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The layoffs at Klarna

blog.pragmaticengineer.com

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Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#221

Post by smashah »

chrisseaton wrote: post #199
smashah wrote: post #18

I tried to get a big-ticket item using Klarna. Had the money in the bank, just thought I'd give it a go. It failed multiple times without any sort of meaningful error message. Apparently each of those failed attempts hit my credit score. I told them to close my account multiple times through multiple channels (chat/email/etc.) and reverse any damage done to my credit score. Till this day I get monthly balance/stateme…

I thought Klarna did a 'soft' credit check? That shouldn't show up on your file? I think they need permission to do a hard credit check.

After the third attempt I decided to chat with Klarna support. They saw the attempts and told me to stop trying as it would be damaging my credit score. What exactly is the truth? I don't know. Klarna is a black box to me.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#222

Post by Animats »

djmips wrote: post #96
hotpotamus wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently left an 8,000 person company that's been on a 2 decade loop of private money to publicly traded and back a couple times now. It occurred to me that in 25ish years (about 10 of which I worked there) that it might never have made any money - I can't remember a profitable year ever; we were always seeking growth above all else. I now work at a small SaaS company of around 50 people and it's only ever made mon…

Sounds like the old old SNL skit about banking. Wikipedia- "First CityWide Change Bank – Two ads promote a financial institution whose only service is providing change (e.g. "you come to us with 16 quarters, 8 dimes, and 4 nickels, we can give you a 5 dollar bill"). How does First CityWide make money doing this? As one service rep says it, "The answer is simple: Volume"."

That's Coinstar's business model.

They charge a commission now, but originally, they didn't. They pitched the system to stores as a way of freeing up cashier time wasted counting coins.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#223

Post by compiler-guy »

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #197
jedberg wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She was a great leader. She recognized that our team was cohesive and could make a better decision than she could. She was one of the best managers I ever had.

she is supposed to be part of the team and have the same knowledge and thus be able to make an equally or more informed decision

The reports were all good friends, she knew that, and gave them the option for her to decide or them. She apparently didn't know the personal lives of the reports as well as they did themselves.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#224

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

indymike wrote: post #143
throwaway859383 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Up until a massive expansion push some years ago, Klarna used to be a profitable company. It expanded from 3200 employees in 2019 to the 7000 that are there now. They also started spending money on experiments that had not much to do with the core business.

Employee count may be the worst business metric of all time.

depends, for what?

it is a good metric for number of employees you employ :)

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#225

Post by mk89 »

datalopers wrote: post #101
chrsig wrote: post #14

> The culture of “we are awesome” has dominated most internal communications for the last couple of years, including in 2022. We all believed that we were awesome and would continue growing and winning. This is the big thing that drives me nuts . I don't know if it's a fragility of ego thing or what the cause may be, but it results in a corporate inability to critically self-evaluate at the highest levels. If you can…

> The self congratulatory back-patting HN is guilty of this constantly. Everyone who posts here is implicitly in the right and users unequivocally back that attitude, even when it realistically is a scenario of "maybe you were a shit employee and were fired for it and your employer isnt in the wrong?" or "your Show HN really isn't that impressive". We're not allowed to say anything critical of other HN users without…

I don't know if this was the meaning of the OP's message, but the way I read it tells me that he dislikes the "everything is fine" BS that some companies keep on doing, not the fact you still need to criticise constructively, which "your show hn isn't that impressive" clearly doesn't do.

Realistic, yes, but you don't have to be an ass, that's kind of how I interpret it.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#226

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

blueflow wrote: post #151
vorpalhex wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a difference between being introspective and just being a jerk.

Did you just prove their point?

If their point is that they get mad because people would downvote "Your Show HN isn't really that impressive", then I guess so. I would certainly downvote that kind of comment, because it's pretty much by definition a jerky comment.

But I have seen tons of reactions to Show HNs that are "How is your product different from XYZ?" or "How will you address problem Foo?" Those comments actually bring something helpful to the discussion. I've also seen, in cases where the Show HN isn't something the community generally appreciates, get fair comments along the lines of "Your product just appears to make it easier to spam people. Why should we like this?"

Offering critical commentary without a point isn't something that adds to the value of the site.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#227

Post by Aradalf »

throwaway36756 wrote: post #58

I worked at Klarna between 2011-2013 as a software engineer and later as a team manager. I was laid off in a very similar fashion at the same time a bunch of others also got the same surprising news. When it happened to us there was no announcement from the CEO. Sebastian had actually just gone on parental leave and one of the co-founders, Niklas Adalberth had taken the reigns. At the time, my suspicion was that it w…

It sounds like you were fired, not laid off.

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#229

Post by chrisseaton »

smashah wrote: post #221
chrisseaton wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Klarna did a 'soft' credit check? That shouldn't show up on your file? I think they need permission to do a hard credit check.

After the third attempt I decided to chat with Klarna support. They saw the attempts and told me to stop trying as it would be damaging my credit score. What exactly is the truth? I don't know. Klarna is a black box to me.

My guess is you were accidentally using 'Klarna Financing' - that's not their main product and not what most people think of when you say 'Klarna' - it's a formal consumer-credit loan. It's like getting a car loan, rather than paying in instalments, as their main product is.

And yeah that'd be apocalyptic on your credit score - equivalent of being rejected for a car loan multiple times in a day!

Re: The layoffs at Klarna

#230

Post by mk89 »

blueflow wrote: post #151
vorpalhex wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a difference between being introspective and just being a jerk.

Did you just prove their point?

No. You can provide constructive criticism without BS or say things in a meaningful way without diminishing people.

I wonder why so many people in this thread seem to see this topic either black or white.

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