From the prospect of hiring my first team to being laid off within a few weeks, that’s startup life for you…
Two weeks ago I’ve had a meeting with the COO & CEO of the startup I was working for, their mood seemingly already a bit down they let me know that the promised 400k EUR salary after Series-A raise won’t happen. Briefing me about how the Series-A raise went from XXM USD all the way down to mid single digit millions USD due to the lack of revenue, historic data, trajectory and the general economic situation (Thanks FTX & SVB!). The investors also pressured the founders to bring down the burnrate by 40%.
So the founders asked if I would be willing to give up my 250k EUR salary and lower it. Very bad timing with the purchase of the new apartment and the new car… (having transferred the funds for the car right at the morning before that meeting :-/ ) so I politely declined. They’ve asked who I think would be disposable and what options I see. They’ve asked me what the security implications would be if they let go the CISO and Head of IT and I’ve told them it would probably be manageable and I’d happily step up and do the 3 roles in one but for the same 250k EUR salary.
Well after the weekend another meeting came around, this time only with 7 people on that day including me. I was having the meeting with the COO while a coworker had a meeting with the CEO. Same outcome, laid off immediately due to cost cutting measures. Same procedure as with the first crypto company: Garden leave, and all data wiped from devices by the time the meeting ended. 5 others were hit with the same fate, one was just briefed that the layoffs will happen and one must have negotiated his salary down right at that spot.
Certainly sucks, emotions around how it’s annoying to look for another job again were bubbling up. Well that was last Tuesday…
Half a dozen of applications & 2 interviews later I’m looking at a potential Head of Infrastructure role at a startup in the same co-workspace I’ve used to have my desk. Total comp at around 210k CHF, second interview with CEO & HR tomorrow. And still on garden leave until end of May. Could be worse… I think I’m generally a lucky person when it comes to finding well paying jobs.
I’ll use the free time to distill my repeated Startup security experience into an online course and community around helping startups to engrain IT security into their DNA from day one. Maybe that can generate some lucrative income stream in addition to the job & blockchain operations. And who knows, maybe I finally get around writing in more detail about the blockchain operations.
Since I still have plenty of time at my hand until the 12th of May when my family returns from Mexico, I’d be open to meet some readers and discuss their portfolios and assets or just meet up for beers/drinks. Shoot me mail at fondueblogger@gmail.com if you’re interested. I’ve already had another reader reach out last week whom I meet for lunch this Friday, exciting!
Sorry to hear that but I’m certain your next position will be better 🙂
Thanks for your nice words. Yeah it’s just sad to be forced to leave a group of people behind that one really liked. But life goes on and I keep getting up after each fall 😀
Would love to fail like this 😀
First of all I’m sorry for the loss of your job. for many people it would be a very heavy blow, I admire your willpower in not demoralizing yourself. thanks also for the great transparency of your blog posts, showing not only positive events but everything. Good luck for your next thing
Thanks for your comment. My previous experience of being laid off after the first crypto startup gave me quiet some confidence that the social security system in Switzerland works very well and that I will find something new sooner or later.
You are like the Phoenix, you will rise again.
Such a blur to work in it and especially security.
All big company are craving for cybersecurity as well!
It’s certainly stressful to start over yet again, I personally wished I was closer to FIRE to be able to just not bother going thru applications and interviews ever again.