of making positive contributions. A lot of hire-ability in Tech is based on brand (university or employer) and network. Tech is actually a very snobby industry. Where as it-least in Wall-St or Sales you are tied to P&L

In French they say something like "Quand les dégoutés partent, il-n'y-a que les dégoutants qui restent"

(When the disgusted leave, only the disgusting remain)

Thanks for that. I love French aphorisms.

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