this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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Very disappointed with Linus and his whole perspective in this situation. He has consistently chosen to prioritize the business, and specifically the need for high volumes of content, over everything else. Likely part of that is to cover the enormous expense of building out Labs, but what is the point of that investment if the company culture behind it does not actually care about quality testing standards?
Setting aside "trust me bro" and the data accuracy problems, everything about the Billet Labs story is bad for LTT and Linus specifically. His constant and sole focus on the relatively minor cost is obnoxious, but it also reveals what is really motivating his decisions. The only good things I can say about his leadership instincts are that he seems to defer (sometimes) to his wife's better judgement, and on a similar note has finally given over the CEO duties to an actual adult, but now I wonder if it's too late for any of that to matter.
I have unsubscribed and won't be watching any LMG videos until I hear things have improved, but even then I'm not sure I'll ever enjoy seeing Linus himself in a video again.
Like, is the Billet Labs issue supposed to be sabotage or something? He's shitting on it right from the beginning, uses the wrong card, installs it poorly, then refuses to retest because...it'll cost him...like...$500?
It's like if I was reviewing a screwdriver, decided to use nails because I couldn't find any screws, held the thing upside down, then bitched about how shitty it was. And when it's pointed out that my review isn't fair, refuse to retest because a box of screws is $8 at Home Depot and the screwdriver probably sucks anyway. And on top of that, just sell the screwdriver to someone else instead of giving it back.
Does LMG have investments in a competitor or something? It is so willfully irresponsible that I almost want to claim conspiracy because I can't believe that a company would make so many poor decisions by mistake. What is going on over there where a $500 reshoot that would ensure a fair and balanced review of the product is such an nonnegotiable prospect?
I don't think anyone intended to cause problems, but at some point enough incompetence that is allowed to continue becomes the same thing, at least in my book. Having a system where it's that easy to just lose some other company's property and then, even worse, allow a third party to take possession is absolutely an unacceptable level of mismanagement.
It's all about the money. LMG is prioritizing speed and quantity over quality or even just basic professionalism.
And it's prioritizing short-term views over long-term stability. Sure, rushing the review gets you views now, but if companies realize that you're not going to give their product a fair shake, they'll stop sending you products. Then to review things, you'll need to buy them yourself, further cutting into your profits. If Billet Labs ever makes another product, they're not going to send LTT a review sample because of this whole shitshow. Other startups are now going to be hesitant to send LTT review products because 1. They may not get a fair review, and 2. They may not get their review product back.