Altcoins Talks - Cryptocurrency Forum
Learning & News => News related to Crypto => Topic started by: PRIBO247 on December 11, 2018, 06:38:09 PM
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Internal chat logs from a town hall held Friday by ethereum
production studio ConsenSys show that employees are grappling
with uncertainty in the face of recently announced layoffs.
A day after confirming that 13 percent of its staff would be cut in
what CEO Joseph Lubin called a “restructuring of priorities,”
company leadership held an all-hands meeting to field questions
from members of its roughly 1,200-person team, a meeting
documented in a live chat viewed by CoinDesk.
“How many months of runway do we have?” asked one anonymous
user.
“I would like to forfeit my position for a colleague (fired) whom I
know will add more value to ConsenSys than me,” wrote one
named employee in the chat. “Is that possible?”
While CoinDesk was able to observe the company-wide chat in
real time, the corresponding, video-streamed answers from
ConsenSys leadership were not viewable.
Yet because of what appears to be a reticence on the part of
ConsenSys staff members to discuss the ongoing situation within
the company, the chat logs present the most comprehensive
snapshot to date of the major questions still roiling within one of
the blockchain industry’s most notable companies.
“We are not commenting on internal conversations,” a ConsenSys
spokesman told CoinDesk on Tuesday. “Quite frankly, these
tactics are beneath you and the role CD plays in the ecosystem as
a source of veridical information.”
Still, the ConsenSys staff cuts could be a sign of a larger change at
the startup, itself comprised of a network of projects and startups
all dedicated to building out use cases on the ethereum
blockchain. ConsenSys has thus far declined to share which
startups, or “spokes,” will be most impacted by the cuts.
“We’re taking a careful look at financial sustainability,” Lubin told
CoinDesk in an interview last week.
SOME FOR, SOME AGAINST
On Friday, most chat participants were openly critical of the
announced layoffs.
“The wave of lay offs felt like re-enacting order 66,” wrote one
anonymous staffer, making a “Star Wars” reference . “It looked
ruthless and swift. Do the values we claim to profess and hold
dear actually hold weight?”
“Who is going to be held accountable for the decisions that got us
into this situation?” another wrote. “Who and how?”
Others asked directly about the financial state of the company, and
it’s unclear if they’ve received answers.
“Joe [Lubin] earlier today said at the current price [around $85 per
ETH] we have many months of runway. Wanted to clarify if that
was correct?” one user asked. “Thought runway was previously
stated as years.”
Though some chat participants used names that correspond with
those of current ConsenSys employees, it’s impossible to verify if
other outsiders also participated. Even without corresponding
answers, the questions themselves reflect internal sentiment as
ConsenSys embarks on a course of belt-tightening and business-
minded accountability.
Criticisms aside, some chat participants struck an optimistic tone
about the moves and expressed support for the “ConsenSys 2.0”
vision first laid out by Lubin one week prior.
“I’m glad ConsenSys went through with this and believe it should
have happened much sooner,” wrote an anonymous user. “Far too
many people were coasting by on Joe’s benevolence.”
“Thank u for all the opps,” wrote one named staffer. “I am more
determined than ever to make C2.0 a success and am proud to be
here.”
WRITING ON THE WALL
While many questions remain, most agree that ConsenSys’ period
of rapid growth could not continue.
“At some point this needed to happen, but we didn’t expect the
change [to come] so fast,” said one recently laid-off ConsenSys
employee, who CoinDesk is granting anonymity. “Probably the
ETH price forced this to happen.”
ConsenSys’ ascent from a famously stickered door in Bushwick to
a company with a “mesh” of 50 ventures spanning the globe has
been internally funded to date (though Lubin suggested this could
change as part of the 2.0 push). And yet while payrolls have
skyrocketed as ConsenSys grew, revenues have not kept pace.
As Lubin shifts his company toward more accountability and rigor,
the business may also be consolidating its leadership ranks.
Many employees – both in the Friday town hall and privately to
CoinDesk – have said they were surprised by the swift downsizing
in a culture that had previously bucked centralized authority.
Sources with knowledge of the company have told CoinDesk that
more staff cuts are likely.
“Why doesn’t the leadership team that got us here feel the need to
reveal who they are?” one anonymous employee asked Friday.
“What are they afraid of by being honest with the mesh?”
Source : https://www.coindesk.com