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Brex Layoffs

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Re: Brex Layoffs

#31

Post by e1g »

frfl wrote: post #20

> increasing in-person collaboration in our hubs, and concentrating the time zones in which we operate. > With our focus on financial software and high-quality growth, we grew gross profit by 75%+ last year. While we're proud of those accomplishments, we still have a way to go to ensure high-velocity growth and profitability for years to come

> increasing in-person collaboration in our hubs, and concentrating the time zones in which we operate

Massive turn-around since Brex declared themselves to be remote-first and said things like "Yes, employees can relocate permanently with Brex’s transition to remote-first" https://www.brex.com/journal/remote-first-at-brex

Re: Brex Layoffs

#32

Post by bagels »

e1g wrote: post #31
frfl wrote: post #20

> increasing in-person collaboration in our hubs, and concentrating the time zones in which we operate. > With our focus on financial software and high-quality growth, we grew gross profit by 75%+ last year. While we're proud of those accomplishments, we still have a way to go to ensure high-velocity growth and profitability for years to come

> increasing in-person collaboration in our hubs, and concentrating the time zones in which we operate Massive turn-around since Brex declared themselves to be remote-first and said things like "Yes, employees can relocate permanently with Brex’s transition to remote-first" https://www.brex.com/journal/remote-first-at-brex

Employees had leverage. Now they do not.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#33

Post by soneca »

claudiulodro wrote: post #26

It seems like companies are really tightening the screws further this year. When I got into this industry I figured the good times would roll for about 10 years, and then it would be about time for another career change. "Make hay while the sun is shining", as they say. I'm right around that 10th year, and I think that prediction was accurate.

Do you think there is a career out there better than (I assume) software development?

My view is that we are still in pretty good times. Maybe not great, but everyone who kept their jobs is still earning a big salary.

And everything else other than software development is worse (specifically if you bundle things like ML into “software development“).

I am curious. What career would you change to?

Re: Brex Layoffs

#34

Post by masto »

GiorgioG wrote: post #4

> To continue capturing the massive opportunity ahead, we’re hyper-focused on building a high-velocity product and growth machine. I mean, who wouldn't want to work for this guy?

He's clearly operating at all levels.

As an aside, it's funny (not ha-ha funny) watching these things sweep through in waves; they're basically fashion. For a while, we needed to "put the structure in place to be able to scale" and it was all about adding more levels of hierarchy. Now we're flattening the org chart and managers are expected to do everyone's job at once. Today everyone needs to own the product vision. Tomorrow you need to focus on execution and stop stepping on product management's toes. Be more hands-on. Now stop micromanaging. We're Agile. We can't keep changing the plan. Promote from within; the best leaders start in the trenches. We need professionals with outside perspective, so we're filling that role with some guy from Oracle.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#35

Post by shmatt »

Oof to this link in the post https://www.brex.com/journal/operate-at-all-levels

What a terrible culture, dunking on people management, calling it meaningless

And no, I don't want the Director of AI to explain react component rendering to me, it sounds like they are grooming a generation of super-micromanaging executives. Maybe the CTO was kicked out after he failed to complete 3 back to back leetcode hards

Re: Brex Layoffs

#36

Post by jamestimmins »

jchonphoenix wrote: post #30

20% of the company Given how it sounds like Brex is doing, they're likely going to need to cut again. This isn't deep enough to really solve any systemic or structural problems. It will likely work though if the product vision and execution are on point and they just need more runway/less bloat.

But do layoffs ever solve systemic or structural problems?

They're typically about reducing burn. Whether management knows how to identify and fix core problems is a totally different question.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#37

Post by ilrwbwrkhv »

"Today we’re restructuring Brex to become a high-velocity company"

Lol. Wtf were you doing so long as a CEO?

I never understood these dumb messages.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#38

Post by ipaddr »

Gabrys1 wrote: post #8

I like that they shared publicly the severance package (I missed that in a company before, the severance package was only available to the ones laid off, and you wouldn't even know if you got the same as your colleagues). And the package itself seems alright too (and sensible, for example: the laid off can keep their laptops. What would company do with almost 300 extra laptops?). Time of the lay off also not too bad…

8 weeks plus 2 weeks per year seems light. 4 weeks for every year sounds more fair. The interview process was over 8 weeks

Re: Brex Layoffs

#39

Post by JumpCrisscross »

jamestimmins wrote: post #36
jchonphoenix wrote: post #30

20% of the company Given how it sounds like Brex is doing, they're likely going to need to cut again. This isn't deep enough to really solve any systemic or structural problems. It will likely work though if the product vision and execution are on point and they just need more runway/less bloat.

But do layoffs ever solve systemic or structural problems? They're typically about reducing burn. Whether management knows how to identify and fix core problems is a totally different question.

> But do layoffs ever solve systemic or structural problems?

Brex is a leveraged play on start-up fundraising. They're a fundamentally cyclical business.

Re: Brex Layoffs

#40

Post by toomuchtodo »

soneca wrote: post #33
claudiulodro wrote: post #26

It seems like companies are really tightening the screws further this year. When I got into this industry I figured the good times would roll for about 10 years, and then it would be about time for another career change. "Make hay while the sun is shining", as they say. I'm right around that 10th year, and I think that prediction was accurate.

Do you think there is a career out there better than (I assume) software development? My view is that we are still in pretty good times. Maybe not great, but everyone who kept their jobs is still earning a big salary. And everything else other than software development is worse (specifically if you bundle things like ML into “software development“). I am curious. What career would you change to?

Attorney. Build a system, work from anywhere, make your own schedule. Hard to outsource.
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