🌧️😎 Layoffs Dampen Spirits But Sunnier Outlook Ahead 🔆☂️

Jan 21, 2024 - More hiring despite Google, Amazon, Discord, etc. Layoffs

This is the first ever issue of Top Tech. Your 5-minute unfair advantage for tech jobs.

I know the layoffs this past week might make you think the dark days are back again, but both the data and our chats with leaders tell a slightly more positive story. Candidates are still getting interviews and offers, and even negotiating increases. Let's put this all into perspective to give you

1. some hope

2. some companies to target

3. and some tips on how to negotiate even after layoffs!

Here we go...

Mixed Signals in the Tech Job Market 🚦

📋 Table of Contents

💼 Hiring Trends

• 🚨 New Year Layoffs: As we predicted, 62 companies laid off 9,533+ so far this year, but nothing compared to 277 co’s laying off 89,000+ last January

• 🏢 Big Names in the Mix: Layoffs include Meta, Google, Amazon, Discord…

• 🤔 More Hiring on the Horizon? Despite layoffs, there will be more hiring in 2024 based on conversations with tech leaders and what we see on the ground

• 💰 Startup Salary Trends: Base salaries remain steady, equity compensation sank -25%, but demand for employee shares on the secondary market rose

💸 Take action. Get Hired.

• 💸 Tip: Negotiate after layoffs? Yes! Read how laid-off candidates still negotiate

• 🔥 Company Power Rankings: Apply to trending, top paying & newly funded co’s

• 💼 Who’s Hiring? Companies posting new jobs this week

• ⏱️ IPO Watch: Track who is and isn’t going public in 2024

---

💼 Hiring Trends

🏀 The 3-Pointer

1. Despite the recent layoff spree, tech layoffs are down 90% since last January overall, with startup layoffs only dropping -54%. Leaders are citing “efficiency” and “profit”, but this time around, they’re hoping to invest more in new areas instead of just cutting. Google’s CEO said that layoffs will continue through 2024, but at a slower pace.

2. We predicted this, talking to leaders in Q4 who planned Q1 layoffs in exchange for the new roles they wanted in 2024. They want to grow teams but had to cut low-ROI units in exchange. On the startup side, many startups are still shutting down and some companies just delayed the inevitable layoffs that should have happened a year ago (ahem…Discord).

3. We expect even more accelerated hiring as leaders negotiated with finance to hire a lot in 2024, though there are more competing candidates because of the layoffs. We are hearing from many people that they are getting much more recruiter outreach recently, and we see some companies sending out a spike in offers since the new year.

All tech:

Trueup, which uses AI to track layoff & jobs data, counted even more layoffs globally with 20,446 laid off in Jan 2024 from 122 companies, but still a large drop off from 2023

Startups saw a decrease in layoffs, but are doing worse than big tech, with layoffs remaining way above 2021 or 2019 levels and startups still shutting down:

Source: Carta’s 2023 State of Startups

Forward Top Tech to a friend! Everyone should be building their job options in 2024.

---

💰 Salary Spotlight

For mid-career startup employees, the average base salary (cash) did not change in 2023, but the equity compensation definitely did.

“Equity packages for mid-career employees fell about 25% this year (in terms of shares received, not just due to valuations decreasing)” - Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta

Luckily, startup employees have been able to sell their stock on secondary markets more at the end of 2023, but valuations remain low, leaving some options worth less than the cost to exercise.

Let us know if you want to learn more about selling your startup shares on secondary markets.

Source: Carta’s 2023 State of Startups

What else would be valuable for your job search? Let us know by leaving a comment.

---

💸 Get Hired

🧰 Job Search & Negotiation Tips

You still have negotiation power! 💪

Just today, we were helping two people negotiate offers successfully. It is still happening.

Here are ways even laid-off tech professionals have been building up their negotiating power:

1. Situation security

• Even without a job, build up your financial runway by freelancing, taking side gigs, and reducing your living costs.

• Visa expiring? A Data Scientist I worked with spoke with an immigration lawyer to convert their expiring H1B and extend their time in the US for a few months, landing a better offer.

2. Unique candidate positioning

• Companies will pay you more, even with other candidates waiting, if you correctly highlight your unique fit for a role.

• We helped a Product Manager who had a down-level job offer. She positioned her combined experience from a larger, faster-growing company and another company in the same industry to make the hiring manager realize she was by far the best fit and worth a better offer.

3. Company’s desperation

• Companies are still desperate to hire the right people for specific roles. They can’t afford to have wasted headcount nowadays, so they’re being picky. If you get the offer, find out how desperate they are and how long they’ve been looking to figure out how hard you can push.

Finally, your psychology is what dictates your negotiating power more than anything. If you are calm and willing to walk away from an offer that’s less than you reasonably should accept, then you will be able to negotiate. Prepare upfront with negotiation scripts and mock negotiations, and know your walk-away criteria so you don’t emotionally make it up on the fly.

---

📈 Company Power Rankings

Now it's time to take action…
Here are this week's company power rankings, so go start those reach-outs!

Legend:

💸 Pays top of market

💰 Pays competitively

🔥 Heating Up

Tip: Consider these as targets

1. Microsoft - Expanding amid AI push. Now the highest-valued company in the world

2. 💸 Waymo & 💸 Cruise - Driverless robotaxis are back on the roads

3. Anthropic - OpenAI competitor (Claude.ai) reportedly raising a major round

4. 💸LinkedIn - Lots of offers going out the past two weeks

💵 Raised Funds This Week

Tip: Should be hiring soon. Reach out to hiring managers before they even post the jobs

1. Arena Bioworks - Massive $500M funding for new biotech

2. Rainbow - $12M for insurance tech platform

3. Sway - $19.5M for delivery and returns optimization

4. Overmoon - $10M for vacation home rental startup

5. Luma - 3D generative model raised $43M

6. Robin AI - Contract software AI raised $26M

7. PerformYard - Software company raised $95M

8. PhotoRoom - Popular AI photo editor raised ~$60M

☁️ Proceed with Caution

1. Apple - Strong earnings beat stock drop, but concerns over payments regulations

2. Unity - Cut 25% of workforce in layoffs

3. Google - CEO says layoffs will continue, but AI will grow

4. Discord - Cut 17% of workforce in layoffs with very high $15B valuation vs. revenue

5. Pitch - Laying off two-thirds after $130M raised

6. Flexe - Warehouse logistics startup cut 38% of staff

7. 💰Uber - Uber shut down Drizly alcohol delivery business to focus resources

🚀 Who's Hiring

Companies posting new roles this week

Public

• 💸Meta

• 💸Airbnb

• 💰Amazon

• 💸LinkedIn

• Bumble: Dating app

• Udemy: Online learning marketplace

• Wayfair: Furniture & home goods e-tailer

• 💰DoorDash: On-demand food delivery

• Klaviyo: Email marketing platform

• Datadog: Monitoring & analytics for cloud

• Riot Games: Maker of League of Legends

• GitLab: Leading devops lifecycle platform

• Smartsheet: Collaborative work management

• hims & hers: Digital health and wellness

Private

• ❗️Discord: Community social app
  *Still apply, but Discord emailed applicants that some hiring is frozen due to layoffs

• 🔥 ScaleAI: Applying AI to improve manufacturing processes.
  Employee said they are growing fast and it’s hard to meet demand

• 💸Coupang: Korea-based online shopping rocketship

• Zscaler: Cloud cybersecurity

• OpenAI

• The New York Times

• New Relic: App performance monitoring

• Cardlytics: Targeted marketing data

• Airtable: Spreadsheets+Database

• Talkiatry: Online therapy

• DoveTail user research platform

Top 20 Highest Paying Companies (Source: Levels.FYI, Sr. Engineer)

🕒 IPO Watch

🟢 Promising

• Circle - Major USDC stablecoin developer confidentially filed for IPO

• Shein - Chinese fast fashion giant seeking approval for US IPO, but Beijing investigating

• Zeekr - Chinese electric vehicle company planning 2024 IPO

• Reddit - Social media community platform planning March or April IPO, but could push

• Rubrik - Data management and security company pushed back plans to Spring 2024 or later

• SeatGeek - Sports/concert ticket marketplace filed for IPO in April 2023, expected in 2024

• Turo - Car-sharing startup has delayed IPO plans a few times, but could go public in 2024

🟡 Still waiting

• High-paying 💸 Databricks, 💸 Plaid, and 💸 Stripe have all not yet revealed IPO plans

• Unfortunately, 💸 Databricks, SpaceX, and 💸 Stripe have all allowed employees to sell shares to investors recently to delay the need for an IPO

• Navan, Fanatics, and Klarna have all been quieter after earlier IPO speculation

📈 Recent IPOs:

• Oddity Direct-to-consumer beauty brand

• Arm England-based chip designer

• Klaviyo Marketing automation platform

• Instacart Grocery delivery

---

Forward Top Tech to a friend! Everyone should be building their job options in 2024