The article explains the startup layoff of TechCrunch.
All the guys following TechCrunch can definitely realise a sudden rise in posts reporting laying offs,startup shutdowns,financial crisis,founder give-ups and similar stuff in the month of October…
Starting from a post reporting eBay’s layoff(1500 employees) on Oct 3 and continuing till now(7 layoff reported on a single day,Oct 17),this trend is not looking to end so soon.TC has even created a Layoff Tracker(to keep an account of all such layoffs)
This situation(may be called bubble 2.0 climax) reminds me of dot com bubble when cluster of dot-coms went bankrupt and laying off some staff members used to be one of the ways to cut costs and prolong the survival period of startups.
That time F**kedCompany played the role of a “reporter” to doomed/troubled dot-coms and this time,TechCrunch is looking to play the ‘lead role’ in reporting crippled state of tech/IT world.
The only difference lies in the approach…
F**kedCompany used to mock at burnt dot-coms and TechCrunch has(mostly) a neutral and factual approach towards this ‘troubled phase’.
Here is a list of all such layoffs that were reported on TechCrunch in the month of October(layoff tracker has even more layoffs listed on it which belong to some other source)…
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October 3, 2008
As eBay preps layoffs, startup investment crashes – it’s going to be a cold winter people
October 10, 2008
Getting The UnParty Started: Seesmic Lays Off 1/3 Of Staff
October 14, 2008
Jive Software Lays Off 1/3 Of Staff
October 16, 2008
Adbrite Lays Off 40% Of Staff, Including Two Execs
October 16, 2008
No Hi5’s Today. No. 3 Social Network Lays Off 10 to 15 Percent Of Staff
October 16, 2008
Adult Startup Zivity Cuts 1/3 Of Staff
October 17, 2008
More Layoffs: Pandora Cuts 14 Percent of Its Staff
October 17, 2008
25% Layoffs At Seattle’s Zillow
October 17, 2008
13 Employees Laid Off At VoIP Startup Jaxtr
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Conclusion
“It seems the situation will go even worse and the decision of startups/companies to shed some load off their shoulders appears as the only solution to effectively decrease the running costs.Hope market revives soon“