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Layoffs at Block

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Re: Layoffs at Block

#131

Post by bananamogul »

KittenInABox wrote: post #112
singpolyma3 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong? A company doesn't owe anyone a job. Either they need the employee or they don't.

I feel like the idea that X doesn't owe you Y is fundamentally at odds with the fact that humans are a cooperative species and survive the best when they are cooperating. A choir can hold a note together because individuals can stop singing to breathe, safely covered by peers who will take their turn to breathe later. What is the point of organizing socially if not for the benefit of all society members? I know we ha…

"humans are a cooperative species"

Humans are violent, self-centered tribalists. What species are you referring to? Not homo sapiens.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#132

Post by simianwords »

KittenInABox wrote: post #112
singpolyma3 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong? A company doesn't owe anyone a job. Either they need the employee or they don't.

I feel like the idea that X doesn't owe you Y is fundamentally at odds with the fact that humans are a cooperative species and survive the best when they are cooperating. A choir can hold a note together because individuals can stop singing to breathe, safely covered by peers who will take their turn to breathe later. What is the point of organizing socially if not for the benefit of all society members? I know we ha…

fundamentally you see jobs as more important than the end product. this is a tension i keep finding in many minds.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#134

Post by r-w »

overfeed wrote: post #116

> i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. I hope this gets drilled into the heads of everyone who sells their labor. The company is profitable, and Jack could have kept 4000 people employed with no difference in outcome, instead, he chose this.

How magnanimous of him to let us all know of his magnanimity!

Re: Layoffs at Block

#135

Post by toomuchtodo »

n2d4 wrote: post #81
daxfohl wrote: post #48

We'll see how much the AI aspect is true by whether they're thinning out teams equally, or just axing whole initiatives. My impression of Block was that it was mostly a one-trick pony (okay, two if you include CashApp) with a bunch of side initiatives that never seemed to pan out, so I'm expecting it to be more of the latter, with this being more of an admission that they're now in "maintenance mode". Either way, I t…

In what sense did CashApp not pan out? $16b revenue. Too early to say whether Afterpay will work out but looking good so far

CashApp was launched in 2013, long before Zelle and other instant payment rails arrived, which closed wallet providers solved for (Venmo too, owned by...Paypal). There is little growth to be had when these customers can get free deposit accounts with access to Zelle or FedNow to move value for free instantly. It's success to be sure to accumulate the cashflow from the customer base built, but it isn't lasting.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#137

Post by IshKebab »

iaaan wrote: post #52
mattbillenstein wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if the AI piece isn't really true - smaller flatter teams will move faster anyway. I always wonder having worked in a lot of startups with 10-50ppl, what on earth a business does with 10000.

Seconded. My experience has been that -- even while still complying with lots of overhead (e.g. government regulations and compliance) -- smaller teams of 1-3 devs move waaaaay faster than teams of 4-10. Could definitely speak to the overall codebase quality or some other factor, but yeah.

I expect it's more that early in projects you move faster, and that normally involves fewer people.

Once projects get bigger they need more devs and also move slower.

Put a team of 1-3 devs on MS Word and see how fast they move...

Re: Layoffs at Block

#138

Post by hirako2000 »

overfeed wrote: post #116

> i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. I hope this gets drilled into the heads of everyone who sells their labor. The company is profitable, and Jack could have kept 4000 people employed with no difference in outcome, instead, he chose this.

Backers probably told him to. I can't open LinkedIn any day without trending posts that engineers can hands off to LLMs. That must tilt some ideas to investors who see winners as ways to balance their losses.

Re: Layoffs at Block

#139

Post by Havoc »

Took a quick look at their financials...

I reckon this move is related to bitcoin doing poorly. A LOT of their revenue is bitcoin related and I reckon they realized they're going to have an absolute stinker of a Q1 '26 result...

Re: Layoffs at Block

#140

Post by IshKebab »

rcakebread wrote: post #136

Couldn't even be bothered to type like an adult when he fired them.

Yeah I was thinking the same. Pretty generous severance but I'd be pissed if I was fired by someone who can't even be bothered to press shift. Probably thinks it makes him cool and edgy.
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