Cannibalistic Startup Resource Saver

Par 7

Question 5expertSheet 1750822302

Deep Breath

A failing startup's resource allocation has turned to "aggressive optimization" where departments literally consume each other's resources. Marketing devoured HR, Engineering is eating Sales, and Legal is somehow still billing hours while being digested. The CEO keeps sending "we're pivoting to a leaner model" emails while the office literally empties. Last week's all-hands meeting was just the janitor and three interns arguing over who gets the coffee machine. Your task: Manage resource allocation in a corporate death spiral where survival means consumption. It's like Conway's Game of Life but with 401k plans and existential dread.

Why You're Doing This

You're modeling organizational collapse with resource cannibalization mechanics. It's game theory meets corporate restructuring meets survival horror. This tests resource management under scarcity, survival algorithms, modeling competing entities with finite resources, and your ability to maintain sanity while implementing corporate darwinism. The goal is SHORTEST CODE that accurately predicts which departments will survive the startup apocalypse.

Take the W

✓ Models department consumption mechanics accurately
✓ Tracks resource transfer during cannibalization
✓ Determines survival probability based on remaining departments

Hard L

✗ Allows infinite resource generation (violates conservation laws)
✗ Departments consume themselves (logical impossibility)
✗ Legal department dies (they're immortal parasites, this breaks reality)

Edge Cases

⚠ All departments except legal consumed (legal billing empty office space)
⚠ Engineering cannibalization resulting in no one who can actually code
⚠ Marketing consuming engineering (brand over substance strategy)
⚠ HR consuming everyone (compliance death spiral protocol)
⚠ Entire company consumed, only CEO remains with PowerPoint and delusions

Input Format:

startup_manager(department_health, runway_remaining, cannibalization_rules)

Expected Output:

{'strategy': str, 'timeline': float, 'survivors': list}

Example:

manage({'eng': 'starving', 'marketing': 'feeding', 'legal': 'immortal'}, 2, rules) → {'strategy': 'eng_eats_marketing', 'timeline': 4.2, 'survivors': ['eng', 'legal']}

Input Format:

dept_resources[], consumption_rates[], survival_thresholds[]

Expected Output:

optimal_cannibalization_sequence, runway_extension_months

Example:

eng=10, marketing=25, legal=∞, consumption=[5,8,2], runway=2 → sequence=[marketing→engineering], new_runway=4.2

Hints

💡 Food chain hierarchy: Engineering > Marketing > HR > Sales > Legal (immortal)
💡 Legal never dies, just changes billing structure and continues parasitically
💡 Resource consumption extends runway but reduces total capabilities

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