Product Hunt, the platform dedicated to discovering products from emerging startups, apps, tech tools, and developers’ side projects, recently underwent significant changes. Earlier this month, the company announced staff reductions, though the extent of these cuts was initially undisclosed. It has now come to light that approximately 60% of the workforce was affected, spanning various departments, including design, product, sales, and others. Notably, the company’s engineering, advertising, and community teams remain intact according to their About page.
The layoffs were first made public on October 10th when CEO Rajiv Ayyangar reached out on X to help former employees connect with potential job opportunities. In his post, he explained that the layoffs were necessary to streamline the team’s focus and increase efficiency. Ayyangar expressed his appreciation for the departing employees and offered to facilitate connections for those who were hiring.
Initially, it was rumored that Product Hunt had let go of 70% of its workforce, but the CEO clarified that the actual figure was around 60%. This discrepancy was attributed to an outdated About page.
Rajiv Ayyangar, a former Product Hunt user himself, had recently joined the company in September, following previous roles as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Dropbox and CEO and co-founder of the virtual office startup Tandem. In his introduction to the Product Hunt community, Ayyangar hinted at forthcoming changes for the platform. He acknowledged that while the site remained a prime destination for discovering innovative products before they became mainstream, it had not excelled in helping users find the right products for their specific needs, despite the wealth of contributions from the community.
Ayyangar also stressed the need to incorporate new technologies, such as AI, moderation, and other tools, to better showcase the latest developments in the tech world. Product Hunt aimed to expand beyond its traditional role as a launch platform and introduce new features like “Pro Tips” product pages, serving as a wiki for favorite products.
The CEO emphasized that the layoffs were not financially motivated, as the company’s financial health was robust, and website traffic was at an all-time high. Instead, the decision was made for strategic reasons, and the affected employees received severance packages.
These changes come at a time when the tech landscape is evolving rapidly with the proliferation of AI and a heightened focus on cost-cutting in businesses. Consequently, the demand for single-purpose, smaller tools, often tinkered with by developers in their spare time, may be decreasing. Additionally, companies are looking to reduce SaaS spending, further raising questions about the willingness to experiment with new SaaS products discovered on platforms like Product Hunt.
Product Hunt, originally backed by Y Combinator (YC) and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), was acquired by AngelList for $20 million in 2016, spun out in 2020, and in 2021 inspired a new fund called Hyper. Hyper acted as a sister company to Product Hunt, organizing exclusive launch events and investor demo days. However, Ayyangar confirmed that Hyper’s program has been discontinued, but the team will continue to support the companies already in its portfolio.
