Private Equity

UX/UI Designer

Unless bootstrapped, founders not recovering investment sounds unbelievable.

Consultant

My company has frozen increments this cycle 😭. Founders couldn't even get investments in the past 2 years. 😔😔

Welcome to Indian Startups's Private Community

~ No money, no honey ~

~ No money, no honey ~- Grapevine

What was the first sign that your company might be doing layoffs? 
Was it a random meeting addressed by CEO or some other shit?

What was the first sign of layoff?

Software Engineer

There’s now a list of 4-6 startups that have shut down and announced closure in December. Why is this happening

Why are so many startups shutting shop in December?

Business Development Manager

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

Lot of Developers are leaving the company (specially frontend) because of low salaries, limited scope of work and Return to office policy. 
Company is silently creating an atmosphere where developers are leaving on their own. 

Company is also not planning to provide any good pay raise in the upcoming appraisals.

Time to leave the company :(

Developers leaving Razorpay

Software Developer

Welcome to News Discussion's Private Community

Dealshare funds have been blocked from use. Something major off.

Founder

Painful to see so many startups run out of money/ shut down. Is your company doing good?

Founders are not shitposting on the socials, so that’s good I think 😅

It's more difficult finding a job as a founder I've realised

1. If your venture is still continuing, they don't trust that you'll work enough at the job. 

2. If your venture is shut, extra questions and judgement as to how and why it happened. 

3. If your venture is successful and profitable, they'll ask why you want a job if it's going so well.

I've never received any preference because of being a founder. On the contrary it's made getting good jobs more difficult.

Thankfully I've managed my earnings through my startup, but I feel stuck because I'm not earning as much as I want to, plus I can't work on new things anymore. I would have liked to work on other things but it doesn't seem like I'll be able to get a chance to do that anymore.

Founders, were you able to find a job since covid began?

Product Owner

What is the biggest hike you ever got?

Growth Manager

Hi folks,

I got laid off today from a YC-backed startup (W23) citing a shift in product focus. Was part of the core team since Oct '21, initially as an intern then later converted to FTE in '22. Got a decent (30%+) increment this year. I was leading the mobile platform but currently, I'm on a notice period. CTO is supportive and helping me via their network.

I'm a recent graduate and this is my first time experiencing a layoff. What should I do now? What things should I keep in mind looking for the next opportunity? 

Also, if you are hiring and looking for a full-stack engineer, do reach out via https://t.me/GrimBeard75

Got laid-off from a YC backed startup

Product Engineer

Being an investor in equity markets, i was aware of the fact that US market will crash as the free money by fed draws back. I obviously was not able to link this up with the funding dry-ness.

I still expect a founder to be aware of these economic events. I am curious how could the management decide to go for hiring employees only to lay them off a year later. 

If you are a founder, would be happy to know the other side of the story.

What triggered layoffs ?

Let me explain in detail. 
 There are two parts to it and can be broken down basis PnL 
 1. Revenues : Sudden jump in tech( social media, e-commerce, ad tech, fintech, etc) plus supporting industries (chipmakers, laptop / device manufacturer) and the general economy with QE money  
 This impacted forecasts as most firms forecast AOPs basis historically trend (which clearly was an abberation) - this lead to higher HC estimates and rampant and quick hiring  
 Variable costs: CAC, customer support, sales incentive all spiked up as 1. Everyone was putting money (inc bidding price for key words) and 2. Huge customer inflow due to covid (edtech, e-commerce) that required support  
 Fixed costs: While office space / rents remained steady or dropped as % of revenue. This was offseted by fixed tech (software, hardware, people) costs and other costs like (legal, HR, Business, Marketing, supply chain, etc.) the talent was expensive to source plus their need was instant as you already had customer to be served  
 All of this lead to rampant hiring, inflated CTC, rosy forecasts, etc.  
 everyone had turned a blind eye to inflation implications (as for the past 30 Y no one saw a shooting inflation - hence the key decisions makers had now experience & idea about it) - till Dec’21 even FED said inflation is transatory. 
 It was the Ukraine invasion that opened people eyes. Oil went up, food prices went up, UK Europe saw an energy crisis etc 
 This made all the rosy forecast mentioned above duller as 1. Demand was expected to reduce due to higher cost of living 2. Capital became scarce as funding drired 3. Cost of capital (WACC) became expensive as hurdle rate climbed (which is rate of return for bond)  
 Management and investor panicked as they have limited partners (LP) to answer and quess who are these (big pension funds) so people’s pension money had come into startups which were not showing signs of exit for investors. 
 All in all - it is a pain we all have to bare for being exuberant in 2021-2022:

Why do some startups lay off people even when they know that they'll be raising money soon via new funding?

Case in point: Dunzo

Are these employees given severance? Or is it just that Hi, Hello, Today is your last day, thank you, bye that you see most startups do?

What are your thoughts on this?

Funding and layoffs

Program Manager

First, they had a layoff.
Lot of good people quit including great people
Then, they had a second lay off 
Some  great people in the leadership quit.
Middle management people are quitting every day.
Only engineers and other people who are not able to get jobs are remaining 
They shut down majority of US acquisitions
They are trying to sell some of them like Tynkr and Epic
Not able to raise funding till now even though trying since December 
Sales is down 90% 
New Inside Sales process is not working 
They are out of runway.

Byjus may shut down

I understand that companies want to start new year with new energy. But doing it in the last working week of this year is just nuts. 

Let folks enjoy the year. Do it in Jan first/ second week. 

By doing now, you’re literally spoiling this year and the next. 

To founders out there: grow some spine, tell your investors you won’t do it now. I don’t think it’ll hurt your company much (I mean you’ve not done enough, and that’s the reason you’re in this mess, probably suck it up and wait for few more weeks) 

To the folks out there, who got impacted, my heart goes out to you all. Good luck. Market is tough, but I know you guys will make it.

[rant]- What’s up with startups? Sudden layoffs in literally last working week of this year

They  opt for dec, because its quarter ending. The books will appear cleaner from Jan and that  quarter will look better when it ends.

It has nothing to do with new energy from new year.  Its like they clean the old shit to prepare for new shit.

Product Manager

How much does a core team member gets in equity in an early stage startup?

Banglore based fleek Is facing funding issues, not paying salary for it's employees since december 🙂

Will they pay the pending, after switching to other company?

No salary at fleek

DevOps Engineer

This came out of nowhere. Poor investments? Executive troubles? Both?

Honestly the investing team lacked grit and commitment towards a founder or an investment. In late 2019 they finalised terms with us while an international investor was leading the round, they pulled out last minute because some random fuck company raised 2X the amount of our round from tier 1 vc. Now that company doesn’t exist anymore but I guess neither the fund…me too can never be an investment strategy but sadly this is pretty much how Indian vcs think. We’re still alive and growing 😁

Analyst

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

I used to work at a product-based company, joined as a fresher worked for 2 years, it was a perfect job, in the sense that there was little to no work related stress, decent pay, and all the perks you get at a typical big product company as an SDE.

I decided to move out of my comfort zone and joined a bootstrapped startup. It sounded stupid when I left but I just wanted to experiment with working in a high-paced environment.

3 months in and I am very frustrated there is no sense of urgency even in a highly competitive space, all 3 co-founders are busy fundraising and rarely talk to us except for standups(which are also skipped regularly) most other team members(a total of 11) work like govt employees, no hunger, passion or curiosity. 

I joined because I love the problem they are solving and I am genuinely passionate about the industry and problem space but I don't even see 10% of the same passion in any of my other teammates they come in at 10 and leave by 4.

Sorry for the long rant but need genuine advice, will things change after the fundraise and as an employee how do I raise my issues with company culture with co-founders without sounding too bossy and pissing off my other teammates.

Frustrated with my Startup

Data on founder Salaries in India 

https://inc42.com/features/founder-salaries-tracker-fy23-amid-the-funding-winter-how-much-did-startup-founders-earn/

List of Founder Salaries in India

My friend  who is a workaholic and very talented chap got laid off at Tesla in their second round of layoffs.

He/ She literally worked and day night there after converting her internship so much so they sent her in Europe to close deals.

Sunday evening  got locked out off teams and all and then just an email. None of the colleagues not the manager reached out  after that.
Company is an ahole I understand what about the employees there do they have to be like that?

 had taken around 50-60 lakhs of loan . Stocks can't vest since did not complete a year.
Oh and yes had got H1B so that's a waste.

How depressed the person is and lonely af and guess will also be kicked out of the country if by chance didn't get another job. I'm sure she will get one since she's a hustler but it's just scary and plain depressing how our lives can be just gone by these new age companies on a whim.

Just thought of this happening to me sends shivers and makes me anxious can't even imagine someone going through this goes through.

What can we as tech person so futureproof ourselves?
 apart from being an entrepreneur and fuck off fund

US Tesla layoffs Is humanity lost?  Why won't companies do bare minimum of doing a proper layoff?

I'm seeing so many posts where startup employees are cribbing about things like layoffs, work culture etc etc. Doesn't seem like they have perspective on everything it takes to build a startup. I've built a failed startup myself and have immense respect for founders who are grinding it out there in such difficult recessionary circumstances. 

And then you have so many of the engineers and PMs cribbing about basics without talking about important things like learning growth, building for the future etc. Why such myopia? I work at a big tech and envy the speed at which startups move, the big responsibility everyone gets to handle, the fast career growth. All these things are being cribbed about. They crib about founders wanting more. Their job is to ensure success, not to give lifetime jobs to entitled people. They have more headaches you can imagine. In my small startup I had a million headaches. I can only imagine how hard it must be to run larger ships. Is everyone joining a startup these days looking for a get rich quick scheme?

Why are startup folks so entitled?

If you can’t run a business that lets people have a normal life then you’re the one who thinks they’re entitled to employees. 
 Businesses must take risk, employees don’t. Stop your whining that people won’t support shitty business plans

~ No money, no honey ~

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