Bolt announces layoffs • Hacker News Board

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#371

Post by pevey » Thu, May 26, 2022, 3:58 AM UTC

aabhay wrote: post #157

I called it ages ago -- this company is an utter train wreck. I am honestly ashamed of the entire industry for birthing and fostering this basically fraudulent company. Its mistakes and lies are compounding on themselves, creating awful outcomes for its employees: - Company almost certainly juiced its usage numbers, potentially by buying users to inflate its customers revenues, so it could use those numbers to convin…

I have an ecommerce web site for a smallish regional coffee company I own. I heard about Bolt and was interested enough to go to their web site to learn more. Could not find a pricing page. Saw a form where you can request a demo. Realized it was one of those products. Left immediately. I don't have time for that song and dance. No wonder they can't grow market share.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#372

Post by Aeolun » Thu, May 26, 2022, 3:59 AM UTC

sparrc wrote: post #368

I'm a bit naive on this space so forgive if this is an ignorant question; Can anyone explain how any of these companies (Bolt, Fast, 1o) are doing anything different than "checkout with paypal"? What exactly is wrong with paypal that would make a merchant want to use Bolt instead?

Customers do not like paypal? At least I don’t like Paypal.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#373

Post by whatever_dude » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:01 AM UTC

mrcwinn wrote: post #353

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #49

Rumors going around on blind (posted by bolt employees) that over the course of a few rounds of layoffs it will be 30-50% of the total workforce. A lot of the initial layoff are software engineers. Apparently they only have 12-18 months of runway, and need to effectively double that. Current revenue is 40M. I guess this is the beginning of the tech washout. clings to large tech company job EDIT: 33% layoff today

Similar. It's wild to realize when I was CEO of our startup, we had significantly less name recognition, dramatically less capital raised (by orders of magnitude), a much smaller team. ...and yet apparently significantly more revenue per employee than Bolt. Oh, and we were profitable, infinite runway, good growth, solid unit economics, LTVs we understood. Imagine!

Everybody starts making zero (or negative) dollars.

I have no positive view of Bolt myself, but in a situation like this VCs are putting money on future prospects/growth potential, not the early revenue.

(Doesn't work if the company goes bust though)

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#374

Post by icelancer » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:05 AM UTC

abraxas wrote: post #273

fdgsdfogijq wrote: post #49

Rumors going around on blind (posted by bolt employees) that over the course of a few rounds of layoffs it will be 30-50% of the total workforce. A lot of the initial layoff are software engineers. Apparently they only have 12-18 months of runway, and need to effectively double that. Current revenue is 40M. I guess this is the beginning of the tech washout. clings to large tech company job EDIT: 33% layoff today

40M in revenue for the year?! Jesus, my startup is making about half that with a good sales pipeline for this year and we are 55 employees total. We might hire additional handful this year but that's it. How do you even onboard when you double your workforce every few months?

Yeah Bolt's numbers are just nonsense. We do 1/3 of what you do with a slightly less workforce than you, same hiring strategy.

There have to be tons of businesses like ours. No one cares about small business success though. I'd love to read more books and stories about "small" businesses making $5-40MM and how they go about their day and running the company. Would make for far better reading than all the vaporware and malinvestment in the VC space due to free money over the last 5-10 years.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#375

Post by pbreit » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:05 AM UTC

sparrc wrote: post #368

I'm a bit naive on this space so forgive if this is an ignorant question; Can anyone explain how any of these companies (Bolt, Fast, 1o) are doing anything different than "checkout with paypal"? What exactly is wrong with paypal that would make a merchant want to use Bolt instead?

That's like asking how is Amazon different from Barnes & Noble.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#376

Post by icelancer » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:06 AM UTC

abraxas wrote: post #344

arturkane7 wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that is very impressive in this climate may I ask what is the category of the business? I am guessing it is not in any of the fashionable current spaces (blockchain, retail logistics, fintech,…)

No, a much less sexy but profitable and still under-served market - industrial monitoring and process improvement.

Ha, love that. Gotta love the "boring" businesses that have good profit margins and solve problems. We're in a similar industry, with a lot of R&D costs.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#377

Post by behnamoh » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:07 AM UTC

abraxas wrote: post #311

dexterdog wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it matter if that revenue is unprofitable and there is not a real path to profitability?

We have been profitable for the past 18 months or so.

I like the username! I think I first heard it in the show Foundation (on Apple TV).

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#378

Post by olliepop » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:07 AM UTC

sparrc wrote: post #368

I'm a bit naive on this space so forgive if this is an ignorant question; Can anyone explain how any of these companies (Bolt, Fast, 1o) are doing anything different than "checkout with paypal"? What exactly is wrong with paypal that would make a merchant want to use Bolt instead?

Essentially, Bolt (and Fast etc) are offering the convenience of a "1-click checkout" identical to Amazon's 1-click checkout button.

If you transact with Bolt at least once through any of their merchants, then Bolt will have saved your billing and shipping information so that future purchases are instant and do not require checkout forms to be completed. Theoretically with the reduced checkout friction there is a reduction in abandoned carts.

Makes no sense to me either.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#379

Post by aeyes » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:07 AM UTC

sparrc wrote: post #368

I'm a bit naive on this space so forgive if this is an ignorant question; Can anyone explain how any of these companies (Bolt, Fast, 1o) are doing anything different than "checkout with paypal"? What exactly is wrong with paypal that would make a merchant want to use Bolt instead?

And since Amazon now also came out with such a payment button, how are they going to compete against a company which already has an enormous user base with their credit card data on file?

That they were able to raise 1B$ is a true dotcom era déjà vu.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#380

Post by adrr » Thu, May 26, 2022, 4:09 AM UTC

pfarrell wrote: post #335

adrr wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sell them to who? Are there any secondary market sites still running. Otherwise, you're cold calling investors. I tried to sell my shares in a startup to cover my six figure tax bill and couldn't find a buyer even with the company's CFO helping me.

In this case, the company had gone public, so they could have sold. Bolt is a wholly different story. I think the employees back in 2000 had one window where they could sell where the stock was at a high value. Many of them passed it up, expecting it to go to 70. In 2015, I talked to ESO fund for some fintech options I had where I couldn’t cover the tax when I quit (stock wasn’t public). I was very satisfied with my…

It's all luck and timing. The company I couldn't sell the shares to cover my tax bill was acquired for nine figures a year later and I had all my stock because I couldn't sell it.