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Partykit confused me. They hired two people, then laid them off (https://twitter.com/threepointone/status/1724159621382754738 https://twitter.com/threepointone/

Partykit confused me. They hired two people, then laid them off (https://twitter.com/threepointone/status/1724159621382754738 https://twitter.com/threepointone/status/1724159621382754738) after raising 2.5 million, with nothing but a vague message about "the tech landscape is moving changing incredibly fast". That seems kind of callous?

cj 3y ago
Trying to improve EBITDA (profitability) in advance of an acquisition perhaps? Or the company knew the deal was going forward and Cloudflare was unlikely to retain new employees?
ensignavenger 3y ago
A lot of folks on here complain about companies making long layoff announcements shrouded in "nice" speech. Finding the right balance seems to be hard for a lot of PR folks.
- progbits 3y ago
  Problem is the layoff, not the PR balance.
kentonv 3y ago
I don't know anything about what happened here, but I know Sunil is a good person and wouldn't have done this on a whim. Sometimes there are internal problems forcing painful decisions but you just can't go and tweet the details.
- dont_dox_me_bro 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - ensignavenger 3y ago
    Good people make mistakes. Maybe the fired employees got really good severance packages? Maybe they were given introductions that led to immediate employment offers? I have no idea, but judging some one based on a tweet where they announced they had made a mistake that may have hurt two individuals is hardly fair.
    - dont_dox_me_bro 3y ago
      I mean I think it's very telling since there was an acquisition nearly 6 months later by his previous company. That's quite an incestuous relationship, but hey he got his payday after removing two core contributors that were employees. Why are you assuming they got severance? He wouldn't be legally complied to do so, and if he did he would have mentioned it.
      - ensignavenger 3y ago
        I didn't assume anything, I suggested it may have happened. You seem to be the one assuming things and making accusations on another persons character. Its okay to ask questions, but we should do it nicely.
  - bsimpson 3y ago
    I know the people involved. It's not my business to publish their business, but I'm confident there's no malintent or hard feelings. As Kenton mentioned above, Sunil is a good dude.
  - kentonv 3y ago
    > How can you call someone a good person I know the guy. > if they literally hired then fired people? If hiring and firing is inherently wrong then I guess all founders are bad?
matt_oriordan 3y ago
Wow, that didn't last long! This can only be an acquihire given Sunil worked at Cloudflare before.
toddmorey 3y ago
I think it's a classic example of landing in that space of being a feature vs a product. I know from my part, I'm really fatigued on the SaaS model of spinning up so many different products from so many different providers for one freakin' project. So Partykit, while interesting tech, may have just struggled as independent infrastructure. Partykit is actually powered by Cloudflare Workers, so it's a compatible acquisition that adds realtime to the workers platform. Plus like you said they had recently and unfortunately "stripped PartyKit way back" with some layoffs, so I'd imagine the acquisition was fairly cheap for Cloudflare.

cj 3y ago

Trying to improve EBITDA (profitability) in advance of an acquisition perhaps? Or the company knew the deal was going forward and Cloudflare was unlikely to retain new employees?

ensignavenger 3y ago

A lot of folks on here complain about companies making long layoff announcements shrouded in "nice" speech. Finding the right balance seems to be hard for a lot of PR folks.

progbits 3y ago
Problem is the layoff, not the PR balance.

kentonv 3y ago

I don't know anything about what happened here, but I know Sunil is a good person and wouldn't have done this on a whim. Sometimes there are internal problems forcing painful decisions but you just can't go and tweet the details.

dont_dox_me_bro 3y ago
[flagged]
- ensignavenger 3y ago
  Good people make mistakes. Maybe the fired employees got really good severance packages? Maybe they were given introductions that led to immediate employment offers? I have no idea, but judging some one based on a tweet where they announced they had made a mistake that may have hurt two individuals is hardly fair.
  - dont_dox_me_bro 3y ago
    I mean I think it's very telling since there was an acquisition nearly 6 months later by his previous company. That's quite an incestuous relationship, but hey he got his payday after removing two core contributors that were employees. Why are you assuming they got severance? He wouldn't be legally complied to do so, and if he did he would have mentioned it.
    - ensignavenger 3y ago
      I didn't assume anything, I suggested it may have happened. You seem to be the one assuming things and making accusations on another persons character. Its okay to ask questions, but we should do it nicely.
- bsimpson 3y ago
  I know the people involved. It's not my business to publish their business, but I'm confident there's no malintent or hard feelings. As Kenton mentioned above, Sunil is a good dude.
- kentonv 3y ago
  > How can you call someone a good person I know the guy. > if they literally hired then fired people? If hiring and firing is inherently wrong then I guess all founders are bad?

matt_oriordan 3y ago

Wow, that didn't last long! This can only be an acquihire given Sunil worked at Cloudflare before.

toddmorey 3y ago

I think it's a classic example of landing in that space of being a feature vs a product. I know from my part, I'm really fatigued on the SaaS model of spinning up so many different products from so many different providers for one freakin' project. So Partykit, while interesting tech, may have just struggled as independent infrastructure. Partykit is actually powered by Cloudflare Workers, so it's a compatible acquisition that adds realtime to the workers platform. Plus like you said they had recently and unfortunately "stripped PartyKit way back" with some layoffs, so I'd imagine the acquisition was fairly cheap for Cloudflare.