What founders can be taught from Anjuna’s layoffs and restoration

In 2021, Anjuna Safety was rising quick, hiring aggressively, and chasing a market that appeared limitless. By the tip of that 12 months, the venture-backed cybersecurity firm had scaled to round 75 staff, constructing out gross sales, buyer success, and assist groups in anticipation of continued hypergrowth.

Then 2022 hit.

Because the market turned, enterprise shoppers grew to become more durable to land. Like many startups constructing at the moment, Anjuna was overextended and underfunded. So the corporate was pressured to make a tough determination and laid off a portion of its workers, then performed one other spherical of layoffs months later. 

Chopping prices was solely a part of the problem. The more durable query was the way to rebound and hold the remaining staff members motivated. 

Ayal Yogev, the CEO and co-founder of Anjuna, joined Isabelle Johannessen on TechCrunch’s Construct Mode to debate how the corporate survived the risky market by appearing shortly, making cuts with compassion, and studying from early missteps.

One of many causes Anjuna was in a position to endure two rounds of layoffs was that the corporate had already put within the time to construct a powerful inside tradition, anchored in a easy thought. “Now we have just one phrase relating to tradition, and that’s care,” Yogev mentioned. “We care about our staff. We care about our clients.”

Reasonably than treating tradition as a set of summary values, the corporate targeted on constant conduct. Internally, that meant transparency and speaking clearly about what was occurring and why. Externally, it meant supporting departing staff past severance, from sharing job alternatives by investor networks to making sure continued entry to advantages like healthcare.

Crucially, the corporate averted frequent pitfalls that erode belief throughout layoffs like extended uncertainty, impersonal processes, or silence from management. As an alternative, selections had been made shortly, and conversations had been dealt with straight. 

Even so, the influence was actual. A second spherical of layoffs made rebuilding belief harder. However the tradition that was already established formed how the remaining staff responded. Reasonably than specializing in blame, the emphasis was on studying: what went mistaken, and the way to keep away from repeating it.

“There’s sort of two issues individuals do, just like the sort of worst corporations are in search of any individual guilty and that at all times finally ends up making a tradition of persons are simply attempting to not make errors,” Yogev mentioned. “Simply creates a tradition of blaming, which is simply utterly counterproductive, proper?”

As we speak, Anjuna is rebuilding with a distinct method. Hiring is extra deliberate. Gross sales development is tied intently to precise demand. And new instruments, together with AI, are serving to the staff function extra effectively with out overexpanding.

Subscribe to Construct Mode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you wish to pay attention. And watch the total movies on YouTube.

Apply to Startup Battlefield: We’re in search of early-stage corporations which have an MVP. So nominate a founder (or your self). Make sure to say you heard about Startup Battlefield from the Construct Mode podcast. Apply right here.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: We’re again for TechCrunch Disrupt on October 13 to fifteen in San Francisco, the place the Startup Battlefield 200 takes the stage. So if you wish to cheer them on, or simply community with hundreds of founders, VCs, and tech fanatics, then seize your tickets.

Isabelle Johannessen is our host. Construct Mode is produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Viewers Growth is led by Morgan Little. And a particular because of the Foundry and Cheddar video groups.