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Tech layoffs are feeding a new startup surge

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Re: Tech layoffs are feeding a new startup surge

#11

Post by screwturner68 »

mjr00 wrote: post #6
FlyingSnake wrote: post #2

No shit Sherlock. If FAANG companies lay-off smart people expert at the latest technologies and give them a comfortable severance, some of them are bound to come up with smart startups. Some are going to hurt the incumbents eventually. The BigCos shot themself in foot by doing these mimetic mass firings.

I don't know if it was "shot themselves in the foot" so much as "the unsustainable thing they were doing to prevent potential competition finally broke." FAANG's talent acquisition strategy has always been as much about preventing things from being built externally as it was building things internally. Problem is, there's only so long you can funnel all of your 500k/year engineers into revenue-negative wastes of time…

I just think the FAANGs got a little drunk on profits and hiring during covid. Now that things are normalizing they realized that they hired too many people and they are chopping heads. To me I just don't see the big deal, tech does mass purges every few years and for the most part everyone lands on their feet and the industry expands even more. Giving a few thousand really smart 20-somethings six months salary and sending them on their way is going to create hundreds of startups and passion projects and a couple of those projects might actually have some value (outside of SV).

Re: Tech layoffs are feeding a new startup surge

#12

Post by ejb999 »

I imagine it is a tiny fraction of the people getting laid off that go that route - imo, most are out applying for jobs.

I work for a fortune 50 company - (not faang), on our team we had 2 openings posted back in early November - one for a developer, one for a lead developer (same tech stack) - this was for a fully remote positions, but limited to timezones that mostly overlapped with the USA - we got 3 applicants for the lead, 4 for the non-lead positions and hired from that pool.

Mid Jan we got the OK for two more developers (also 100% remote, the same tech stack and same total comp as above), we got over 330 resumes to weed thru this time - with lots of ex-faang and other big name tech companies folks applying, whereas we never saw resumes from those companies before.

Its good for us of course, but I feel bad for anyone who needs a job quickly - there is an awful lot of competition for not as many openings

Re: Tech layoffs are feeding a new startup surge

#13

Post by sebastianconcpt »

qqtt wrote: post #8

Good. Both Google and Amazon are barreling down the path of democratizing scale and infrastructure with their cloud offerings. It's never been easier to reach millions of users in a short amount of time with your product. These are the companies that will end up ultimately challenging them down the road for talent and potentially even hitting at their core business models of search and commerce (we've already seen hi…

I hope so

Re: Tech layoffs are feeding a new startup surge

#17

Post by time_to_smile »

cameronfraser wrote: post #4

good luck getting funding

This is what I've seen talking to startups. Lots of seed round companies needing to build up a team fast to try to secure a series A before it's too late. Most of them completely insane (with occasional good ones in there) with ideas that clearly have no reasonable profit model.

It's undoubtably a great time for startups to get talent, but startups as we know them today tend to be very hungry for VC money, which is drying up rapidly. I would be very hesitant to join one unless the match was really good.

Re: Tech layoffs are feeding a new startup surge

#18

Post by oytis »

whatever1 wrote: post #16
cameronfraser wrote: post #4

good luck getting funding

There is a ton of money parked into savings accounts due to the high interest rates and the fear of recession. As things improve all this money will look for employment.

As things improve big tech will start hiring again.

Re: Tech layoffs are feeding a new startup surge

#19

Post by afavour »

PyWoody wrote: post #7
simonw wrote: post #3

I imagine severance packages are a big factor here. People laid off by Google might have a full six months or more of severance pay, plus health insurance through Cobra. That's a pretty fantastic opportunity to spend six months on a startup in relative economic safety!

I sympathize with anyone who's been recently laid off but I am also genuinely excited for what's going to come next. I feel like we've been in a startup rut over these past few years. At least for non-crypto startups, that is. Does anyone have a list of new startups to watch out for over the next year or so?

I'm a little more pessimistic. IMO the last true burst of startup innovation coincided with the creation of the App Store and the iPhone: brand new tech, brand new markets to innovate in. It's possible that AI is that next frontier but I'm personally not convinced. I don't think more startups is going to automatically mean we're out of a rut.

Re: Tech layoffs are feeding a new startup surge

#20

Post by jonnycoder »

ejb999 wrote: post #12

I imagine it is a tiny fraction of the people getting laid off that go that route - imo, most are out applying for jobs. I work for a fortune 50 company - (not faang), on our team we had 2 openings posted back in early November - one for a developer, one for a lead developer (same tech stack) - this was for a fully remote positions, but limited to timezones that mostly overlapped with the USA - we got 3 applicants fo…

Hindsight sucks sometimes. I was looking at my linkedin messages and I have many from FAANG recruiters reaching out back in late 2020 and early 2021, and my profile is mostly private with not a lot of detail. The current market for senior/principal software engineers is dismal. The listings are there, including remote, but it's as if there is a hiring freeze across the board yet they leave up the job postings.
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