Patreon laying off 20% of staff • Hacker News Board

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#61

Post by jadar » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:46 PM UTC

codegeek wrote: post #42

The only possible positive thing out of this cringy article is that the severance is decent (for a US company). 4 months of pay and healthcare coverage through Year end. Everything else could have just been a couple of sentences. Companies need to stop doing this melodrama every time they decide to fire people. Everyone knows the goal is to make money and keep a company profitable for their shareholders. Why these me…

I tend to agree. But the devil's advocate in me says that then they'd be accused of not having empathy. That sort of thing might work in Europe — but for a US company, I think you have to pay some lip service to emotions.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#62

Post by engineer_22 » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

codegeek wrote: post #42

The only possible positive thing out of this cringy article is that the severance is decent (for a US company). 4 months of pay and healthcare coverage through Year end. Everything else could have just been a couple of sentences. Companies need to stop doing this melodrama every time they decide to fire people. Everyone knows the goal is to make money and keep a company profitable for their shareholders. Why these me…

> Why these melodramatic posts ?

Morale. It’s important that the remaining employees are psychologically secure. They’re trying to make sure they know the company isn’t in jeopardy and that management has them in mind.

Some research supports this https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228120426_Survivors...

In my /opinion/ a personal address, one on one assurances from a trusted manager, this might be more effective, but HR also needs to be careful that the messaging is consistent so this kind of post is probably seen as the best alternative

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#63

Post by cybrox » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

KomoD wrote: post #40

cybrox wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know (I don't browse Patreon but just back some creators individually) but what would be the issue about that? Patreon is a content distributor and payment router between fans and creators, I don't expect or want them to police what creators do with that service.

> I don't expect or want them to police what creators do with that service. Well, they do actually. They have a lot of restrictions on what 18+ content you can publish. Like you can't publish "real" porn, or that's how I interpret this at least: > Works depicting sexual activity between real, adult participants are not permitted. https://www.patreon.com/policy/guidelines#adult-works

Which is fair. If they state that clearly in their ToS, someone producing this kind of content knows, that this is not the right provider for them ahead of time.

Someone producing adult content within the boundaries of what the guidelines allow did pick the right provider, so I don't see a problem with them becoming a prominent creator on the platform.

I should have probably said I don't expect or want them to micromanage the prominence of creators on their platform that do act in accordance with their guidelines. If for some reason figurines became incredibly popular and someone would complain that Patreon is basically just a platform for figurine painters, so what?

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#64

Post by SoftTalker » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

spacebanana7 wrote: post #36

officialchicken wrote: post #19

Bottom line: How do these layoffs increase the successful outcome of product launches on the platform in any way?

The negative metric is more important - if you can cut staff costs by 20% with only 5% reduction in revenue/innovation that’s a win from an investor’s perspective.

Not really. Investors want profits yes, but value is based on largely on expectations of growth. Declining revenue is not a sign of a healthy, valuable company.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#65

Post by nozzlegear » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

josefresco wrote: post #8

spwa4 wrote: post #2

What is it with companies doing mass-layoffs and stating no reasons whatsoever, in fact giving reasons why there's no need: > Second, Patreon’s core business is healthy and strong, and we’re going to be a rock for creators for decades to come. Hundreds of thousands of creators rely on Patreon for their livelihoods, businesses, ... > We’re reducing the size of our team by 20%, or ...

> At the same time, the market in which we operate has undergone profound change over the last 6 months. I guess this is the "reason" but obviously they aren't elaborating. It's odd they picked "6 months" - what changed in "the market"?

What market is Patreon even in – the "facilitating crowdfunding for anyone looking to create things" market? There's not much competition there and I can't imagine it's profoundly changed in the last 6 years, let alone months.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#66

Post by nsxwolf » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

codegeek wrote: post #42

The only possible positive thing out of this cringy article is that the severance is decent (for a US company). 4 months of pay and healthcare coverage through Year end. Everything else could have just been a couple of sentences. Companies need to stop doing this melodrama every time they decide to fire people. Everyone knows the goal is to make money and keep a company profitable for their shareholders. Why these me…

I just got laid off after sitting through a company town hall meeting explaining why the reason we’re all being laid off (replaced with Cognizant + Anthropic colab) is totally awesome and great for the company’s future.

I do not understand why I’m supposed to care.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#67

Post by jadar » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #57

natbennett wrote: post #20

Patreon just does this every few years. At least Jack Conte didn’t post a video of himself crying about it this time.

Kind of tone deaf of him to post a somber layoff message below his open-mouth laugh-smiling profile picture.

Lol imagine if he had changed his profile pic just for this. I don't think that would make him look any better.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#68

Post by ToucanLoucan » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

ActionHank wrote: post #26

powerpcmac wrote: post #5

The rich get richer and the poor get more AI edited and toned condolence posting.

That close out is brutal, "to our teammates who are leaving". Real "Oh no! So sorry to see you go totally by your own choice" vibes. The business is "solid", but is it not profitable? Who is cashing in on cutting these jobs? Which exec is losing their job for overhiring?

And why not fire that exec who doubtlessly costs the company far more money while adding substantially less value than any of these employees?

If a company is genuinely losing money and needs to boost it's profitability surely the easiest place to cut costs is the top where the lowest ROI positions are.

Always goes back to that story from Nintendo when the Wii U went pear-shaped on release, Satoru Iwata and many other executives all took substantial pay cuts to keep the company healthy without demolishing their own ranks. Be nice to see an American company do that just one time, as a treat.

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#69

Post by Hamuko » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

Shalomboy wrote: post #51

sokoloff wrote: post #31

> A $1,500 stipend to replace your company laptop. It seems like a wild choice to give a specific figure as additional cash rather than just letting them keep their (wiped) laptop. That additional cash will be taxed (as should a laptop that is left with the ex-employee, but the used laptop can be valued and taxed as a used laptop rather than a $1500 cash payment [and frankly would often be, um, overlooked...). It see…

I mean, I wouldn't want to have to bulk-purchase a large number of well-spec'ed laptops in this market. But you aren't wrong.

What are you bulk purchasing them for?

Re: Patreon laying off 20% of staff

#70

Post by K0balt » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

codegeek wrote: post #42

The only possible positive thing out of this cringy article is that the severance is decent (for a US company). 4 months of pay and healthcare coverage through Year end. Everything else could have just been a couple of sentences. Companies need to stop doing this melodrama every time they decide to fire people. Everyone knows the goal is to make money and keep a company profitable for their shareholders. Why these me…

It’s because, and I say this as a person who has made these calls, some leaders do feel a genuine responsibility for the people that work for them. Perhaps too, the ones that don’t, want people to think that they do. But as a founder and CEO by far the most emotionally taxing thing I have ever had to do is cut staff for the good of the company. You want to treat people the way you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes, but it doesn’t change the realities of the operation.

This case is clearly AI enabled “right sizing”, and it is inevitable for companies that aren’t seeing explosive growth. It seems like they are handing it well, better than most. Good for them.