Since 2022 there have been almost half a million layoffs (layoffs.fyi) and a lot of it comes down to bad planning.

If we ignore the giants, and look across the rest of tech, the companies between 1 - several thou, there has been one common denominator - Misplaced ambition.

That ambition has driven companies to aim for growth in revenue & valuations, pushed onwards by extreme amounts of fundraising off the back of performance that makes it hard to justify. This chase for valuation leads to leadership and investors chasing an ever increasing market, and to be able to attack the market they need one thing:

Product

And lots of it.

Company after company driven to develop extra product features an product lines for the sole purpose of being able to sell to more customers & at a higher price, but there's a problem with this:

Everyone else is also doing this.

And it all stems from the revenue goals.

But here's the big issue - The business hires to these revenue goals, using spreadsheets in a way that leads to overhiring. They hire sales people in and assign them a target, expecting that's all they need to do.

Akin to hiring a bunch of developers and simply telling them to develop, unless there's things to be worked on, or for sales it's opportunities to try and close, the expected result never arrives.

What this means:

When business create huge targets, they hire big sales teams.
The sales is based on selling to an increasing market.
With an ever increasing product set.
And so engineering are hired also.
And operations.
And CS.
etc. etc.

When the sales doesn't align with expectation, everyone has to go.

This is why it matters: Predictable growth is important for the job security of everyone

Here's how you can spot the signs - A healthy revenue team will:

1. Communicate how the revenue team is performing, what the expectations are and how the team is comparing
2. Work in alongside marketing, as one team
3. Have a mix of roles covering different aspects of the sales process
4. Understand the "why" of the product roadmap, and be excited to sell the product
5. Where cuts to the sales team were already made, they were done once and decisively.

If it feels like the opposite of your company, it might be time to start asking questions.

https://www.clevenue.io/platform