Meesho lays off over 150 employees from grocery biz as it restructures vertical. The number may be higher per sources and could be as much as 400.. Company says it’s not more than 159 full time staff, @prnvbal @digbijaymishra1 m.economictimes.com/tech/technolog…
Meesho is the second well-funded, large startup, to go on a downsizing drive after edtech major Unacademy. @ETtech broke the news of 1,000 employees being affected by the retrenchment exercise at Unacademy. All the deets here m.economictimes.com/tech/startups/…, @Ta_rush @digbijaymishra1
So what’s going on & why are these large, well funded Startups laying off in hundreds? 🧵🧵 Let me decode what typically happens in a bull market and what follows after.. this is from a largely private market funding lens #Thread #Startups #Layoffs #Meesho #Unacademy
It is well chronicled, 2021 was a never-seen-year kind of a year for Indian startups. $38b+ raised, 40 unicorns birthed, Zomato, Nykaa, Policybazaar, Paytm all went public, Indian VCs looked like they were finally going to hit the right notes on exits, give back monies to LPs
But like in any go-go period, valuations ran amok, companies raised too much capital and started pushing for growth by way of diversification, hiring in hundreds for these new business lines which they started, people were paid exorbitantly. Typical signs of a bull market
After 1 year+ of frenzied dealmaking, questions are now being asked about cash burn, expansion into too many non core areas. But is this any different from what we’ve seen before.. NO! It’s just that the quantum of large Startups is far higher now than ever before.
One investor told me the other day— the moment a startup becomes a “group” you know they are on a path to an uncertain future. You diversify, you go away from your core and then cut costs by shutting businesses, laying off people, when tough questions are asked
This time is no different! timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/start…
But like I said, the magnitude of things to go come can be much higher now compared to 2016/2017 as capital invested is way more now. timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/start…, @digbijaymishra1
It’s imp to note that while companies go awry in boom periods.. investors aren’t any different. Today a founder told me- “ everyone cheerleads when a company is blitzscaling but when tide turns investors expect founders to suddenly change tack”.
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