The Ship Is Sinking - Anonymous employee Gembah Employee Review

I feel compelled to respond to this review personally as it is full of inaccuracies. First, we have not done 2 layoffs this year, but we did 1 in early May of this year. Just like many other venture funded companies and technology and e-commerce companies in general, the beginning of 2022 brought significant headwinds as a result of the changing economy. It was not unique to Gembah and is well documented in many articles including this one: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/a-rough-year-ahead-tech-companies-take-shelter-as-downturn-looms, and this one: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/more-startup-layoffs-are-coming-as-investors-push-founders-to-conserve-cash. Just like these other companies we had to make cost reductions to adjust our expenses to better reflect our new economic reality. Second, we did not treat people "abhorrently". We thanked everyone for their contributions to the company, offered references when requested, and gave everyone at least 2 weeks severance as long as they had been with the company for at least a month. Third, sales is still growing around 2X from prior year (not 3X as originally projected), we're not running out of money, and we have sufficient funding to handle an extended downturn. It is true that a lot of people are working hard, but such are the ways of an ambitious startup. We are not seeing a bunch of resignation, but rather have very good employee retention rates. My co-founders and I don't always agree on everything, but that drives healthy debate, and we're all committed to find the very best answers to our challenges, not the easiest. Having to let good people go is one of the worst thing you have to do as a leader, but sometimes it is a necessity to ensure the long-term health of the business, and to secure the jobs of all the other employees on the team. Sincerely. Henrik Johansson, CEO and Co-founder