This week’s lay off news from Hootsuite headquarters in Mount Pleasant has been anything but pleasant.
A reported 10% reduction in staff amounts to 100+ lost positions at the high tech hero and some have described the scene as internal chaos. Messages sent in a private online group for employees obtained by The Logic describe panicked staff and public crying during the layoffs.
Dreams of a billion dollar valuation and/or acquisition may be history along with the anticipated wave of Maple Syrup Mafia millionaires that CEO Ryan Holmes promised the Canadian tech ecosystem. Luckily Vancouver has Slack’s upcoming IPO plans and early employee selling to backfill the city with what might be the next wave of tech entrepreneurs.
Vancouver’s growing companies, and eager service providers, view this week’s lay off news as an opportunity. Companies such as Clio, Kidoz, Slack, and WiderFunnel are reaching out to the highly employable that have been let go and Ink LLP is encouraging this new wave of ex-Owls to start up something new with free legal incorporation services.
Time will tell if Hootsuite’s move was simply a rearranging of deck chairs on the titanic or a masterful financial shuffle in advance of a long anticipated acquisition.
In the meantime, Holmes has promised a “full debrief” at a town hall meeting on Thursday, May 2nd.
Story developing.
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