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Bolt announces layoffs

bolt.com

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Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#461

Post by danjac »

DeathArrow wrote: post #434
sodapopcan wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm butting in here because this struck a chord. There are lots of people of people out there running highly profitable (and globally well-known) businesses off of Excel sheets. They have identified that they don't want to do this anymore as these sheets have grown so monstrously complex over the years that the employees who have to use them are miserable. Basically there is lots of opportunity to start a tech compan…

It's not easy to find those excel users and ask them what they need.

I think you probably need to be embedded in the industry for a while so you have both a good handle on how the industry works and the connections to get a foot in the door with any new solution.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#462

Post by Lapz »

hahaxdxd123 wrote: post #54
Lapz wrote: post #2

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…

where did you get $5.1m?

I got it from this article: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/bolt-a-checkout-star....

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#463

Post by creakingstairs »

nowherebeen wrote: post #436
Patrol8394 wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at a startup and the CEO was obsessed with hiring at all cost. We, engineers, were all wondering what the hell these new hires were supposed to do. We did not need them. Then they explained it to me. They needed to show growth through hiring in order to raise money. I mean, I couldn’t even blame them, if that’s a criteria for VC to hand you a check, well you gotta do what you gotta do. Needless to say this s…

That's the equivalent of counting the number of lines of code to see how much work you did that day as a developer.

It really shows how "free" capital has been last few years if the VCs can use that broken as heuristics and survive (even thrive).

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#465

Post by girvo »

nowherebeen wrote: post #436
Patrol8394 wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at a startup and the CEO was obsessed with hiring at all cost. We, engineers, were all wondering what the hell these new hires were supposed to do. We did not need them. Then they explained it to me. They needed to show growth through hiring in order to raise money. I mean, I couldn’t even blame them, if that’s a criteria for VC to hand you a check, well you gotta do what you gotta do. Needless to say this s…

That's the equivalent of counting the number of lines of code to see how much work you did that day as a developer.

I'm always stoked when my daily contribution is a negative number of LoC

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#466

Post by madduci »

I love this justification:

> To laser focus on our core business and products, we will be prioritizing our roadmap and making several structural changes. Unfortunately, this includes reducing the size of our workforce and parting ways with some incredibly talented people on our team as of today.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#467

Post by ryanSrich »

With YC, Craft, and Sequoia all urging their portfolio companies to operate at a When you’re small, and have revenue, it might only take a handful of layoffs to get to “default alive” as a startup. But once you go beyond a series A and start dumping gasoline on every part of your business to scale faster, the risk starts to grow exponentially. These companies with hundreds of employees are insanely inefficient, but that’s the game. You run hot until you get above everyone else and then you start to figure out how to actually make money.

During a recession that type of growth probably doesn’t work. We might still see a few companies blitz scale, but if the capital is risk off there’s unlikely to an abundance of these types of companies.

In a way it’ll be an end of an era. Probably for the better, but the run was great while it lasted (depending on how you view great). I think any startup caught in the middle right now needs to effectively assume they’re dead unless they get to operational break even with their current runway.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#468

Post by RexM »

tschellenbach wrote: post #74
88913527 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more businesses do this, the more the hiring market becomes lemons for unicorn-type businesses. Prospective employees will wonder if they're an overhire and if question their expectations of job security.

Always ask about valuation and revenue. If the multiple is very high run the other way. A high multiple makes it less likely that your stock will be worth something, it also makes it more likely that the company will have to do layoffs in the future.

What’s considered high?

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#469

Post by xuki »

jjeaff wrote: post #412
Patrol8394 wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked at a startup and the CEO was obsessed with hiring at all cost. We, engineers, were all wondering what the hell these new hires were supposed to do. We did not need them. Then they explained it to me. They needed to show growth through hiring in order to raise money. I mean, I couldn’t even blame them, if that’s a criteria for VC to hand you a check, well you gotta do what you gotta do. Needless to say this s…

My experience is that current investors want you to hire tons of people to shorten your runway so they can force you into another round where they can buy more shares and dilute the founders more.

That might be part of it, but also VCs are not interested in $100 mil exits, they rather you go all out and either capture the market or die trying.
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