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Prisma laying off 28% staff

prisma.io

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Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#231

Post by naijaboiler »

huhtenberg wrote: post #125
ushakov wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously they have a bigger vision for the tool and needed people to make it happen In all honesty, 100 people is not a big number, you need people like accountants, lawyers, office staff and so on

A company of this size needs 1-2 accountants and a part-time lawyer.

i have a company of that size (~100 employees, 60engineers) and we do not have a lawyer on staff. We have a law firm we hire for big things, and an old corporate lawyer friend on as-needed basis who does the small things. Done

Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#232

Post by swyx »

0xfaded wrote: post #216
danjac wrote: post #21

"I take full responsibility" is the new "our incredible journey" of failing tech company cliches.

You're taking it out on a guy who graduated in 2013, managed to found a company in Europe! and have it survive long enough to make it to SF, and created ~100 jobs in the process?!?! This behavior should be celebrated, and so should the people who supported his growth as CEO of his company. The alternative is to install a class of professional CEO punching bags at the helm of every early-stage company. Not doing that…

TIL Soren is relatively young: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sorenbs/?originalSubdomain=de

he comes across as a very mature founder. im sure this layoff wasnt easy for him.

Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#233

Post by swyx »

rightbyte wrote: post #26

So I read their website and to my understanding, they make a DB interface layer, and have 100+ staff? How is this not a company of like 10 people.

for what its worth they are not "just" a DB interface layer. they are at this point or soon to be one of the most popular ORM in JS (~100% market share for new projects among early adopter types) and a cross-db "super ORM" at that (ya i know what i typed, i have my doubts too but hey that seems to be what people want).

also other features mentioned here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34477321

Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#234

Post by AbrahamParangi »

asah wrote: post #152
danjac wrote: post #21

"I take full responsibility" is the new "our incredible journey" of failing tech company cliches.

I'd be ok with this and other lies having legal (civil) consequences, i.e. CEOs who say this are personally liable. Obviously, this phrase would die and that's the point. Really, it's not hard to remain authentic. Statements like "I feel terrible" are fine and even "we're trying to support everyone through this transition, both staff directly affected and their families, as well as the remaining staff who we realize…

“I take full responsibility” means “I am not firing these people because of their faults, I am firing them because I need to and had I better foresight, I wouldn’t have hired them in the first place”

The firing is a necessary consequence of the hiring. You can, if you want, make it harder to fire people — but if you do you will also find companies will be less willing to hire people.

Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#235

Post by FrontierPsych »

dzikimarian wrote: post #218
teeray wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How is this responsibility defined? If it were truly taking responsibility, the CEO approving layoffs would have a 28% chance of being laid off too.

Surely random leadership change will help remaining 72%.

Very well could be the case.

Also, who said it would be a spin-the-wheel random choice.

I'm sure the board of directors can go through a search to find another CEO, whether internal or external.

But the CEO, the leader, should have some skin in the game as well. That's what real leadership is about.

Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#236

Post by huhtenberg »

naijaboiler wrote: post #231
huhtenberg wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A company of this size needs 1-2 accountants and a part-time lawyer.

i have a company of that size (~100 employees, 60engineers) and we do not have a lawyer on staff. We have a law firm we hire for big things, and an old corporate lawyer friend on as-needed basis who does the small things. Done

Exactly.

Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#237

Post by beardedman »

throwayyy479087 wrote: post #167
beardedman wrote: post #139

I'd be interested to know the age (or any other) demographic of HN'ers commenting on posts like these. Lot of people sounding very personally slighted by companies trying to remain profitable (or just in business).

I’ve seen Zoomers think Tech is the safest, best job. They’ve only seen the 3 years of boom. I’ve been around for much longer - tech jobs are great but very much come and go. In some ways we’re all consultants

> In some ways we’re all consultants

Surprisingly true!

Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#238

Post by marmada »

I've used Prisma before, and I will note that there pace of feature development seemed mind numbingly slow for a company as large as they were. Entirely possible I'm missing a lot of things, but it was just a big disappointment overall.

Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#239

Post by dzikimarian »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #224
dzikimarian wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely random leadership change will help remaining 72%.

Considering the track records that may be better than the good ol boys club shielding each other from these cuts

What track record you're talking about? Last time layoffs of this size hit the market was about 15 years ago. Through these years average compensation in IT steadily rose, usually faster than market.

Re: Prisma laying off 28% staff

#240

Post by paulryanrogers »

dzikimarian wrote: post #239
paulryanrogers wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the track records that may be better than the good ol boys club shielding each other from these cuts

What track record you're talking about? Last time layoffs of this size hit the market was about 15 years ago. Through these years average compensation in IT steadily rose, usually faster than market.

Performance of executives, especially the 'professional' MBA class.
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