Chargebee, San Francisco Headquartered subscription payment management tool company lays off 10% of its overall workforce affecting 120+ Employees
In a linkedin post, CEO & Co-Founder Krish Subramanian announced this as a reorganization and it was a difficult decision driven by external market forces.
Today, I sent the following message to the Chargebee team about a reorganization that impacted about 10% of our colleagues. I want to first express my gratitude to them and ensure they’re treated with the utmost respect.
This difficult decision was driven by external market forces as well as our need to address the operational debt we have accumulated in the last few years. We have made every effort to offer severance, equity and job transition support to ease some of the stress caused by these changes.
– CEO, Krish Subramanian on Linkedin
Company’s Statement
Team, You are all aware of current global macroeconomic challenges – and everyone is bracing given the uncertainty that we are going through. While we are positioned well for the future in the long term given our market opportunity and financial position, we are in the unfortunate situation where we have to make corrections to our scale and structure to build a more efficient, stronger organization for the future. We announced a reorg that impacted roughly 10% of the company.
This decision was very difficult, and we want to first thank everyone – especially outgoing employees – for all their hard work. These are some very talented people, let us do our best to open our networks to help them. We wish those impacted continued success in their careers and remain committed to our customers and partners around the world.
This decision may shock many of you and may take some time to process. In the spirit of transparency, I’d like to share more about what happened and where we’ll go from here. What happened? At the start of Q2, macroeconomic factors began impacting public companies and the financing environment. As you know, we changed our hiring plan to align with priorities and started implementing stricter fiscal discipline to reorient the company towards long-term sustainability. Since then, the global economic environment has continued to be uncertain – but it is clear that this new reality will require companies to move toward profitability at an accelerated pace.
Our years in high-growth mode have created operational needs across the company, which is impacting our ability to execute. Facing a growing gap between our revenue and spend, we have been reducing our expenses across various areas including tools, consulting, and contractors, etc. While the scaling decisions were under our control and responsibility, the economic situation and lack of visibility into the future has made it harder for everyone. This decision was not made lightly and we will do our best to support our team members who were impacted today. What are we doing to support our colleagues leaving Chargebee?
What are we doing to support our colleagues leaving Chargebee?
In March 2020, when we were a 200+ member team facing uncertain market conditions, we considered a similar approach. At that time, the team rallied behind us and we will always be grateful for their support. Today, the scale at which we are operating makes it very difficult to control expenses with costs that increase with each individual, including programs they need to be successful in their jobs.
We have a responsibility to build a financially sound business for the greater interest of everyone involved. While historically I have been philosophically opposed to layoffs, after careful consideration, it is best to act now to offer separation packages to affected colleagues with the following principal components:
• 3 months of pay while they look for new opportunities;
• 3 months of extended medical benefits;
• Outplacement career services that include networking assistance, resume writing, and interview preparation to help them find new opportunities sooner; and
• An extension of time to exercise stock options granted under our stock incentive plan so that more people can benefit from their contributions to the company.
I request that we all support our teammates through this difficult time – treat others how you would want to be treated.
How will we move forward?
It is sad to say goodbye to our friends and it’s important to acknowledge the talented individuals who helped get us where we are today. Although we still face uncertain headwinds, I want to reinforce my belief in our long-term market opportunity.
The global SaaS market is still forecasted to grow significantly, and Chargebee is well capitalized to grow along with it. More importantly, every customer conversation only reinforces that the problems we’re solving remain acute and pervasive. The vision for our product remains strong and we will continue to rise to meet the multitude of market opportunities in the long term.
While it’s human nature to rejoice in the good times, it’s adversity that not only builds character and skills, but also creates lifelong memories and friendships. I urge you all to come together as a team and leverage our professional networks to find opportunities for those impacted.
I’m sure you will all have questions – and we are here to answer them transparently and to the best of our ability. Here is a Slido link to submit. I will review this regularly to answer questions as they come up.
We remain grateful. Thank you for continuing on this journey with us.
Regards, Krish.
