Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bolt announces layoffs

bolt.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 564 posts

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#81

Post by throwaabolt »

I am one of those let go today. It's especially bad, because they seem to have messed up the invite templates. I received one to the Town Hall meeting, even before Majus letter was published, only to get the invitation cancelled and receive and invitation to "Bolt Restructuring". What an emotional rollercoaster. Extremely anxious about the future, as this is my first time being laid off, especially in the current market.

EDIT: I am doubly screwed because I signed up for the employee stock option loan program... and I'm not sure what the bank will want from me now that the stock price has tanked.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#82

Post by schoolornot »

unicornmama wrote: post #69
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

Large technology companies won’t hesitate to layoff employees to protect their stock price.

Or their bonuses.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#83

Post by silentsea90 »

dburn1169 wrote: post #12
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…

> 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.

10M a week = ~500M a year. 10B valuation. wow. Where is that?

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#85

Post by nrmitchi »

Rafert wrote: post #73
nrmitchi wrote: post #33

First of all, there is no mention of what percentage of their workforce is being directly effected by this. I suspect it is not small. That aside, I fail to see this as anything other than this "company" taking advantage of the current environment to execute layoffs in a way that lets them blame "the market" rather than their own short-comings. We saw this in March 2020 as well. They overhired for the hype, and now a…

Don't forget they're getting sued by a large customer of theirs too, claiming their solution doesn't deliver what was promised: https://www.pymnts.com/legal/2022/authentic-brands-sues-bolt...

Oh I didn't, but I (shockingly) didn't think it was relevant here in comparison to the $355M dollars that they recently raised. Even an expensive lawsuit would be unlikely to put a big enough dent in that to materially affect their runway, and it's not like "losing more sales" can make their existing revenue much lower (again, in comparison to a $355M war chest).

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#86

Post by chowchowchow »

break_the_bank wrote: post #63
nklende wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a smaller YC company pitch me something like this as an option for my stock comp - an RSA (restricted stock agreement, or "founder's stock"), where I put up all the cash up front, paid a big income tax bill in the first year, but then upside was all capital gains. I would technically own the stock but I had to sell it back for nothing if I left before it vested. Turned out I left very early because the company…

Wow. How'd they make you pay upfront and still make you wait & vest? This makes no sense.

This is actually a great deal when the exercise price is low enough. You pay a nominal-ish amount up front to exercise early and all gains are LTCG. It is not a good deal in any situation where you’re not getting in close to the ground floor though, if the exercise cost itself is substantial.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#87

Post by nemothekid »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #70
nemothekid wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't see why it should be illegal. People take on debt to buy assets all the time. But this is just so irresponsible and immoral; I really doubt the leadership is actually running a sustainable business; and I'm also starting to seriously doubt there was any credibility to the whole YC/Stripe boys club thing. 1. Ryan (was) the CEO, and can pressure employees to buy stock (or let them go because they aren't "commit…

> can't see why it should be illegal Borrowing against one's shares shouldn't be illegal. Companies lining up recourse financing for their employees should. How were the terms of the loans chosen? Who knew who was and wasn't participating? How was it ensured this wouldn't factor into personnel decisions? How were/are the people setting the strike prices of options segregated from the people setting the terms of the l…

>Companies lining up recourse financing for their employees should.

Wait the companies set these loans up? I thought they were just going to a bank and getting something akin to a personal loan or some other 3rd party collateralized loan.

Might as well work for free at that point.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#88

Post by nrmitchi »

halfdan wrote: post #75
nrmitchi wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) "Multiple rounds" is basically the worst possible way to do layoffs. 2) Based on their recent fundraise (and assuming that they had 0 dollars at that point), that's basically a burn rate of 25-30M/m. I'm not sure I can event comprehend what that company could be spending that much money on.

Having 5000 employees will do that quickly.

From what I'm seeing they had ~550 employees as of the beginning of this year (~4 months ago). This was up from ~270 in Sept 2021 (~4 months prior).

I would find it very hard to believe they have increased their headcount by 900% (~4500 people) in 4 months.

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#89

Post by ushakov »

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

they raised $355M this year and like $600M last year

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/bolt-5/company_finan...

how can a company burn money that quickly so they end up with only 12-18 months of runway?

Re: Bolt announces layoffs

#90

Post by throway782 »

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

This is the deflating of the covid hype bubble used to distract the public, for sure.

It will be 12-18 months at least before we can tell if a long legged tech washout is upon us.

Post reply on HN