logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
43m 45s

#86 - Leading Through A Layoff // feat. ...

Tobias Schlottke - alphalist CTO Podcast
About this episode
Leading Through A LayOff: How to downsize nicely

Is there a nice way to downsize? Mike Fisher, former CTO of Etsy, shares what he learned when the company downscaled by 27% in 2 rounds of layoffs right before he joined. Find out how you can help your team navigate this sensitive period - both pre- and post-layoff.

  • How much time⏳ you lose in a layoff (the productivity cost of layoff)
  • Why you can’t expect to cut costs ✂️ AND grow
  • Why Availability 🟢 needs to be prioritised as you downsize
  • Layoffing off Generalists vs. Specialists 🧑‍🔬
  • How they migrated to the cloud ☁️ Listen here BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Storyblok and WorkGenius

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00:00) - Intro (0:02:43) - West Point to General Electric to Etsy (0:08:11) - Downsizing's Impact on Employee Morale (0:09:11) - Knowledge Transfer (0:10:13) - Post Layoff Attrition (0:11:40) - How Being a Monolith Helped (0:13:30) - Cloud Migration (0:15:28) - Lift and Shift vs. Kubernetes (0:18:33) - How a new project helped heal (0:19:30) - The Time Costs of LayOffs (0:22:05) - You can't expect to cut costs and grow (0:24:35) - Impact of where the team was cut (0:26:30) - Advice for CTOs about to lay off (0:27:02) - Transparency During Downsizing (0:28:00) - NB: Watch out for Availability (0:31:12) - Layoffs and Stock Prices (0:33:00) - Short Term and Long Term Planning (0:33:40) - 3X Framework and Product Lifecycle Phases (0:35:00) - Laying Off R & D: Specialists vs. Generalists (0:36:24) - The Dedicated FinOps Team (40:02:58) - Keeping up your Knowledge Network

Storyblok

Does your current CMS hinder agile development and deployment?

Storyblok is a cloud-native API-first CMS that minimizes technical dependencies, enables your development team to create frontends with whatever technology they already know, and your business users to create content only once and publish on multiple platforms. There are numbers to back this up: Storyblok cuts down development time by 50% and provides 582%ROI over 3 years, a study by Forrester found.

Go get a free demo of Storyblok and learn how it can improve your speed to market.Just go to: https://link.alphalist.com/cms

WorkGenius

Tired of sifting through countless resumes and struggling to find the right tech talent? Look no further! WorkGenius has just acquired Expertlead, known for its innovation in matching tech freelancers with top-tier companies and offering peer-to-peer live coding assessments. Now, they bring even more efficiency to your hiring process. Whether you're a startup or an established enterprise, WorkGenius is now here to turbocharge your hiring process. Say goodbye to the guesswork and endless interviews. WorkGenius matches your candidates experienced senior developers and puts them through tailored, enjoyable, and fair technical interviews. Your company will get the cream of the crop - the most sought-after talents in the industry- while saving your hardworking Tech and HR teams valuable time. Start your journey with WorkGenius - head over to https://link.alphalist.com/work connect with an expert, and find the perfect match for your engineering needs.

Up next
Jul 10
#125 - Two CTO Dinosaurs vs. Today's Tech Hype with Raz Shuty // CTO @ auxmoney
What happens when two experienced CTOs sit down to debunk the latest tech trends? Raz Schweiger-Shuty, CTO at auxmoney, joins Tobi for an unfiltered discussion about the hypes, myths, and wastes of resources that plague modern tech companies. After taking over a 17-year-old finte ... Show More
1h 3m
Jun 27
#124 - The Path to AGI: Inside poolside’s AI Model Factory for Code with Eiso Kant
How do you build a foundation model that can write code at a human level? Eiso Kant (CTO & co-founder, Poolside) reveals the technical architecture, distributed team strategies, and reinforcement learning breakthroughs powering one of Europe’s most ambitious AI startups. Learn ho ... Show More
1h 3m
Jun 12
#123 - From Nokia to AI-IoT: Engineering the Physical World with Bernd Groß // CEO @ Cumulocity
The physical world is becoming digital—and it requires fundamentally different technical architecture than traditional IT systems. Bernd Groß leads technical leaders through the evolution from enterprise software to industrial IoT, where real-time data from 30,000 wind turbines a ... Show More
1h 3m
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2024
How to Build a Technical Strategy That Solves Business Problems | CircleCI CTO, Rob Zuber
It doesn’t matter if you have an innovative technical strategy if you’re not solving problems the business cares about…  This week, host Conor Bronsdon sits down with Rob Zuber, CTO at CircleCI. They delve into the evolving role of engineering leaders, and the importance of build ... Show More
58m 45s
Jun 2024
Accor CTO's Hotel Tech Masterclass: Cyber Security, Sustainability and More
In this episode of Hotel Tech Insider, we dive deep into the future of hotels and the technology driving them forward. Our guest, Floor Bleeker, the CTO of Accor, one of the largest hotel companies globally, shares insights into how technology is revolutionizing every aspect of A ... Show More
32m 52s
Jan 2025
Inside Gong: How teams work with design partners, their pod structure, autonomy, trust, and more | Eilon Reshef (co-founder and CPO)
Eilon Reshef is the co-founder and chief product officer at Gong, one of the most ubiquitous B2B products in the world. In our conversation, we discuss:• Gong’s unique approach to working with design partners• Their unique pod model• Why Eilon makes big decisions quickly• Lessons ... Show More
56m 42s
Apr 27
Inside monday.com’s transformation: radical transparency, impact over output, and their path to $1B ARR | Daniel Lereya (Chief Product and Technology Officer)
Daniel Lereya, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at monday.com, shares how he and his team realized they were being outpaced by competitors and how that realization completely transformed how they operate and allowed them to build a global powerhouse, doing over $1 billion ... Show More
1h 32m
Sep 2024
1,036: The Power of AI in Shaping Strategic Finance Leadership | Zane Rowe, CFO, Workday
In 2012, after nearly two decades in the airline industry, Zane Rowe made a bold career pivot. Leaving behind his role as CFO at United Airlines, Rowe stepped into the tech world, joining Apple in a sales role—a move many saw as risky but one that would ultimately shape his persp ... Show More
36m 17s
Dec 2024
Best of 2024: The Art of Prompt Engineering with Alex Banks, Founder and Educator, Sunday Signal
As we look back at 2024, we're highlighting some of our favourite episodes of the year, and with 100 of them to choose from, it wasn't easy!The four guests we'll be recapping with are:Lea Pica - A celebrity in the data storytelling and visualisation space. Richie and Lea cover th ... Show More
44m 58s
Oct 2024
Navigating NIST CSF 2.0: Guide to Frameworks and Governance
In this episode, we sat down with Lukasz Gogolkiewicz, an Australia-based Cybersecurity Leader and former pentester, to explore his journey from offensive security into cybersecurity leadership. Lukasz, also a speaker coach at BlackHat USA, brings valuable insights into what it t ... Show More
36m 29s
Feb 2025
#281 Developing AI Products That Impact Your Business with Venky Veeraraghavan, Chief Product Officer at DataRobot
As AI continues to dominate industry conversations, the notion of AI readiness becomes a focal point for organizations. It's a multifaceted challenge that goes beyond technology, encompassing business processes and cultural shifts. For professionals, this means grappling with que ... Show More
38m 45s
Mar 2025
How to win in the AI era: Ship a feature every week, embrace technical debt, ruthlessly cut scope, and create magic your competitors can't copy | Gaurav Misra (CEO and co-founder of Captions)
Gaurav Misra is the co-founder and CEO of Captions, an AI-powered video creation company and one of the most successful consumer AI products in the world today. Previously he was a product leader at Snap, where he created the design engineering function and spent years helping de ... Show More
1h 25m