Tech Brew Ride Home - (Bonus) State Of The Job Market With Grupa

Episode Date: March 4, 2023

Checking in on the state of the tech job market with Grupa.io. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Hey, everybody. We're jumping in real quick here with, it's not really a portfolio profile episode. It's more of a newsy sort of ad on here. But we are talking to one of our portfolio companies, Grupa. I wanted to talk to Grupa because I think you've heard me say on the show that they have seen with all of the tech layoffs and whatnot in recent months, more activity. which is good for Grupa. But they've seen a lot more interest in their platform.

And so what I wanted to do real quick was just reach out to them and see what they're seeing in terms of the job market and tech, the layoffs, the, you know, even companies running out of runway and stuff like that. So we have Samuel and Dami from Grupa. Say hi, both of you real quick. Hi, everyone. Thank you for having us. Hi, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here. So let's just start top level. Tell me whatever you want to tell me in terms of what you're seeing. Like the layoffs came really hot and heavy. I feel like in January, but I keep hearing rumors that second rounds are coming for, you know, even places like meta and whatnot. So just a high level, what are you all seeing in terms of the, the job? market for tech folks right now.

So I can take that one. I think it started late last year where companies were just trying to figure out where do we stand in this game. How do we survive? And so companies started focusing or refocusing their energy on sectors in their businesses that can actually generate immediate revenue, right? Because they wanted to ensure that investors are feeling very confident in their position. And so I think the biggest show,

was when mirror laid off 10 K plus and then Google and Google, Google layoff was very unexpected and everyone were very, very, very surprised. But that's created a shock wave across the entire tech industry and everyone felt like, oh yeah, Google has done it. Everyone can now do it. Investors that everyone put in pressure on some founders like, you know, what, just reduce, do more with less and Twitter did theirs in a very, you know, unconventional way, but you know it happened and now people are just doing it some of them are doing it as social because of social pressure but some of them are doing strategically just to refocus like Microsoft refocus their energy on AI and everything that drives the business forward so the big statistics is this year alone

we've had over 241 000 people laid off just like we are just like almost eight weeks into the year and in total that's about 400,000 people that have been laid off and this is just beginning because I know that Mera want to do another 12,000 delay off today or so. And so, yeah, that's what we're looking at. But I think the real trend is people want to refocus and do more with less. I think that's one big thing. Number two, focus on the sectors and part of their businesses. They're just going to create immediate revenue.

And just trying to streamline the companies. And companies are just forcing people, whether it to come full time or come on site and just take back control over their execution. Happy to hear what Dammit things. go ahead yeah no so I think that on my I'll speak more to the people's side I feel like a lot of people don't really know the effect or understand the effect of what this layoffs has done in so many families because previously you would find that big tech was always a security for many people you know have a stable job I can get a mortgage on my house my house I can go

back to my country for people who are immigrants who live in the US and so there's all these these different dynamics that you have in families because they had stable jobs with big tech. And I feel like a lot of literally tech ecosystem has been destabilized because of the layoffs, you know, causing some kind of shift in the way that people look at opportunities and the way that people would assess jobs now. So a lot of what we're saying now is people who maybe have not even been laid off but never had any plan plan B literally. But now when we're having conversations with people people are saying, you know what, my husband wants in meta, I work with Google, we need to have plan B. And that's why we're coming to your platform. You know, so those are the things that we're now seeing.

There are also people who have been laid off and still trying to get, you know, new jobs, but also still want to have plan B because it's like I don't even know if the new company that I'm interviewing for and I'm going into will give me that security that I need. I need to have a second income. I need to feel like I'm in control of my future. I don't want to leave all of that to, to dictate. because obviously they're only reliable right now. I just need to have control of what my future looks like and plan towards it because I have kids, I have a wife, I have parents back home, you know, and it just doesn't make sense to have a company, you know, control that part of your life.

So that's a lot of what was seen. The other thing is we also seeing people who previously, again, also felt like big tech was safe. But I'm now saying that I have a passion in mental, So we met a guy who's been with Microsoft for 15 years. I met him at the event and he's saying, you know what, I've had this passion for building a company in a company in mental and mental health space. I want to work with a founder who's building something, you know, something,

and so that I can own equity. I still have my regular job, but I want to feel like I'm building something with someone, something that is more lasting, more long-lasting, something that I'm more passionate about, and something that makes me feel like I own something. So those are the different dynamics are also same. Yeah, that's interesting, because I've heard that too from folks in the industry that, you know, there was a thing a year or so ago, like the great resignation after post-COVID. A lot of people reassess their careers and things like that. And it's almost like that's what's happening with tech folk right now where because you always thought, well, I'm on this secure sort of runway.

with my career, I didn't have to think these things. And now people are trying to, are like, well, maybe I'll just, you know, chase my dream. Or like, maybe if this runway is not as secure as I thought, maybe I need to check other options. I want to, we'll talk about how a group is helping people about that at the end. But just based on the folks that you're talking to, and let's stick with the people side. We can talk about the company side as well. But are people struggling, like when people come to you, are people finding new opportunities right away? Or is this like a weeks long, months long, or people still can't find anything?

Like, if I've been laid off in February, are you seeing people easily finding new opportunities or not? So we're seeing a friend with, it depends on the industry. And so we've seen a lot of people who have data science experience. And we're seeing founders who want to do things in ML, in data, things in other stuff. I think it's easier for those people to find engagement. And we're trying to build something we call magic matching, because traditionally, if you got laid off,

it's going to take you like four to six months or like if it's so fast, like maybe two months to get a job. And Grupa want to create an instant matching experience. So we're allowing people syncing their calendar and quickly try to get on meetings with founders. But the trend has absolutely been in the industry where capital is flowing to. And these industries are now mostly AI-driven or AI-integrated industries. And so people who are in that space of other full-stack AI, ML, get to meet founders faster. So is it what I've been saying on the show and what we've been seeing is AI is really happening?

right now. So like if if you were in AI and you were laid off from Google or meta, like you're not going to have that many problems. I think that historically, there are three levers to the innovation space. There's capital, there's talent, and then their ideas. So traditionally in a boom market, everything follow ideas. Now in a beer market, everything follow capital. So wherever capital is going is where have to align on, and it's where some founders have to pivot their ideas in such a way that integrates into what that capital is pursuing. So in this case, now the biggest capital, 10 billion went to open AI, and that's AI infrastructure. And so it's sort of like building

into cloud. If you're not building a cloud in 2020, which is like AI cloud, then you're not building. And so capital is going to anyone who is trying to pivot or rapidly erase. Let me also ask this and then we can we can close out with some of the other things that Group is doing right now, are not the startups that are hiring, but what are you seeing in terms of, can you give me any insight into the startups that are coming to Grupa because they're running out a runway and they need to get some talent to try to stay alive? Are there any sort of sectors that you feel like are most distressed right now or anything like that? Yeah, crypto.

Crypto. Crypto, I was seeing real estate, crypto travel and finance. And so... What was that? Dami, what did you say? No, I said

crypto, I think I said crypto. Yeah, yeah. Okay, okay. Yeah. So it's interesting how you turn for me, darling, to being hated overnight. but no one when we year crypto again. And even the talents are being very careful right now

on working with the crypto company. But essentially, even consumer products too are being impacted. So we've seen a lot of people who they don't have enough money, even if they raise a group I had to change and say, you know, want to focus on people who have raised the last three to six months because some people raised a year ago and now almost running out of cash and just trying to get people to work with them for equity only.

And because of the financial situation, not many people want to do equity only. They want to combine equity and cash. And so we're just trying to be sure that we're matching the right people. I think we've also seen a lot more people who are okay with actually just equity in a company because they have so much money. They still have, even if they've been fired from their big tech jobs, they are taking way lower pay. I know someone who was earning about $550 and is now currently earning about 115 in a small tech startup and owns a lot of equity. So you find also people who used to earn really high salaries previously, but are not willing to take lower salaries in startups.

That's very interesting because that aligns again with what we were just saying and what I've heard too, which is like so people are taking this almost as an opportunity to reassess their career trajectories and like, okay, what do I really want to do? What am I passionate about? If I have been well paid for the last five years, can I spend the next six months finding my next passion? Okay, so let me take this opportunity to remind people what groupa does. It's groupa g-r-u-a.io. Let's start with the people side first. If you are one of these folks listening that's been laid off and you are taking, what is that?

What's gap year? Like out of after with college. It's like, I don't want to, I'm going to take some time off and find my passion. If you're taking some gap time or the summer of you is what you're looking for. What was the show that did the summer of it? Right, right. What was the TV show that did that? I don't remember either.

Anyway, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. If that's you, Grupa is a place to go where, you know, as a sort of side gig, you can work with startups, early stage VC back startups. But also, if you've got a little pile of cash and you've got some time, you can work for equity. And then on the flip side of it,

if you are one of these startups that is running out of money or runway and you need something to extend the runway, again, you can engage these incredibly talented people that might be taking this gap time for themselves. And if it works out, maybe you have your next engineering team or whatever. So anything you guys want to add to that in terms of what you've changed, in terms of what you're doing to match folks right now in this environment? I think that right.

Okay, I mean, I was just going to add that we do have a productivity workflow tool on the platform because we feel like it's one thing to match people. It's another thing to make sure that the expectations are aligned in terms of delivery and engagement. And so what we have is a product workflow that allows you to manage your product development process from beginning to end. And that way, when you're as a startup, when you say, oh, you know, this is the product roadmap that we have to build, the engineer and the expert is also aligned. You know, he's also working towards making sure that that is delivered and essentially using Grupper to do that. I think the key word there is founders want to super charge execution right now.

Because capital may be a little bit delayed for some people, they want to accelerate their milestones, how quickly they can hit those milestones to unlock those capital. And so that's one thing we are heavily investing in. Another thing we're investing in is working with VCs. We understand deeply that VCs are also looking for the best people. They want where the brightest minds are working. And so we think that we can create some insight in the future,

to allow them access some talent inside Grupa or some startups working in Groupa, but more importantly, to help their portfolio companies. I think that's where I'm spending most of my energy working with VCs, talking to them, and seeing how we can help their portfolio companies access the best people. Well, I apologize. That is something that we've been talking about a lot recently. But so there's a third angle to this. Any VCs out there that you're looking to keep your portfolio companies afloat,

extend runway as well? Grupa can help you do that. Again, Grupa.io. Sam and Damme, thanks for coming on real quick and just telling us what you're seeing and reminding folks that Grupa is a very valuable lifeline for all sorts of folks on all three sides of this right now. Yeah.

Thank you so much, Brian. Thanks everyone. It's a pleasure, Bill.