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Tell HN: Confluent laying off 8% of staff

270 points by cfltlayoffs 4y ago

It hasn't been posted publicly but staff recieved an email from the CEO this morning announcing that 8% of staff have been cut in a "restructuring". This is especially surprising because staff have repeatedly been told that the company has strong cash reserves and is on a trajectory to profitability, even with market headwinds. No word on the breakdown by department or role.

david2505 4y ago
Of course other sectors are hiring and hoping to take advantage of moves like this. I'd love to find some of these folks for a university job if I knew how to reach them.
newbie2020 4y ago
We benefited from the incessant hiring with outsized compensations. Now we’re on the flip side of that. If you want stability, tech is not the place for you.
sako_te 4y ago
I am actually pondering on accepting an offer from Confluent. It's still an active offer... after this layoff would you say my new job is safer? Or would that just mean I'm probably next up to be laid off?
deleted 4y ago
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PeterCorless 4y ago
CRO was axed. Anticipate this will hurt sales, Marketing and business development before they go after the engineers.
stefanos82 4y ago
There's an article about it https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/CONFLUENT-INC-124047168/news/Confluent-Message-to-Confluent-Employees-from-Jay-Kreps-Form-8-K-42820152/ https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/CONFLUENT-INC-124...
voytec 4y ago
The real question is: does the CEO take full responsibility?
- NotYourLawyer 4y ago
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u48vYSLvKNQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u48vYSLvKNQ
  - nicbou 4y ago
    I expected the "we're sorry" clip from South Park.
- jay-barronville 4y ago
  Lol! Questions that need answers . . .
- scarface74 4y ago
  I don’t get this mentality. From a meta level, Confluent isn’t profitable. In this environment, what would you have Confluent to do? The second point, a job is always transactional, you exchange labor for money and at any given time, either party can stop that transaction Also, if you are a tech person in any major city in the US, you are more than likely making at least twice the median wage in that city. If others can survive making half of what you’re making, you should be able to save enough to weather a brief storm. Of course I understand things are different if you are here on H1B.
  - RohMin 4y ago
    Empathy for those laid off shouldn't vary based on visa status. These are real people losing their jobs, searching for another job in an already saturated market.
    - harvey9 4y ago
      I don't think they meant different empathy, just visa holders have fewer options around getting a new job
whizzter 4y ago
Interesting, earlier today an post was made about confluent cli going "open source" and now they're doing massive layoffs. Was this an "open-source folks will do it for free anyhow" or someone wanting to save their work from obsolence? (Earlier flagged post) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34527670 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34527670
- macspoofing 4y ago
  >Was this an "open-source folks will do it for free anyhow" I doubt it. Open-sourcing anything is a lot of work. Managing open-source projects is a lot of work. There are no guarantees that that project will even get any external development traction or mindshare, and if this is still an important component to you, you'll be paying developers to build it out anyway.
  - brazzledazzle 4y ago
    It is a little odd that they pulled the announcement page. But the repo is still available so who knows. Maybe they thought it would be poorly received by other employees after the layoffs? Seems like a stretch.
    - op00to 4y ago
      It was pulled because they used the term "open source", and the Confluent Community License, while being source-available and allows modifications prevents use of the code in a SaaS environment. So kinda not totally open. But it's just the confluent cli - it's not like someone's gonna base their SaaS around it, should just be BSDed or something.
      - brazzledazzle 4y ago
        I don't really understand the intensity of folks that insist on open source meaning something very narrow and specific but different strokes. To me something is open source if I can use it and since I have no intention of ever competing with any of these companies in the SaaS space I don't really care that my rights are limited because they effectively aren't. This is going to sound stupid because I didn't put any real thought into it but: shouldn't open source advocates also be against calling the GPL open source? It doesn't just constrain what you are permitted to do it also obligates you to take certain actions. I like the GPL personally and it's obviously different from these anti-SaaS licenses but isn't all of this really about freedom?
nrjames 4y ago
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/macroeconomic-changes-have-made-it-impossible-for-me-to-want-to-pay-you https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/macroeconomic-changes-ha...
jay-barronville 4y ago
Well, here’s some great news: The CEO takes full responsibility [1]! > Ultimately, we had optimized some aspects of our operations for a very different world than we found ourselves operating in. The responsibility for that falls squarely on me. [1]: https://www.publicnow.com/view/CEA41F7D5BB5C6CFF1144A3A9C4623D8A7748639 https://www.publicnow.com/view/CEA41F7D5BB5C6CFF1144A3A9C462...
- deleted 4y ago
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- deleted 4y ago
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- mattyb678 4y ago
  Let’s not mince words, though; the accountability for this decision rests with me. The consequences, on the other hand, rest with you, but so does a pretty generous COBRA package.[1] /s [1]: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/macroeconomic-changes-have-made-it-impossible-for-me-to-want-to-pay-you https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/macroeconomic-changes-ha...
- lesuorac 4y ago
  > In our new plan, we expect to grow revenue by approximately 30% in 2023 and exit Q4 2023 with breakeven non-GAAP operating margin. Interesting plan, too bad operating margin doesn't mean profitable. In 2022 Q3 the 9month cumulative sums show a revenue of 417M with net loss of 346M. Growing 417M by 30% to say 550M still would be a loss of 204M. If they also cut operating expenses by 33% then they could become profitable though.
badhombres 4y ago
Not surprising. Every company is going to take the opportunity to trim costs when it doesn't affect their PR as much as it would any other time.
- mguerville 4y ago
  And not doing so could affect their IR (investor relations) negatively, which is a higher concern than PR to most companies
  - neon_electro 4y ago
    Why can't a company do offense on the IR front with literally any action other than cutting workforce? "Our products are better than ever" "Our revenue per employee is better than ever" Why does cutting costs have to be the only way to please investors?
    - cowsup 4y ago
      Because most investors are investing in more than one company. If someone has a stake in Google, Microsoft, and Confluent, and their ROI for the first two are great this quarter, but Confluent is lukewarm or even in the red, they're going to want an explanation. They can be told that products are great, or employees are producing a lot, but the only thing that matters to investors is the money. And so, when you're underperforming compared to others in your market, you have to do what appeases the shareholders, and that involves culling employees.
      - neon_electro 4y ago
        This needs to be a video game, not the way we organize humanity :(
    - brazzledazzle 4y ago
      I have no unique insight into their perspective but if I had to guess they're starting to worry about the lack of easy money and want a signal that management is going to play it safe with their current cash reserves instead of banking on another infusion. They probably could, you know, tell them as much, but sacrificing your employees really adds oomph to your commitment.
bushbaba 4y ago
Yet they were hiring all not too long ago
mcv 4y ago
I really get the feeling that many companies are just blindly doing whatever other companies do. One starts large layoffs, and suddenly everybody is doing it. At other times, when one goes on a hiring spree, they all go. One tries to reduce salaries, they all do. One pays enormous bonuses, and they all do. It's like CEOs aren't really thinking for themselves, just copying whatever the market does.
- BaseballPhysics 4y ago
  Absolutely. The 4Q22 numbers are out. US GDP increased nearly 3%. The job market remains super tight for many classes of workers. There's simply no evidence of a broader recession. Are there headwinds? Sure! Household debt is up, consumer spending is down as a consequence--but this is relative to a previous year when we were still feeling the effects of the COVID stimulus--and interest rates are up which will drive down debt-funded investment. But, companies are cutting because 1) some got bloated during the COVID hiring surge and now need to cut back, 2) some always wanted to cut headcount but they didn't want to do it without air cover, and 3) some just follow the leader.
- mtnygard 4y ago
  I can’t comment on whether this is blind following or not. But it’s a real fact that the market will punish you less for layoffs when others are doing it too. It’s like how the best time to reveal a scandal is after someone else has revealed a bigger scandal.
  - WhatsName 4y ago
    That's wrong. If everyone is doing something irrational that is a big inefficiency in the market and whoever does the opposite eg. hiring will get better outcomes as opposed doing it when all do.
    - vasco 4y ago
      Yeah but in general if you're trying to minimise disaster instead of maximising being the winner, you opt for doing things that avoid revealing you as the being the only wrong one. Being wrong in a crowd is fine. Being the only one wrong is a big deal, "what were they thinking, they knew better than everyone else?!". If everyone does the same mistake, it's just shrugged off as "honest mistake, everyone was doing it." Plus either way you're cutting expenses and maybe getting rid of some under performers.
adingus 4y ago
The optimistic things management says about a company are as empty as a paupers purse. Theyll tell you there are no layoffs planned the moment before they sign your severance package.
throwayyy479087 4y ago
Some of these companies had so many employees - it's staggering. Kafka management is a useful tool but man, 2000 employees is a LOT for something my SRE team does as a standard part of the job.
- endorphine 4y ago
  2000 were SREs?
- lars_francke 4y ago
  I am not saying 2000 is too much but I'm 100% sure that your SRE team only does a tiny fraction of what Confluent is doing. They will have marketing folks, lawyers, they will almost certainly do more testing than you, they are going to have to support many many more configurations than you, they have people all over the world, they have a support staff, they have upstream contributors, they have backoffice people, ... Nothing against you or your team but what you're doing does in no way compare to building a fully fledget product for on-prem and as a SaaS.
atkailash 4y ago
[dead]
PLenz 4y ago
We're well into the cargo cult layoffs. CEOs need to look good to their bosses and your job is a sacrafice they are willing to make. I'm sure there are some who will make their decisions based on real data and analysis - but they'll make thier decisions independently of other firms actions. Seeing all this clustered behavior suggests little analysis is really being done here.
- oofta-boofta 4y ago
  Especially given the strong economic numbers that just came out, yeah I don't buy the "bad macro climate" argument anymore. It's really plain as day: these CEOs make some cuts of 5-15%, their stock price goes up. This is a pattern we'll likely continue to see through this year. Honestly, the tech industry was due for some churn from an employer perspective, and all this talent circulating is going to up the competition for company's products.
  - spaceman_2020 4y ago
    You should see people working in the financial industry right now. While there's one segment that's bearish and believes that the Fed will have to engineer a short recession to bring inflation under control, there's another, larger, stronger camp that believes we're in the end times for capitalism, and the endgame is to make money so cheap that everyone is paper rich. There's an increasing atmosphere of bacchanalia in the markets - buy every dip, long every thing because they don't believe that the money can be unprinted and inflation thwarted. Might as well pump it up and make some money and hopefully, swing into some meaningful assets before it all comes crashing down. Personally, I believe American capitalism is in the ICU right now. There's too much money in the system, and there's too much concern over the long-term viability of the USD as the reserve currency. All that money printing coupled with the war in Ukraine, American sanctions, and increasing refusal of the non-Nato countries to play ball with America (espcially China) means that the demand for all the USD printed is never going to be the same. It's going to get very, very interesting in the coming couple of years.
  - hnfong 4y ago
    > Especially given the strong economic numbers that just came out, yeah I don't buy the "bad macro climate" argument anymore. The US Federal Reserve literally says they are committed to bringing the US to a recession to curb inflation (if it is what it takes to do so). So while strong economic numbers are a "good thing", it just means the current numbers will keep getting worse until it's a recession. (Or the Fed will change course. Who knows.)
InTheArena 4y ago
Oh my sweet summer child.... As someone who lived through the .COM crash and implosion and then 2008, any company with "strong cash reserves" and "trajectory to profitability" is not making more money than they are spending. They are, to use the SV term - losing runway. This is catastrophic because it's infeasible to raise money right now to extend the runway. If the plane is not airborne (making significantly more money than they are consuming) by the end of the runway, they crash and burn, taking themselves and the company's investors with them. My experience has been highly capitalized, but running way in the red are the worst possible place to hide when a significant economic event occurs. Confluent has raised capital 11 times (from a quick crunchbase article) and has a product that is open source core, giving its customers an escape path. I'd also point out that this is a bit snowflake. The average annual corporate turnover rate is way higher then this number. If not for the immediacy of the headwinds, almost every company could handle this by simply not rehiring after attrition.
- throwaway24124 4y ago
  So I work for a company with "strong cash reserves" and "trajectory to profitability", and I was a child in 2008. We haven't done any layoffs yet, but it's definitely possible. Any advice for someone in my position with no recession experience?
  - whymauri 4y ago
    Interview.
  - dougmwne 4y ago
    Study up for technical interviews. Do some real interviews for practice. Update your resume. Network. Build a larger emergency fund. Check your budget and plan through how you could lower your expenses if the hammer falls. Think through alternative income you could build.
    - maerF0x0 4y ago
      I'd say lower your expenses now, regardless of layoff there's likely a strong buying opportunity in asset markets that could set them up for life.
jwie 4y ago
I’m genuinely curious about the language senior management uses to communicate such things in public. Perhaps it is a disconnect about the audience. The people getting fired are not the audience of the message which communicates their termination. This is inhuman, but what else would one expect from capitalism. I’ve fired people, for cause and in person, for generic layoffs, and for attrition targets. It is hard, and personal. I never talk about responsibility or blame, or how hard it was for me. I have bad news for you. No need to be flowery about it. I owe them a straightforward conversation.
lettergram 4y ago
General rule is that a 10% cut won’t impact business operations. They’ll do cuts like this periodically to get rid of low performers and / or people getting paid too much. Goal is to cut costs, projections are likely decreasing / stagnant revenue.
outside1234 4y ago
It's so strange that every companies' number is 6-8%. Its almost like it is a cargo cult or something.
akatechis 4y ago
A lot of companies do this just as a matter of course. They call it "trimming the fat", eg, laying off the bottom 5%, 10% or whatever percent of employees, in hopes the future hires will be higher performing.
- kccqzy 4y ago
  What makes you think companies actually use performance as a metric to do layoffs? Why makes you think they aren't just using a random number generator to find people to trim?
mrbgty 4y ago
The smart companies are going to be using these layoff opportunities to hire good people.
iafiaf 4y ago
I am not joining this pity-party. Companies hire tech workers to stifle their competition; whilst keeping their workers 'sedated' on fake projects (i.e. projects that are paraded as important, but the 'inner-circle' knows well its just to keep the nerds happy). During tough times, its not unreasonable for a company to trim their fat. Personally, tech and academia has been bloated for over a decade now. So no foul here.
redleggedfrog 4y ago
Layoffs signal weakness, from every angle. They hired indiscriminately and now are doing catch and release. Or they lacked foresight of their market. Or they are financially mismanaged. Or they are directed by a unqualified board. Or they are unable to cope with their market shrinking. Or they are a behemoth that grinds up workers as part of their operation (a lot of what we're seeing now). Or they're jumping off the cliff with the other lemmings. Or they need money for upper management pay. When you're looking for a job, keep the companies previous layoffs in mind. Are they stable, or do they acquire and jettison?
- adamwong246 4y ago
  So many companies just lit all their "social capital" on fire, especially Google. They have maintained the "don't be evil" mantra for so many years but who will ever believe that lie ever again?
  - gen220 4y ago
    Based on goomics [1], I think the social capital has been rotting or at best fragile, for a while [2] [3]. Alas, money-printing machines emit strong reality-distortion fields. As long as it's working, they'll have no issue finding people to hire. [1]: https://goomics.net https://goomics.net [2]: https://goomics.net/240/ https://goomics.net/240/, 2018Q1 [3]: https://goomics.net/155/ https://goomics.net/155/ 2012Q
jjoe 4y ago
The CEOs know their macro. I think it's all political. Employment is the last bastion holding this cycle. Low unemployment means the Fed won't pivot. A fed that doesn't pivot is a fed that's in tampering mode which is a money tight environment. I think it's gotten to be a game of macro economic manipulation to get to fed to flood the market with lush money again.
kevstev 4y ago
If anyone reading this was part of the affected, please DM me. I have an SRE type role open that would almost certainly be a good fit for anyone from eng. Totally remote, good company culture.
Supermancho 4y ago
Granted, tech companies generally do not have unions. Companies with union agreements, have not been laying off people. I think it's silly when companies present the nonsensical rationale of "due to prevailing economic conditions" without qualification. As if these conditions (everyone else is doing it for some reason, so let's ride the stock boost) is obvious, decided, and not worth talking about.
frontman1988 4y ago
DAE feel it all started with Elon laying off half the company without destroying Twitter completely? These other managers must have thought if Elon can lay off half the company , we can atleast do away with like 10% without much negative consequences? Time will tell if such hire and fire will cause unintended consquences. Software as a whole is quite resilient though, you don't need much resources to maintain code once it's written, creating new features is where skilled individuals are needed. So companies will definitely survive even if they lay off half the company, but the question is will they thrive when opportunity comes knocking again?
- lesuorac 4y ago
  I don't think any credible person predict twitter would fall over immediately. The only prediction I've seen was for April [1] and there's still 4 months and in the meantime Elon has talked about replacing himself as CEO, ad spend has cratered, and iirc Twitter wasn't profitable when it was bought nevermind with an additional 1B/yr interest payment. [1]: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/08/1062886/heres-how-a-twitter-engineer-says-it-will-break-in-the-coming-weeks/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/08/1062886/heres-ho...
- 1270018080 4y ago
  No.
pyfan878 4y ago
I'm more increasingly convinced that ceo are capitalizing on this occasion to lay off people they deem undesirable.
- surement 4y ago
  right, there's no way that tech companies laying off people means fewer seats sold for other software providers
maerF0x0 4y ago
> The findings of two decades of profitability studies are equivocal: The majority of firms that conduct layoffs do not see improved profitability, whether measured by return on assets, return on equity, or return on sales. Layoffs are especially hard on the performance of companies with a high reliance on R&D, low capital intensity, and high growth. Market response to layoffs was also less positive than might be expected, with three-day share prices of firms conducting layoffs generally neutral. ... Layoffs undertaken only for the purpose of reducing costs tended to lead to drops in share price. https://hbr.org/2022/12/what-companies-still-get-wrong-about-layoffs https://hbr.org/2022/12/what-companies-still-get-wrong-about... We need to circulate this information as wide and far as possible. Perhaps at least some well meaning CEOs will grow a backbone to at least challenge the board.
- newbie2020 4y ago
  This sets off my BS detector. If true, there is a bigger underlying problem
- InTheArena 4y ago
  The problem with this article is that it targets companies that are stable revenue-wise and have low capital intensity. Neither of these statements are true about startup companies unless the startup is managed very conservatively. That essentially rules out any VC-related startup. VC's basically are a huge force-multiplier during up markets and black holes in recessionary periods due to the growth expectations (and the willingness to blank-check funding until the revenue goals are met).
  - maerF0x0 4y ago
    > Layoffs are especially hard on the performance of companies with a high reliance on R&D, low capital intensity, and high growth. Start ups are 2 out of 3. The thesis is that with layoffs the outcome is worse than without. So we can make all kinds of rhetorical debates, but the data seems to suggest for some causal reason companies that do layoff do worse off in the subsequent years.
ghostbrainalpha 4y ago
Has anyone at an unprofitable company ever been told that they "were NOT on a trajectory to profitability"??? I feel like that the statement that you are on a path to breakeven, means absolutely nothing. And that you should ALWAYS consider yourself to be in a high risk situation if your company is losing money.
- SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
  I don't know how common it is to specifically deny it, but plenty of early stage startups consider themselves to be in a "growth stage" where it doesn't make sense to talk about the path to profitability.
cvhashim04 4y ago
Layoffs are like a freebie right now. Everybody is doing it so might as well right? Sad state of affairs.
purpleblue 4y ago
Message to Confluent Employees from Jay Kreps Today we’re announcing a very hard change we have to make. We are rolling out a set of adjustments to our 2023 plan oriented around driving additional efficiency. As part of this we are reducing our workforce by about 8%. If you are one of the individuals whose role is impacted, you will receive a calendar invite for a conversation with a senior leader today. If you are outside of the U.S. there may be slightly different timelines based on local laws. If you are one of the individuals whose role is not impacted, you will receive a follow-up email letting you know you are not impacted. Why we are doing this This decision was not made lightly. However, I believe this is a necessary change to set us up for success in the year ahead. To many, I’m sure this news comes as a shock, though those following the broader tech ecosystem closely may be less surprised. In this challenging economic environment, sales cycles are taking longer and many of our deals are more scrutinized by customers. This puts pressure on growth. Meanwhile there has also been a significant shift in the market, resetting expectations for the tech sector. This rapid change in the world around us, left our plans for the year increasingly squeezed between downward pressure on growth from a slowing economy and upwards pressure on efficiency from the rapid change in the market. Ultimately, we had optimized some aspects of our operations for a very different world than we found ourselves operating in. The responsibility for that falls squarely on me. In light of this we reevaluated our plans for the year, and have made the decision to accelerate our path to profitability, while still delivering high growth. In our new plan, we expect to grow revenue by approximately 30% in 2023 and exit Q4 2023 with breakeven non-GAAP operating margin. At my request, everyone on the executive team took a step back to look at our existing expenses and headcount. We wanted to ensure we had fully funded every essential aspect of our near term execution and longer term plans. But we knew that in the rapid growth over the last 8 years, there was room for improvements in efficiency without compromising our longer term plans. With this in mind we made a set of targeted cuts that enable a more rapid path to profitability while maintaining high growth. We’ll talk through these changes in the days ahead. Our plan for departures Unfortunately, we are saying goodbye to many friends and colleagues across the company. We want to do this in a way that ensures we are doing right by our departing team members. In the U.S., impacted employees will be offered severance, healthcare coverage, outplacement services, immigration support as needed and some forward vesting of RSUs. Those outside the U.S. will receive a broadly similar package but with variations based on the requirements of local laws. What’s next? To those who are leaving, I want to say thank you. You have made important contributions to Confluent and I have the utmost respect for all of you. To those who remain, I know a change like this is jarring and disruptive. We’ll be adjusting some team structures and our plans for the year in light of this change. We’ll be discussing this plan in greater detail at our company kick off next week. Despite the difficult environment, I remain very optimistic about our future. We are a leader in a massive, highly strategic space. We have a huge opportunity to build a major new data platform that can be the central nervous system of every company. I want to personally thank all of you for being here, showing up, and helping build Confluent into the enduring company we all know it can be. -Jay
dboreham 4y ago
I'm wondering how many of the commenters on these threads have been around for long enough to experience pervious layoff events? The reality is that any company has 5-10% staff that aren't really doing anything useful, and can be fired without significant impact to business operations. So it's more that companies don't just fire those people every year because normally various kinds of negative blowback would ensue. The reason we're seeing layoffs now is basically that the conditions are such that said blowback is reduced. In other words: it's in fashion (in Elite circles) and they can get away with it. Of course often the appropriate 5-10% aren't actually the target of layoffs, but that's an orthogonal problem.
LatteLazy 4y ago
The whole point of the Fed putting rates up was to cause mass unemployment so workers had no leverage so they'd accept lower wages and more money would go to capital holders. You can't blame CEOs for getting "ahead" on their Todo list...
insane_dreamer 4y ago
This is clearly the "new management trend" for 2023, to the point that what's newsworthy is which tech companies are __not__ laying off 8%-15% of their staff. Maybe we should hear about those.
kinnth 4y ago
I think it's all about cashflow. Salaries are the biggest cost to cashflow and 2023 is not going to be all roses, there will be more bad news at some point. A shrewd business reduces operating costs before the storm hits.
mohinish 4y ago
Confluent Lays off! https://m.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/CONFLUENT-INC-124047168/news/Confluent-Message-to-Confluent-Employees-from-Jay-Kreps-Form-8-K-42820152/ https://m.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/CONFLUENT-INC-12404... This is highly personal for me since I was part of the early Confluent growth story, having seen the company grow from about 150 folks to 1600+ headcount. I was amazed to see the quality of people who joined the company as each person was highly skilled, motivated and talented in their trades across all the functions of the organization. I treasured the time the team spent at the happy hour every friday and no pay thursday lunch in Palo Alto, as we bonded and built friendships for life. I understand that this is a difficult time for everyone involved, and I want to express my deepest compassion for those who have been affected by the layoffs, including everyone in the technology sector as a whole. Losing a job can be a traumatic experience, and my heart goes out to all of those who are facing this challenge. I hope that you can find new opportunities quickly and that this difficult period in your life is as short as possible. Please know that you are in my thoughts and that I wish you all the best during this difficult time. If you need to speak to someone about how to navigate this cycle, feel free to hit me up. I want to chat with everyone. I have seen market cycles both good times and bad times. I still remember back in the day when my graduation ceremony coincided with the 2008 market crash. As a new graduate, it felt like the end of the world, however once I refocused my energies to dissect the situation, I found an abundance of opportunities in the downcycle. I realized there is an opportunity in every change and that each opportunity is different and unique in perspective. I also wanted to add that we need to capture this energy, across the technology sector in general, to reconnect, chat, share ideas and be there for each other, be part of this giant pack, be part of the confluent mafia, that everyone who is still wearing the golden handcuff will be one day regretful. I hope you do realize that this is a pivotal moment that we get to be a part of, that is to re-evaluate our strenghts and re-align expectations to explore new opportunities and position ourselves for the next stage of growth story. As per the reports, Venture capitalists are burdened with hundreds of billions of dollars that they can't invest in later-stage companies due to economic conditions. There has probably literally never been a better time in history to work on solving real-world problems. The acceleration of these highly competent people hitting the labor market at the same time is going to create an burst of innovation. This will create an opportunity that will certainly be a prominent pillar in the next economic recovery. For example, here is a recent post on what others who have left Confluent have been upto: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6953693671552643072?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A6953693671552643072%29 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6953693... I know some of us got more severance than others, and I know some of us are in more delicate circumstances than others, but let's take a minute to consider the possibilities with each other and at least have a little fun thinking out of the box about what the future could bring. I hope the following verse from Bhagvad Gita will bring peace and strength to you in the current situation: "The friction between our desire for the predictable and the mutability of life makes us feel a bit lost. Rather than rail against change, which the Gita says is inherent in all things, the key is to broaden our view by becoming less self-focused, less ruled by our ego. Change the inputs and you change the story. That shift occurs when we deepen our level of consciousness. The only place of unchanging truth, says the Gita, is internal, where we come into alignment with the Self." Use all your power to free the senses from attachment and aversion alike, and live in the full wisdom of the Self. —Bhagavad Gita, 2.68
dustbitying 4y ago
why speak about an integer number of humans in a percent? to soften the blow? because they're speaking to investors, often institutional for whom it's more useful to know the rates and who don't particularly care about the lives of the employees joining the job-seekers?

270 points by cfltlayoffs 4y ago

david2505 4y ago

Of course other sectors are hiring and hoping to take advantage of moves like this. I'd love to find some of these folks for a university job if I knew how to reach them.

newbie2020 4y ago

We benefited from the incessant hiring with outsized compensations. Now we’re on the flip side of that. If you want stability, tech is not the place for you.

sako_te 4y ago

I am actually pondering on accepting an offer from Confluent. It's still an active offer... after this layoff would you say my new job is safer? Or would that just mean I'm probably next up to be laid off?

deleted 4y ago

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PeterCorless 4y ago

CRO was axed. Anticipate this will hurt sales, Marketing and business development before they go after the engineers.

stefanos82 4y ago

There's an article about it https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/CONFLUENT-INC-124047168/news/Confluent-Message-to-Confluent-Employees-from-Jay-Kreps-Form-8-K-42820152/ https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/CONFLUENT-INC-124...

voytec 4y ago

The real question is: does the CEO take full responsibility?

NotYourLawyer 4y ago
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u48vYSLvKNQ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u48vYSLvKNQ
- nicbou 4y ago
  I expected the "we're sorry" clip from South Park.
jay-barronville 4y ago
Lol! Questions that need answers . . .
scarface74 4y ago
I don’t get this mentality. From a meta level, Confluent isn’t profitable. In this environment, what would you have Confluent to do? The second point, a job is always transactional, you exchange labor for money and at any given time, either party can stop that transaction Also, if you are a tech person in any major city in the US, you are more than likely making at least twice the median wage in that city. If others can survive making half of what you’re making, you should be able to save enough to weather a brief storm. Of course I understand things are different if you are here on H1B.
- RohMin 4y ago
  Empathy for those laid off shouldn't vary based on visa status. These are real people losing their jobs, searching for another job in an already saturated market.
  - harvey9 4y ago
    I don't think they meant different empathy, just visa holders have fewer options around getting a new job

whizzter 4y ago

Interesting, earlier today an post was made about confluent cli going "open source" and now they're doing massive layoffs. Was this an "open-source folks will do it for free anyhow" or someone wanting to save their work from obsolence? (Earlier flagged post) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34527670 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34527670

macspoofing 4y ago
>Was this an "open-source folks will do it for free anyhow" I doubt it. Open-sourcing anything is a lot of work. Managing open-source projects is a lot of work. There are no guarantees that that project will even get any external development traction or mindshare, and if this is still an important component to you, you'll be paying developers to build it out anyway.
- brazzledazzle 4y ago
  It is a little odd that they pulled the announcement page. But the repo is still available so who knows. Maybe they thought it would be poorly received by other employees after the layoffs? Seems like a stretch.
  - op00to 4y ago
    It was pulled because they used the term "open source", and the Confluent Community License, while being source-available and allows modifications prevents use of the code in a SaaS environment. So kinda not totally open. But it's just the confluent cli - it's not like someone's gonna base their SaaS around it, should just be BSDed or something.
    - brazzledazzle 4y ago
      I don't really understand the intensity of folks that insist on open source meaning something very narrow and specific but different strokes. To me something is open source if I can use it and since I have no intention of ever competing with any of these companies in the SaaS space I don't really care that my rights are limited because they effectively aren't. This is going to sound stupid because I didn't put any real thought into it but: shouldn't open source advocates also be against calling the GPL open source? It doesn't just constrain what you are permitted to do it also obligates you to take certain actions. I like the GPL personally and it's obviously different from these anti-SaaS licenses but isn't all of this really about freedom?

nrjames 4y ago

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/macroeconomic-changes-have-made-it-impossible-for-me-to-want-to-pay-you https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/macroeconomic-changes-ha...

jay-barronville 4y ago

Well, here’s some great news: The CEO takes full responsibility [1]! > Ultimately, we had optimized some aspects of our operations for a very different world than we found ourselves operating in. The responsibility for that falls squarely on me. [1]: https://www.publicnow.com/view/CEA41F7D5BB5C6CFF1144A3A9C4623D8A7748639 https://www.publicnow.com/view/CEA41F7D5BB5C6CFF1144A3A9C462...

deleted 4y ago
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mattyb678 4y ago
Let’s not mince words, though; the accountability for this decision rests with me. The consequences, on the other hand, rest with you, but so does a pretty generous COBRA package.[1] /s [1]: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/macroeconomic-changes-have-made-it-impossible-for-me-to-want-to-pay-you https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/macroeconomic-changes-ha...
lesuorac 4y ago
> In our new plan, we expect to grow revenue by approximately 30% in 2023 and exit Q4 2023 with breakeven non-GAAP operating margin. Interesting plan, too bad operating margin doesn't mean profitable. In 2022 Q3 the 9month cumulative sums show a revenue of 417M with net loss of 346M. Growing 417M by 30% to say 550M still would be a loss of 204M. If they also cut operating expenses by 33% then they could become profitable though.

badhombres 4y ago

Not surprising. Every company is going to take the opportunity to trim costs when it doesn't affect their PR as much as it would any other time.

mguerville 4y ago
And not doing so could affect their IR (investor relations) negatively, which is a higher concern than PR to most companies
- neon_electro 4y ago
  Why can't a company do offense on the IR front with literally any action other than cutting workforce? "Our products are better than ever" "Our revenue per employee is better than ever" Why does cutting costs have to be the only way to please investors?
  - cowsup 4y ago
    Because most investors are investing in more than one company. If someone has a stake in Google, Microsoft, and Confluent, and their ROI for the first two are great this quarter, but Confluent is lukewarm or even in the red, they're going to want an explanation. They can be told that products are great, or employees are producing a lot, but the only thing that matters to investors is the money. And so, when you're underperforming compared to others in your market, you have to do what appeases the shareholders, and that involves culling employees.
    - neon_electro 4y ago
      This needs to be a video game, not the way we organize humanity :(
  - brazzledazzle 4y ago
    I have no unique insight into their perspective but if I had to guess they're starting to worry about the lack of easy money and want a signal that management is going to play it safe with their current cash reserves instead of banking on another infusion. They probably could, you know, tell them as much, but sacrificing your employees really adds oomph to your commitment.

bushbaba 4y ago

Yet they were hiring all not too long ago

mcv 4y ago

I really get the feeling that many companies are just blindly doing whatever other companies do. One starts large layoffs, and suddenly everybody is doing it. At other times, when one goes on a hiring spree, they all go. One tries to reduce salaries, they all do. One pays enormous bonuses, and they all do. It's like CEOs aren't really thinking for themselves, just copying whatever the market does.

BaseballPhysics 4y ago
Absolutely. The 4Q22 numbers are out. US GDP increased nearly 3%. The job market remains super tight for many classes of workers. There's simply no evidence of a broader recession. Are there headwinds? Sure! Household debt is up, consumer spending is down as a consequence--but this is relative to a previous year when we were still feeling the effects of the COVID stimulus--and interest rates are up which will drive down debt-funded investment. But, companies are cutting because 1) some got bloated during the COVID hiring surge and now need to cut back, 2) some always wanted to cut headcount but they didn't want to do it without air cover, and 3) some just follow the leader.
mtnygard 4y ago
I can’t comment on whether this is blind following or not. But it’s a real fact that the market will punish you less for layoffs when others are doing it too. It’s like how the best time to reveal a scandal is after someone else has revealed a bigger scandal.
- WhatsName 4y ago
  That's wrong. If everyone is doing something irrational that is a big inefficiency in the market and whoever does the opposite eg. hiring will get better outcomes as opposed doing it when all do.
  - vasco 4y ago
    Yeah but in general if you're trying to minimise disaster instead of maximising being the winner, you opt for doing things that avoid revealing you as the being the only wrong one. Being wrong in a crowd is fine. Being the only one wrong is a big deal, "what were they thinking, they knew better than everyone else?!". If everyone does the same mistake, it's just shrugged off as "honest mistake, everyone was doing it." Plus either way you're cutting expenses and maybe getting rid of some under performers.

adingus 4y ago

The optimistic things management says about a company are as empty as a paupers purse. Theyll tell you there are no layoffs planned the moment before they sign your severance package.

throwayyy479087 4y ago

Some of these companies had so many employees - it's staggering. Kafka management is a useful tool but man, 2000 employees is a LOT for something my SRE team does as a standard part of the job.

endorphine 4y ago
2000 were SREs?
lars_francke 4y ago
I am not saying 2000 is too much but I'm 100% sure that your SRE team only does a tiny fraction of what Confluent is doing. They will have marketing folks, lawyers, they will almost certainly do more testing than you, they are going to have to support many many more configurations than you, they have people all over the world, they have a support staff, they have upstream contributors, they have backoffice people, ... Nothing against you or your team but what you're doing does in no way compare to building a fully fledget product for on-prem and as a SaaS.

atkailash 4y ago

[dead]

PLenz 4y ago

We're well into the cargo cult layoffs. CEOs need to look good to their bosses and your job is a sacrafice they are willing to make. I'm sure there are some who will make their decisions based on real data and analysis - but they'll make thier decisions independently of other firms actions. Seeing all this clustered behavior suggests little analysis is really being done here.

oofta-boofta 4y ago
Especially given the strong economic numbers that just came out, yeah I don't buy the "bad macro climate" argument anymore. It's really plain as day: these CEOs make some cuts of 5-15%, their stock price goes up. This is a pattern we'll likely continue to see through this year. Honestly, the tech industry was due for some churn from an employer perspective, and all this talent circulating is going to up the competition for company's products.
- spaceman_2020 4y ago
  You should see people working in the financial industry right now. While there's one segment that's bearish and believes that the Fed will have to engineer a short recession to bring inflation under control, there's another, larger, stronger camp that believes we're in the end times for capitalism, and the endgame is to make money so cheap that everyone is paper rich. There's an increasing atmosphere of bacchanalia in the markets - buy every dip, long every thing because they don't believe that the money can be unprinted and inflation thwarted. Might as well pump it up and make some money and hopefully, swing into some meaningful assets before it all comes crashing down. Personally, I believe American capitalism is in the ICU right now. There's too much money in the system, and there's too much concern over the long-term viability of the USD as the reserve currency. All that money printing coupled with the war in Ukraine, American sanctions, and increasing refusal of the non-Nato countries to play ball with America (espcially China) means that the demand for all the USD printed is never going to be the same. It's going to get very, very interesting in the coming couple of years.
- hnfong 4y ago
  > Especially given the strong economic numbers that just came out, yeah I don't buy the "bad macro climate" argument anymore. The US Federal Reserve literally says they are committed to bringing the US to a recession to curb inflation (if it is what it takes to do so). So while strong economic numbers are a "good thing", it just means the current numbers will keep getting worse until it's a recession. (Or the Fed will change course. Who knows.)

InTheArena 4y ago

Oh my sweet summer child.... As someone who lived through the .COM crash and implosion and then 2008, any company with "strong cash reserves" and "trajectory to profitability" is not making more money than they are spending. They are, to use the SV term - losing runway. This is catastrophic because it's infeasible to raise money right now to extend the runway. If the plane is not airborne (making significantly more money than they are consuming) by the end of the runway, they crash and burn, taking themselves and the company's investors with them. My experience has been highly capitalized, but running way in the red are the worst possible place to hide when a significant economic event occurs. Confluent has raised capital 11 times (from a quick crunchbase article) and has a product that is open source core, giving its customers an escape path. I'd also point out that this is a bit snowflake. The average annual corporate turnover rate is way higher then this number. If not for the immediacy of the headwinds, almost every company could handle this by simply not rehiring after attrition.

throwaway24124 4y ago
So I work for a company with "strong cash reserves" and "trajectory to profitability", and I was a child in 2008. We haven't done any layoffs yet, but it's definitely possible. Any advice for someone in my position with no recession experience?
- whymauri 4y ago
  Interview.
- dougmwne 4y ago
  Study up for technical interviews. Do some real interviews for practice. Update your resume. Network. Build a larger emergency fund. Check your budget and plan through how you could lower your expenses if the hammer falls. Think through alternative income you could build.
  - maerF0x0 4y ago
    I'd say lower your expenses now, regardless of layoff there's likely a strong buying opportunity in asset markets that could set them up for life.

jwie 4y ago

I’m genuinely curious about the language senior management uses to communicate such things in public. Perhaps it is a disconnect about the audience. The people getting fired are not the audience of the message which communicates their termination. This is inhuman, but what else would one expect from capitalism. I’ve fired people, for cause and in person, for generic layoffs, and for attrition targets. It is hard, and personal. I never talk about responsibility or blame, or how hard it was for me. I have bad news for you. No need to be flowery about it. I owe them a straightforward conversation.

lettergram 4y ago

General rule is that a 10% cut won’t impact business operations. They’ll do cuts like this periodically to get rid of low performers and / or people getting paid too much. Goal is to cut costs, projections are likely decreasing / stagnant revenue.

outside1234 4y ago

It's so strange that every companies' number is 6-8%. Its almost like it is a cargo cult or something.

akatechis 4y ago

A lot of companies do this just as a matter of course. They call it "trimming the fat", eg, laying off the bottom 5%, 10% or whatever percent of employees, in hopes the future hires will be higher performing.

kccqzy 4y ago
What makes you think companies actually use performance as a metric to do layoffs? Why makes you think they aren't just using a random number generator to find people to trim?

mrbgty 4y ago

The smart companies are going to be using these layoff opportunities to hire good people.

iafiaf 4y ago

I am not joining this pity-party. Companies hire tech workers to stifle their competition; whilst keeping their workers 'sedated' on fake projects (i.e. projects that are paraded as important, but the 'inner-circle' knows well its just to keep the nerds happy). During tough times, its not unreasonable for a company to trim their fat. Personally, tech and academia has been bloated for over a decade now. So no foul here.

redleggedfrog 4y ago

Layoffs signal weakness, from every angle. They hired indiscriminately and now are doing catch and release. Or they lacked foresight of their market. Or they are financially mismanaged. Or they are directed by a unqualified board. Or they are unable to cope with their market shrinking. Or they are a behemoth that grinds up workers as part of their operation (a lot of what we're seeing now). Or they're jumping off the cliff with the other lemmings. Or they need money for upper management pay. When you're looking for a job, keep the companies previous layoffs in mind. Are they stable, or do they acquire and jettison?

adamwong246 4y ago
So many companies just lit all their "social capital" on fire, especially Google. They have maintained the "don't be evil" mantra for so many years but who will ever believe that lie ever again?
- gen220 4y ago
  Based on goomics [1], I think the social capital has been rotting or at best fragile, for a while [2] [3]. Alas, money-printing machines emit strong reality-distortion fields. As long as it's working, they'll have no issue finding people to hire. [1]: https://goomics.net https://goomics.net [2]: https://goomics.net/240/ https://goomics.net/240/, 2018Q1 [3]: https://goomics.net/155/ https://goomics.net/155/ 2012Q

jjoe 4y ago

The CEOs know their macro. I think it's all political. Employment is the last bastion holding this cycle. Low unemployment means the Fed won't pivot. A fed that doesn't pivot is a fed that's in tampering mode which is a money tight environment. I think it's gotten to be a game of macro economic manipulation to get to fed to flood the market with lush money again.

kevstev 4y ago

If anyone reading this was part of the affected, please DM me. I have an SRE type role open that would almost certainly be a good fit for anyone from eng. Totally remote, good company culture.

Supermancho 4y ago

Granted, tech companies generally do not have unions. Companies with union agreements, have not been laying off people. I think it's silly when companies present the nonsensical rationale of "due to prevailing economic conditions" without qualification. As if these conditions (everyone else is doing it for some reason, so let's ride the stock boost) is obvious, decided, and not worth talking about.

frontman1988 4y ago

DAE feel it all started with Elon laying off half the company without destroying Twitter completely? These other managers must have thought if Elon can lay off half the company , we can atleast do away with like 10% without much negative consequences? Time will tell if such hire and fire will cause unintended consquences. Software as a whole is quite resilient though, you don't need much resources to maintain code once it's written, creating new features is where skilled individuals are needed. So companies will definitely survive even if they lay off half the company, but the question is will they thrive when opportunity comes knocking again?

lesuorac 4y ago
I don't think any credible person predict twitter would fall over immediately. The only prediction I've seen was for April [1] and there's still 4 months and in the meantime Elon has talked about replacing himself as CEO, ad spend has cratered, and iirc Twitter wasn't profitable when it was bought nevermind with an additional 1B/yr interest payment. [1]: https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/08/1062886/heres-how-a-twitter-engineer-says-it-will-break-in-the-coming-weeks/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/08/1062886/heres-ho...
1270018080 4y ago
No.

pyfan878 4y ago

I'm more increasingly convinced that ceo are capitalizing on this occasion to lay off people they deem undesirable.

surement 4y ago
right, there's no way that tech companies laying off people means fewer seats sold for other software providers

maerF0x0 4y ago

> The findings of two decades of profitability studies are equivocal: The majority of firms that conduct layoffs do not see improved profitability, whether measured by return on assets, return on equity, or return on sales. Layoffs are especially hard on the performance of companies with a high reliance on R&D, low capital intensity, and high growth. Market response to layoffs was also less positive than might be expected, with three-day share prices of firms conducting layoffs generally neutral. ... Layoffs undertaken only for the purpose of reducing costs tended to lead to drops in share price. https://hbr.org/2022/12/what-companies-still-get-wrong-about-layoffs https://hbr.org/2022/12/what-companies-still-get-wrong-about... We need to circulate this information as wide and far as possible. Perhaps at least some well meaning CEOs will grow a backbone to at least challenge the board.

newbie2020 4y ago
This sets off my BS detector. If true, there is a bigger underlying problem
InTheArena 4y ago
The problem with this article is that it targets companies that are stable revenue-wise and have low capital intensity. Neither of these statements are true about startup companies unless the startup is managed very conservatively. That essentially rules out any VC-related startup. VC's basically are a huge force-multiplier during up markets and black holes in recessionary periods due to the growth expectations (and the willingness to blank-check funding until the revenue goals are met).
- maerF0x0 4y ago
  > Layoffs are especially hard on the performance of companies with a high reliance on R&D, low capital intensity, and high growth. Start ups are 2 out of 3. The thesis is that with layoffs the outcome is worse than without. So we can make all kinds of rhetorical debates, but the data seems to suggest for some causal reason companies that do layoff do worse off in the subsequent years.

ghostbrainalpha 4y ago

Has anyone at an unprofitable company ever been told that they "were NOT on a trajectory to profitability"??? I feel like that the statement that you are on a path to breakeven, means absolutely nothing. And that you should ALWAYS consider yourself to be in a high risk situation if your company is losing money.

SpicyLemonZest 4y ago
I don't know how common it is to specifically deny it, but plenty of early stage startups consider themselves to be in a "growth stage" where it doesn't make sense to talk about the path to profitability.

cvhashim04 4y ago

Layoffs are like a freebie right now. Everybody is doing it so might as well right? Sad state of affairs.

purpleblue 4y ago

Message to Confluent Employees from Jay Kreps Today we’re announcing a very hard change we have to make. We are rolling out a set of adjustments to our 2023 plan oriented around driving additional efficiency. As part of this we are reducing our workforce by about 8%. If you are one of the individuals whose role is impacted, you will receive a calendar invite for a conversation with a senior leader today. If you are outside of the U.S. there may be slightly different timelines based on local laws. If you are one of the individuals whose role is not impacted, you will receive a follow-up email letting you know you are not impacted. Why we are doing this This decision was not made lightly. However, I believe this is a necessary change to set us up for success in the year ahead. To many, I’m sure this news comes as a shock, though those following the broader tech ecosystem closely may be less surprised. In this challenging economic environment, sales cycles are taking longer and many of our deals are more scrutinized by customers. This puts pressure on growth. Meanwhile there has also been a significant shift in the market, resetting expectations for the tech sector. This rapid change in the world around us, left our plans for the year increasingly squeezed between downward pressure on growth from a slowing economy and upwards pressure on efficiency from the rapid change in the market. Ultimately, we had optimized some aspects of our operations for a very different world than we found ourselves operating in. The responsibility for that falls squarely on me. In light of this we reevaluated our plans for the year, and have made the decision to accelerate our path to profitability, while still delivering high growth. In our new plan, we expect to grow revenue by approximately 30% in 2023 and exit Q4 2023 with breakeven non-GAAP operating margin. At my request, everyone on the executive team took a step back to look at our existing expenses and headcount. We wanted to ensure we had fully funded every essential aspect of our near term execution and longer term plans. But we knew that in the rapid growth over the last 8 years, there was room for improvements in efficiency without compromising our longer term plans. With this in mind we made a set of targeted cuts that enable a more rapid path to profitability while maintaining high growth. We’ll talk through these changes in the days ahead. Our plan for departures Unfortunately, we are saying goodbye to many friends and colleagues across the company. We want to do this in a way that ensures we are doing right by our departing team members. In the U.S., impacted employees will be offered severance, healthcare coverage, outplacement services, immigration support as needed and some forward vesting of RSUs. Those outside the U.S. will receive a broadly similar package but with variations based on the requirements of local laws. What’s next? To those who are leaving, I want to say thank you. You have made important contributions to Confluent and I have the utmost respect for all of you. To those who remain, I know a change like this is jarring and disruptive. We’ll be adjusting some team structures and our plans for the year in light of this change. We’ll be discussing this plan in greater detail at our company kick off next week. Despite the difficult environment, I remain very optimistic about our future. We are a leader in a massive, highly strategic space. We have a huge opportunity to build a major new data platform that can be the central nervous system of every company. I want to personally thank all of you for being here, showing up, and helping build Confluent into the enduring company we all know it can be. -Jay

dboreham 4y ago

I'm wondering how many of the commenters on these threads have been around for long enough to experience pervious layoff events? The reality is that any company has 5-10% staff that aren't really doing anything useful, and can be fired without significant impact to business operations. So it's more that companies don't just fire those people every year because normally various kinds of negative blowback would ensue. The reason we're seeing layoffs now is basically that the conditions are such that said blowback is reduced. In other words: it's in fashion (in Elite circles) and they can get away with it. Of course often the appropriate 5-10% aren't actually the target of layoffs, but that's an orthogonal problem.

LatteLazy 4y ago

The whole point of the Fed putting rates up was to cause mass unemployment so workers had no leverage so they'd accept lower wages and more money would go to capital holders. You can't blame CEOs for getting "ahead" on their Todo list...

insane_dreamer 4y ago

This is clearly the "new management trend" for 2023, to the point that what's newsworthy is which tech companies are __not__ laying off 8%-15% of their staff. Maybe we should hear about those.

kinnth 4y ago

I think it's all about cashflow. Salaries are the biggest cost to cashflow and 2023 is not going to be all roses, there will be more bad news at some point. A shrewd business reduces operating costs before the storm hits.

mohinish 4y ago

Confluent Lays off! https://m.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/CONFLUENT-INC-124047168/news/Confluent-Message-to-Confluent-Employees-from-Jay-Kreps-Form-8-K-42820152/ https://m.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/CONFLUENT-INC-12404... This is highly personal for me since I was part of the early Confluent growth story, having seen the company grow from about 150 folks to 1600+ headcount. I was amazed to see the quality of people who joined the company as each person was highly skilled, motivated and talented in their trades across all the functions of the organization. I treasured the time the team spent at the happy hour every friday and no pay thursday lunch in Palo Alto, as we bonded and built friendships for life. I understand that this is a difficult time for everyone involved, and I want to express my deepest compassion for those who have been affected by the layoffs, including everyone in the technology sector as a whole. Losing a job can be a traumatic experience, and my heart goes out to all of those who are facing this challenge. I hope that you can find new opportunities quickly and that this difficult period in your life is as short as possible. Please know that you are in my thoughts and that I wish you all the best during this difficult time. If you need to speak to someone about how to navigate this cycle, feel free to hit me up. I want to chat with everyone. I have seen market cycles both good times and bad times. I still remember back in the day when my graduation ceremony coincided with the 2008 market crash. As a new graduate, it felt like the end of the world, however once I refocused my energies to dissect the situation, I found an abundance of opportunities in the downcycle. I realized there is an opportunity in every change and that each opportunity is different and unique in perspective. I also wanted to add that we need to capture this energy, across the technology sector in general, to reconnect, chat, share ideas and be there for each other, be part of this giant pack, be part of the confluent mafia, that everyone who is still wearing the golden handcuff will be one day regretful. I hope you do realize that this is a pivotal moment that we get to be a part of, that is to re-evaluate our strenghts and re-align expectations to explore new opportunities and position ourselves for the next stage of growth story. As per the reports, Venture capitalists are burdened with hundreds of billions of dollars that they can't invest in later-stage companies due to economic conditions. There has probably literally never been a better time in history to work on solving real-world problems. The acceleration of these highly competent people hitting the labor market at the same time is going to create an burst of innovation. This will create an opportunity that will certainly be a prominent pillar in the next economic recovery. For example, here is a recent post on what others who have left Confluent have been upto: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6953693671552643072?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_feedUpdate%3A%28V2%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A6953693671552643072%29 https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6953693... I know some of us got more severance than others, and I know some of us are in more delicate circumstances than others, but let's take a minute to consider the possibilities with each other and at least have a little fun thinking out of the box about what the future could bring. I hope the following verse from Bhagvad Gita will bring peace and strength to you in the current situation: "The friction between our desire for the predictable and the mutability of life makes us feel a bit lost. Rather than rail against change, which the Gita says is inherent in all things, the key is to broaden our view by becoming less self-focused, less ruled by our ego. Change the inputs and you change the story. That shift occurs when we deepen our level of consciousness. The only place of unchanging truth, says the Gita, is internal, where we come into alignment with the Self." Use all your power to free the senses from attachment and aversion alike, and live in the full wisdom of the Self. —Bhagavad Gita, 2.68

dustbitying 4y ago

why speak about an integer number of humans in a percent? to soften the blow? because they're speaking to investors, often institutional for whom it's more useful to know the rates and who don't particularly care about the lives of the employees joining the job-seekers?