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The founder also encouraged employees to take on what was effectively personal debt at an ~11B valuation when they only did $5.2M in Q1…
The founder pushing employees to take such a reckless financial decision while presumably their only insight into many key business metrics is the leaderships rosy portrayal of them is unethically irresponsible.
I hate the use of things like "directly impacted" - feels like such corporate speak to try to lessen the blow. Just be straight about things. "Those who are being laid off" - don't hide behind words.
The founder also encouraged employees to take on what was effectively personal debt at an ~11B valuation when they only did $5.2M in Q1…
> There IS risk to the employee; they now have a real loan outstanding and 100% personal recourse, so if the common stock becomes less than exercise price, their personal assets are on the hook https://twitter.com/theryanking/status/1493390184897032201 HOLY CRAP. How is this even legal???
1. Ryan (was) the CEO, and can pressure employees to buy stock (or let them go because they aren't "committed" enough).
2. Ryan loses nothing if the company fails (his personal loss has probably already been covered since the first VC round), but each employee is left with a mountain of debt.
3. It's just bad advice. I know plenty of people who took out loans for stock; and I would never recommend it; it's incredibly risky especially if it can destroy you if it fails. If leadership plays so fast and loose with other people's money, you have to question how well they are doing their job.
This kind of message feels more authentic to me if you put the big news in the first sentence, then cover logistics, then add any context you want. Seems better than making people wade through a lot of stuff about securing financial position, market conditions, etc etc to learn if they are losing their job.
Don't waste people's time by burying the most important information. You can receive a longform explanation, but not at the expense of comprehension or speed of delivery.
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The founder also encouraged employees to take on what was effectively personal debt at an ~11B valuation when they only did $5.2M in Q1…
> when they only did $5.2M in Q1… This is insane to me. I work at a startup with a similar valuation and we bring in almost double that amount of revenue a week... and I think we're overvalued.
This kind of message feels more authentic to me if you put the big news in the first sentence, then cover logistics, then add any context you want. Seems better than making people wade through a lot of stuff about securing financial position, market conditions, etc etc to learn if they are losing their job.
How is this authentic? I was reading through and thinking how it's mincing words and making it sound like everyone is going to feel the same pain.
"This is one of the hardest messages I’ve ever had to send." Bad start. Why do CEOs make this about them? "Unfortunately, this includes reducing the size of our workforce and parting ways " "I know this will be difficult for us all" At least acknowledge that it's going to be more difficult for people who will lose their jobs. "But today, my focus is on our people. " You're literally laying people off. First paragraph literally puts employees as the last priority. "my top priority has been to do what’s best for Bolt’s business, customers, and employees"
Stuff like this is business reality- just be really authentic. Say it sucks but we've had to do this. Don't talk about how hard it is for you or others who aren't directly impacted. It may be hard but it's way harder for the ones losing their jobs and cut the BS about focus being on people. It's clearly not.
This kind of message feels more authentic to me if you put the big news in the first sentence, then cover logistics, then add any context you want. Seems better than making people wade through a lot of stuff about securing financial position, market conditions, etc etc to learn if they are losing their job.
Edit: I'm going to leave the below message but wanted to acknowledge that OP meant that the message could be more authentic. I misread. How is this authentic? I was reading through and thinking how it's mincing words and making it sound like everyone is going to feel the same pain. "This is one of the hardest messages I’ve ever had to send." Bad start. Why do CEOs make this about them? "Unfortunately, this includes r…
This kind of message feels more authentic to me if you put the big news in the first sentence, then cover logistics, then add any context you want. Seems better than making people wade through a lot of stuff about securing financial position, market conditions, etc etc to learn if they are losing their job.
Edit: I'm going to leave the below message but wanted to acknowledge that OP meant that the message could be more authentic. I misread. How is this authentic? I was reading through and thinking how it's mincing words and making it sound like everyone is going to feel the same pain. "This is one of the hardest messages I’ve ever had to send." Bad start. Why do CEOs make this about them? "Unfortunately, this includes r…