Character.ai files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
48 points by nryoo 7 hours ago | 15 comments
drewbitt 7 hours ago
2 years in, the founders and 30 researchers took Google's $2.7b and left. Then they had to ban kids which was probably most of their userbase. Yet they were still putting $1m/mo on the corporate cards with 86 full time bay area employees on
~$278k average base, and almost $100k owed to DoorDash. lol
replyrenegade-otter 5 hours ago
Sometimes watching the fresh-faced punks make bank while I slave away at a "regular" company for average pay is just demoralizing. It's really about being at the right place, time, and near the right people, isn't it.
replypmarreck 49 minutes ago
They were clearly in it for the investor perks and not the product, spending away like that.
replyIf you want an unsustainable joyride, then you too can work for a startup headed for chapter 11 (like 8 out of 10 startups).
Also, knowing people in general has never not been valuable. It's arguably the main thing holding most engineers back from success. Plenty of evidence backs this up: Type fewer keys, press more palms.
renegade-otter 16 minutes ago
A lot of that depends on how you do with the birth lottery. The path from Westchester to Stanford is a little easier than from a homeless shelter (that was MY life).
replyinSumErgoCogito 2 hours ago
Its all about hacking companies and VCs - instead of hacking hard problems. Astra- give me the API of my society.. what do you mean Bearer Token..
replylogicchains 2 hours ago
Joining or starting a startup is a risk, many fail and leave the founders and early joiners with nothing. No risk, no reward.
replyjubilanti 54 minutes ago
Nothing except the $278k average base salary, while living luxuriously at work and probably home too on the startup's expense card, as the $100k door dash bill shows. I bet there were a ton of fancy off sites in Hawaii or wherever.
replyMeanwhile at $bigco I just got my request to buy a shitty $1k Dell laptop denied because I got one 2 years ago and I have to wait 1 more.
hirako2000 5 minutes ago
I remember the laptop renewal also was 3 years. Which would have been fine if they didn't have that policy to issue Dell Latitude, end of the barrel hardware Dell itself couldn't sell.
replyOne day I figured nobody forces me to work for such company.
sarkarghya 4 hours ago
i dont know why this isn't getting much attention. Isn't this the fate of most ai chat services?
reply
— https://blog.character.ai/the-next-chapter-of-entertainment-...