Flutterby™! : Financial Engineering, not Software or Hardware Engineering

Ages ago, I think I heard Eric make this observation: RT Reginald Braithwaite‏ @raganwald

Please repeat after me:

“Venture-backed startups are exercises in financial engineering, not software or hardware engineering.”

If software and hardware talent was the “scarce resource,” all the experienced engineers would be on permanent retainers with the big financial firms.

Engineers would be shuffled within portfolio companies like minor league ball players getting called up and sent down. They’d never be laid off, just redeployed.