Hi. I’m Jesse.

I work with leaders, and I made this page to talk about something hard: layoffs for startups. I built a program for yours at the bottom of this page.

First, some context.

In late 2007, in the greenest years of my career, my work at a communications agency suddenly switched from speechwriting for Fortune 100 executives to writing and communicating their layoffs.

At first the layoffs were a quiet trickle (“reduction in force” was the term of art then; employees worried of getting “riffed”), and by the beginning of 2009, it became a flood. In that short time, I learned how businesses of all sizes can communicate and adapt in a dramatically changing economy, and how layoffs are truly hard for everyone involved. 

So in January 2009, while standing onsite with a client watching a traffic jam of 2,100 people leaving their parking lot at 8am, I received a call from another, newer client. Their voice chirped through my Blackberry (remember 2009?): “Hey Jesse, have you ever thought about working here at Facebook?”  

“I’ll see you in one hour,” I said, and moved as quickly as I could to join a promising startup with little risk of asking me to do this kind of work. 

For five years, that worked. Pleasantly, I forgot all about layoffs, and instead spent that time in the trenches (or, more accurately, spent that time making speeches and PowerPoints for the people in the trenches), growing what would become one of the world’s most well-known startups. When I left, Facebook’s “small” days were looking like a sunset, and I set out to build my own communications agency. 

When I founded TinyIdeas.org, I imagined a speechwriting firm, focused largely on product and policy announcements and paying me enough to live happily away from corporate buzzwords and hallway scooters. Instead, something else happened. 

Almost immediately, I started to get confidential requests for consultation.

“We need to let some people go. And we want to do this right for our startup, not like big companies.” 

Over and over, I was asked: “How do we handle bad news and remain true to our people and our culture?” 

My first advice to you is it’s extremely important to keep in mind that layoffs can hurt startups more than they hurt big companies. There are four problems unique to startups:

First, the morale side-effects of a layoff can destroy small workforces and startups in ways much that larger companies can easily endure. (Surprisingly, a startup’s senior leadership team can be one of your most common points of failure in a layoff). And counterintuitively, the more nimble or agile you are, the more important it is to manage your layoff well. I recommend a 3-hour layoff, and nothing more. I will explain that in the attached document.

Second, the liabilities of employment law threaten small companies more than they do big ones. This is unfortunate, since not only is your legal team much smaller, but also all of your executive and operational habits at a startup are to think of legal considerations last. Employment law is not an “ask forgiveness” situation for startups (while it usually is for large companies).

Third, startups have more unique investor interests to take into account. One difference between startups and public companies or large organizations is startups can experience layoffs that are not a sign of anything bad, like a product pivot or a strategic change in direction. Your investors know this, but they also know most media outlets don’t. They also know, while some product pivots may be considered a viable reason for a layoff, they are a terrible thing to share with potential competitors or future employees.

Finally, startups can’t afford people like me when they are in hard times. Because of that, Tiny Ideas always practiced a critical rule I learned in 2008: bad news is free.

So in the same spirit of helpfulness, I would like to share my recommendations and assistance as freely as possible. However, given the sensitive topic, it’d be ideal to do this without unnecessarily exposing some of the “ugly” considerations founders and CEO’s must take into account.

Layoffs for Startups: Why, What, & How

Below, I have set up a DocSend for you to download a 10-page document of everything you need to know for layoffs at startups (including a plan) at the bottom of this page.  It is 10 dense pages, but if you spend 30 minutes with it, you will see ways to improve all of your hard news communication.

Here are some ground rules. 

1. This work is free. I fundamentally believe in doing layoffs right—for employees AND for founders. Just because it’s a difficult situation doesn’t mean we can’t treat everyone with integrity and empathy. As the document will outline, this importantly includes empathy for CEO’s and founders. This document is for you.

2. I am happy to consult with you, also freely. This isn’t because I’m altruistic; it’s because I don’t lie. Ruthless trust in your communications advisor will matter just as much in hard times as good times, so I make a point to be blunt. In the case of layoff, if you can follow the plan below then my work is done and you’ll be fine without me.

3. Share, but with discretion, please. This is a resource for people with real decisions to make that impact real people. Founders and CEO’s should be equipped with a way to do it “best,” but the following document is not intended to be a LinkedIn thoughtpiece. Nor should it be celebrated in any way. For you, layoffs and role eliminations are one part of a solution to a bigger problem. For the media or your employees, layoffs may be a newsworthy moment or opportunity for litigation. Yet it would be hazardous to avoid talking about them altogether. I only ask you observe this uncomfortable balance as you share. (The DocSend does not collect your email).

So here it is. And good luck out there. One thing I can say from 14 years of this is you’ll get through it.

No matter what happens, you wouldn’t be needing this document if you didn’t already have the skills to build and thrive in the face of challenge.

Take care,

Jesse