Building for the long run
Today I have some tough news to share. I decided to reduce the size of the Gitpod team by 28%, saying goodbye to 21 Gitpodders. This is the most difficult decision I’ve made to-date and it impacts the lives and families of colleagues and friends we care about. It hurts, and I apologize for hiring too aggressively for the macroeconomic environment we are in today.
We want to treat Gitpodders leaving with respect and make the process as caring as possible. I want to openly share the reasons that led to the decision:
At that point I had all the data to make today’s call. Instead, the Nov-22 announcement of our $25m Series A tripling our company valuation lulled me into a false sense of security. I avoided fully embracing the new market reality we find ourselves in. I apologize for this and corrected that mistake today.
Our world has now flipped. I agree with Howard Marks when he writes about a macroeconomic sea change. Inflation and rising interest rates have led to cash becoming expensive and efficiency paramount. Gitpod now operates under the premise that this will not change within the next 3 years. We will use the fresh capital we raised to scale from a venture-backed company to one that is capital-efficient, with profitability and independence within reach. A company focused on sustainable growth that serves our customers for the long run.
