How shut-down Bay Area tech companies ditch their fancy gear
Liquidation auctions for failed Bay Area tech startups are feeding a robust secondary market for everything from high-end office chairs and lab equipment to airplanes and 3D printers. Commenters trade tips on similar surplus outlets worldwide and recount bargains, while also debating whether lavish spending on premium gear reflects necessary recruiting and ergonomics or unhealthy burn-and-fail incentives in venture-funded companies. The thread highlights how this “trickle-down” of hardware both mitigates waste and exposes the boom‑and‑bust dynamics of the startup economy.
Liquidation & Auction Ecosystem
- Commenters describe a long-standing secondary market for tech and industrial gear: office furniture, lab instruments, network equipment, even MRI machines and rocket nozzles.
- Similar auctions proliferated after the dot-com bust and during other downturns; surplus warehouses and university/government surplus stores play a similar role.
- Auctions are often user-hostile (no shipping, weekday-only pickup, sparse descriptions, strict terms) but can yield “pennies on the dollar” deals.
Office Chairs, Ergonomics, and Culture
- Aeron and other high-end chairs are a recurring theme; many people report buying them used cheaply from failed companies and being happy years later.
- Some see fancy chairs as wasteful vanity; others argue ergonomics and comfort are legitimate investments, especially for talent attraction and long hours.
- There’s lighthearted talk about “haunted” failure chairs versus chairs as “trophies” of past busts and learning from failure.
Finding Similar Deals Elsewhere
- Commenters list local office liquidation shops, industrial auction platforms, and regional surplus/flea markets in different cities and countries.
- Advice: look for office-furniture leasing/repair vendors, industrial auction sites, and university surplus outlets; many don’t have polished retail fronts.
Views on Startups, VC Spending, and Waste
- Some see the cycle—lavish offices, perks, then liquidation—as evidence of structural waste funded by VCs and institutional money, with startups not trying very hard to succeed.
- Others push back, saying deliberate fraud is rare; most failures are incompetence or risky bets in a model where a small minority of successes pay for many failures.
- Debate over whether investors encourage rapid spending to find out quickly which companies can become outliers versus “lifestyle” mid-sized businesses.
Planes, 3D Printers, and “Outrageous” Assets
- Discussion clarifies that the “private planes” and big 3D printer cited in the article belonged to aviation and vehicle-manufacturing startups, where such assets may be technically justified test platforms.
- Some still argue ownership vs. leasing is questionable; others note lease terms or modification needs can make ownership rational.
Nostalgia, Provenance, and Collectibles
- Several reminisce about legendary surplus/junk warehouses and buying artifacts from famous or failed companies.
- There’s a playful suggestion to sell liquidated items with provenance (“this chair survived the crypto and AI bubbles”), though practical/legal implications are noted as unclear.