The “move fast and break things” model of startups works great for something like software businesses where the failures are harmless and easily forgotten.
But we’re not in the software business. We’re in the charity business. And in the charity business, reputation matters in a real, monetary sense. Thanks to FTX, EA has now been associated in pretty much every major newspaper with reckless, harmful, and irresponsible behavior. If you make an EA startup that goes wrong somehow, it’s going to be written up in the guardian or the wall street journal, reminding everyone of FTX again.
And then potential donors are going to read those articles, and know that other people around them are reading said articles as well. If when people see the words “Effective altruism”, the words that come to mind are “fraud and mismanagement”, then most donors are going to go somewhere else, where their donations are met with applause rather than raised eyebrows. This damages everyone associated with EA, no matter how responsible they are for the latest mistake.
A small amount of bureaucracy and checks and balances is a very small price to pay, if we want to avoid being permanently hobbled by a poor reputation.
The “move fast and break things” model of startups works great for something like software businesses where the failures are harmless and easily forgotten.
But we’re not in the software business. We’re in the charity business. And in the charity business, reputation matters in a real, monetary sense. Thanks to FTX, EA has now been associated in pretty much every major newspaper with reckless, harmful, and irresponsible behavior. If you make an EA startup that goes wrong somehow, it’s going to be written up in the guardian or the wall street journal, reminding everyone of FTX again.
And then potential donors are going to read those articles, and know that other people around them are reading said articles as well. If when people see the words “Effective altruism”, the words that come to mind are “fraud and mismanagement”, then most donors are going to go somewhere else, where their donations are met with applause rather than raised eyebrows. This damages everyone associated with EA, no matter how responsible they are for the latest mistake.
A small amount of bureaucracy and checks and balances is a very small price to pay, if we want to avoid being permanently hobbled by a poor reputation.