Big Tech layoffs are a sign of them finally growing tf up

[Macallik86]

Reminds me of that tried and true meme:

"'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted does DEI at the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.

 

[JetFueledThoughts]

I’m not sure why they are laying people off, other than “the stock prices!”

Many tech companies have to get profitable, quickly.

The days of burning cash every month in the name of ‘user growth’ weren’t going to last forever.

My company is a VC darling and even we cut over 20% of our labor force over the last full year. Companies need to get to profitable at some point. A way to get there quickly is to eliminate 1/4 of your salaries and asking the remaining company to ‘maintain’ instead of aggressively grow.

 

[thernbroom]

Our IT company has never cut jobs pray it stays the same

 

[chineebai]

Tech has benefitted from qe and low rates so with rates going up and companies lines of credit being renewed, layoffs are very predicted as they feel the pinch of higher rates.

 

[Ed MOTHERFUCKING G]

Tech has benefitted from qe and low rates so with rates going up and companies lines of credit being renewed, layoffs are very predicted as they feel the pinch of higher rates.

You get it.

 

[Mr Hate Coffee]

I work for a major big tech company. Every day I’m worried about another round of layoffs. shyt’s stressful. I’m looking for more secure jobs elsewhere, but the salary and benefits I get at my job now aren’t available at other companies. I’m just gonna ride this out I guess. At minimum, just having a FAANG company on your resume is worth a lot.

Isn't this part of the underlying reason for all of this?

 

[Two Stacks]

I got an offer from AMZN this spring and passed because I honestly had no desire to work with anyone who interviewed me, and they said "data driven" like 15x thru the process, and I'm "Relationship driven" . It was a fairly backloaded offer which leads me to believe they saw this coming...

Any of you tech brehs have thoughts on this?

What do you mean by backloaded offer? Were they offering bonuses and incentives years down the line?

 

[Apollo Creed]

What do you mean by backloaded offer? Were they offering bonuses and incentives years down the line?

RSAs that prob have greater value towards the end of the 3-4 yr pay out. Most folks leave Amazon before getting the whole payout or leave once they hit the last payout to avoid the “cliff”

 

[mastermind]

What do you mean by backloaded offer? Were they offering bonuses and incentives years down the line?

Amazon offers stock options if you are there for five years.

My wife’s friend got in there but hated it and left after two years. Not a good place to work.

 

[Ciggavelli]

RSAs that prob have greater value towards the end of the 3-4 yr pay out. Most folks leave Amazon before getting the whole payout or leave once they hit the last payout to avoid the “cliff”

I got RSUs from my employer, they vest over 4 years. I got laid off on Wednesday (you can guess the company). I was there for about a year. The RSU shyt is like a scam to get you to accept their offer. I mean my RSUs are worth like $10k at the moment, which is nice, but I would have rather of had a sign on bonus of $10K (they only gave that to people that worked in person). Plus my ex-company's stock keeps going down. I'm just going to keep it and see what happens in the future. I mean why not. But the 4 year RSU vest period is bullshyt

 

[CrimsonTider]

Many tech companies have to get profitable, quickly.

The days of burning cash every month in the name of ‘user growth’ weren’t going to last forever.

My company is a VC darling and even we cut over 20% of our labor force over the last full year. Companies need to get to profitable at some point. A way to get there quickly is to eliminate 1/4 of your salaries and asking the remaining company to ‘maintain’ instead of aggressively grow.

Youre not getting profitable like this.

 

[JetFueledThoughts]

Youre not getting profitable like this.

Sometimes getting closer to profitability works just as well as actually being profitable. Timelines get cut shorter when VCs can’t borrow money for free anymore

 

[CrimsonTider]

C

Sometimes getting closer to profitability works just as well as actually being profitable. Timelines get cut shorter when VCs can’t borrow money for free anymore

You can’t cut your way to profits. Mass layoffs also create inefficiency and employee apathy


A lot these starts up don’t have an actual profitable product

 

[JetFueledThoughts]

C


You can’t cut your way to profits. Mass layoffs also create inefficiency and employee apathy


A lot these starts up don’t have an actual profitable product

The bolded is true, but there are a lot of companies that can be profitable but were simply spending too much money. If it costs X to grow 100% YoY but it costs half of X to grow 40% YoY, investors are telling companies to go the second approach. From 2017-2021 they were told to take the first approach, growth at all costs.

Companies burning $10M per month were told to get their cash burn down to $5-7M a month, because their growth can’t be subsidized by free loans anymore. It isn’t rocket science.

Now companies are cutting back and trying to encourage to do the ‘more with less’ mantra. It’s annoying, I’m at a company being asked to do that, but it’s reality and it beats getting laid off.

 

[re'up]

Like two weeks ago, I was trying to get a Lyft, which is all I use, and for the seemingly 100th time, it's kind of a mess. Drivers far, rides are expensive, wait times are forever. It really used to be extremely efficient, ride there in like 2-4 minutes, you were puzzled if it was longer than 5 minutes. Now, it's 10 mintes. 15 minutes. Pay more for 5 minutes.

So, I google what happened to Lyft, and read a pretty savvy and in depth break down on Slate

The next day, a headline in the Times is "Lyft Co Founders step down in bid to change direction of company" or something like that

and now, cuts.