3 ms·
Straight from the horses mouth: >> yes we over-hired during covid because i incorrectly built 2 separate company structures (square & cash app) rather than 1,
by dzonga 8mo ago
Straight from the horses mouth:
>> yes we over-hired during covid because i incorrectly built 2 separate company structures (square & cash app) rather than 1, which we corrected mid 2024. but this misses all the complexity we took on through lending, banking, and BNPL. and that we’re now targeting $2M+ gross profit per person, 4x our pre-covid efficiency, which stayed flat at ~$500k from 2019 until 2024. we have and do run an efficient company... better than most.
https://xcancel.com/jack/status/2027290756793135253 https://xcancel.com/jack/status/2027290756793135253
I.E OVER-HIRED
- mancerayder 8mo agoIt doesn't matter if the main reason is they over-hired. Financial services is going to eat it up, there are eyes going wide all over the place in the C-suites, I am certain. Companies/Funds that own other companies see an opportunity to reduce input costs (human costs). Even if over-hiring and AI are both explained reasons, the second one is going to win out as it's a narrative that lines up with what their goal is, to reduce costs. Now the question is will that sustain? Are 50% of us doomed? Is it temporary, and a reversal will take place? Will it start and sputter?
- izacus 8mo ago"over-hired" seems like mostly copium of engineers being very afraid that their company will discard them like this and are trying to rationalize why they won't follow.
- mjr00 8mo agoI don't think it's copium because it doesn't really matter if it's due to AI or COVID-era ZIRP-infused overhiring. If your company hasn't done multiple rounds of layoffs since 2022, they're going to come.
- generic92034 8mo agoIt depends. Maybe constant escalations at customers with unmaintainable products comes first.
- Aurornis 8mo agoThere was obvious over-hiring in the couple years after COVID while interest rates were low. A lot of companies corrected and laid off staff when that stopped. This was before LLMs writing code was a daily discussion topic. Blaming every layoff on AI is mostly people connecting trending headlines together.
- _fizz_buzz_ 8mo ago> that we’re now targeting $2M+ gross profit per person That seems really high. Do they have such moat that nobody can move into their space?
- melozo 8mo agoIronically Square isn’t good at anything in particular. Square fails to have a good point of sale (Toast wins) and fails for online store fronts (Shopify wins). Square is in a position where they spread themselves thin and aren’t at the top of anything in particular.
- Fervicus 8mo agoJust wait till they start vibe coding more features!
- djeekle 8mo agoBasically… no vision. Yeah they’re going nowhere in the long term.
- yesfitz 8mo agoWith light CRM, Staffing, and Banking tools, it seems like Square's strategy is to be best-of-suite for small businesses rather than best-of-breed. I've never seen Toast outside of bars/restaurants (although they are ubiquitous in that segment). Every other service or retail shop has been Square, especially farmers markets and craft fairs.
- 8mo ago
- Aurornis 8mo agoBlock job listings were all over for a couple years. I thought it was odd that they were hiring so much given what we know about their business lines. I assumed there were some internal projects or new business lines. I feel sorry for anyone who joined recently and then got laid off because they company wasn't planning properly.