4 ms·

Bolt, the SF startup with permanent 4-day workweek, lays off 1/3 of employees

21 points by turtlegrids 4y ago

rossdavidh 4y ago
While I have my reservations about a permanent 4-day workweek, it's not clear to me that's the defining characteristic of Bolt that caused it to lay off 1/3 of employees. It could as easily be described as "Bolt, the SF payment services startup, lays off 1/3 of employees", and that would suggest something very different about the cause. Now I suppose it could be that a 5th workday per week would have changed this outcome, but it could equally be that a payment services startup in an economy headed into recession, is not well positioned to grow as much as it thought when it hired the last few hundred people, thus it needed to shrink. Again, I'm not saying a 4-day workweek is necessarily going to work out for most companies, but it seems like the business a company is in, is a more likely factor leading to layoffs.
- libertine 4y ago
  It's looks like they're have plenty on their plate, new CEO, a lawsuit, probably some performance issues... so plenty of stuff that can go wrong. I don't see the connection to the 4 day week tbh.
1270018080 4y ago
Bolt flaming out set the 4-day workweek philosophy back. The oligarchs running tech companies have some political ammo for awhile because they can falsely attribute the company's failure to the policy.
- typon 4y ago
  The headline is certainly trying to push that connection. Not sure who paid for that wording.
- Proven 4y ago
DarylZero 4y ago
> Founder and former CEO Ryan Breslow posted a fiery Twitter thread accusing notable startup accelerator Y Combinator of “Mob Sh*t” and being corrupted by “money, power, and greed.” (Breslow stepped down as CEO for the company just days later.) haha what
- ehvatum 4y ago
  It’s no joke. Bathtub-gin-powered lawn-dart-launching robots with controversial systemd opinions are compiling protection racket pivot tables on dark-web-sourced Pi Zero 2s, while we autistically rock to and fro in lumbar-supporting chairs, humming “Around The World” by Daft Punk. Or at least, that’s my Sunday.
  - tbrockman 4y ago
    I like the cut of your jib.
Proven 4y ago

21 points by turtlegrids 4y ago

While I have my reservations about a permanent 4-day workweek, it's not clear to me that's the defining characteristic of Bolt that caused it to lay off 1/3 of employees. It could as easily be described as "Bolt, the SF payment services startup, lays off 1/3 of employees", and that would suggest something very different about the cause. Now I suppose it could be that a 5th workday per week would have changed this outcome, but it could equally be that a payment services startup in an economy headed into recession, is not well positioned to grow as much as it thought when it hired the last few hundred people, thus it needed to shrink. Again, I'm not saying a 4-day workweek is necessarily going to work out for most companies, but it seems like the business a company is in, is a more likely factor leading to layoffs.

libertine 4y ago
It's looks like they're have plenty on their plate, new CEO, a lawsuit, probably some performance issues... so plenty of stuff that can go wrong. I don't see the connection to the 4 day week tbh.

1270018080 4y ago

Bolt flaming out set the 4-day workweek philosophy back. The oligarchs running tech companies have some political ammo for awhile because they can falsely attribute the company's failure to the policy.

typon 4y ago
The headline is certainly trying to push that connection. Not sure who paid for that wording.
Proven 4y ago

DarylZero 4y ago

> Founder and former CEO Ryan Breslow posted a fiery Twitter thread accusing notable startup accelerator Y Combinator of “Mob Sh*t” and being corrupted by “money, power, and greed.” (Breslow stepped down as CEO for the company just days later.) haha what

ehvatum 4y ago
It’s no joke. Bathtub-gin-powered lawn-dart-launching robots with controversial systemd opinions are compiling protection racket pivot tables on dark-web-sourced Pi Zero 2s, while we autistically rock to and fro in lumbar-supporting chairs, humming “Around The World” by Daft Punk. Or at least, that’s my Sunday.
- tbrockman 4y ago
  I like the cut of your jib.

Proven 4y ago