>I take full ownership of this decision and the path that led us here. There's the free bingo space!
"It is I that must remain and bare the heavy burden of their failure..."
Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
51–60 of 413 posts
Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
#52"As the world moved from physical film to digital photography, or from land lines to wireless communication, or from DVD rentals to streaming, opportunity and disruption went hand-in-hand. Companies that embraced a new reality and took decisive action did well. Companies that held onto the past or tried to have it all did not. These transitions are never easy, but I’m determined to ensure that Dropbox is at the foref…
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Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
#53>I take full ownership of this decision and the path that led us here. There's the free bingo space!
The whole letter seemed pretty well written and as good as it could be, the severance and benefits are generous, all good except for this part. It reminded me of Gavin Belson laying off the Nucleus team. If you're "taking full ownership" but there's no financial effect on you, what does that mean exactly? You felt sad for a few minutes while you were writing the letter?
It means they are taking the credit for making a good business decision. When the share prices go up because of the layoffs, he wants to make sure everyone knows that he is responsible for it.
Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
#54> In an ideal world, we’d simply shift people from one team to another. And we’ve done that wherever possible. However, our next stage of growth requires a different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI and early-stage product development. We’ve been bringing in great talent in these areas over the last couple years and we'll need even more. Imagine building a company that lets users store files online, seeing chatg…
> Imagine building a company that lets users store files online, seeing chatgpt released, and then laying off 16% of your company to.. use ai to store files better? I really don’t see how new ai capabilities lead to big layoffs and new opportunities for Dropbox
snark incoming - Imagine thinking you understand the product strategy for a 14 year old, publicly traded company with thousands of employees without working there or having any sort of insider knowledge.
It's also not much of a reach to imagine use cases here. AI trained on a company's corpus of internal documents is an extremely common idea right now. DBX is sitting on a trove of data that is specifically well-suited for building bespoke, company specific AI models.
Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
#55> In an ideal world, we’d simply shift people from one team to another. And we’ve done that wherever possible. However, our next stage of growth requires a different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI and early-stage product development. We’ve been bringing in great talent in these areas over the last couple years and we'll need even more. Imagine building a company that lets users store files online, seeing chatg…
> and then laying off 16% of your company to.. use ai to store files better? I really don’t see how new ai capabilities lead to big layoffs and new opportunities for Dropbox.
Dropbox moved beyond basic file sharing long ago. I don’t personally use all of their productivity tools, but I know a lot of people (generally business/creatives) who do.
If you try to interpret this through the lens of “Dropbox just stores files” then it won’t make sense. However, there are a lot of AI opportunities in file management. Imagine something like an AI-powered search through your documents or an AI photo search. Would be much easier to find that photo of your family standing in front of the Grand Canyon if you could just type that in.
You may not want that product, but it’s unreasonably snarky to pretend that a big company is dumb for pursuing this obvious opportunity.
Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
#56"As the world moved from physical film to digital photography, or from land lines to wireless communication, or from DVD rentals to streaming, opportunity and disruption went hand-in-hand. Companies that embraced a new reality and took decisive action did well. Companies that held onto the past or tried to have it all did not. These transitions are never easy, but I’m determined to ensure that Dropbox is at the foref…
Because AI is what you need to store your files... AI is super cool, but at least for storage of my files in the cloud I prefer something "dumb" to be honest
Google Drive totally changed the way I locate files. Instead of combing through folders, I just search.
AI is going to be extremely useful when I can query my files as a knowledge base directly. Like game-changer useful.
Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
#57So much bitterness and resentment around layoffs. Why? It's not personal, it's just business. Everyone got paid great money to do easy work, and the world is still full of opportunity.
Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
#58> In an ideal world, we’d simply shift people from one team to another. And we’ve done that wherever possible. However, our next stage of growth requires a different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI and early-stage product development. We’ve been bringing in great talent in these areas over the last couple years and we'll need even more. Imagine building a company that lets users store files online, seeing chatg…
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Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
#59Condolences to the affected Dropboxers. I think the silver lining for all of you is that amidst this turmoil, you're well positioned just by having Dropbox on your resume.
As someone laid off 2 weeks ago from a company with much less notoriety, I cringe at the idea of having to now compete with 500 of you.
Good luck out there.
Re: Dropbox to reduce global workforce by about 16%, or 500 staff
#60> In an ideal world, we’d simply shift people from one team to another. And we’ve done that wherever possible. However, our next stage of growth requires a different mix of skill sets, particularly in AI and early-stage product development. We’ve been bringing in great talent in these areas over the last couple years and we'll need even more. Imagine building a company that lets users store files online, seeing chatg…
Good luck finding people with AI skills these days. Its seems possible that AI could be useful for accessing your files. Or having a chat using the files as expertise.