Less than five months after cutting 60 staff, learning navigation platform Career Karma laid off another 22 across its global and domestic workforce, sources said. CEO and co-founder Ruben Harris has confirmed to TechCrunch the layoffs.
This cut shows that even as many edtech companies try to size their staff appropriately, there is still work to be done. Harris’ emails to the rest of the staff underscore today’s tension. Once-enthusiastic corporate customers are still deciding whether or not to sign up for new tools, leading to lengthened sales cycles and uncertainty.
“Last year we decided to right-size our company so that we can steer our career karma towards working with employers. It’s clear we made the right decision,” Harris wrote in an email. “What is unclear is how Fortune 1000 companies will respond to the macroeconomic environment, and it is important to give them time to work with them to understand that.” Career Karma’s service for matching professionals to tech bootcamps is in trouble. Last month, his BloomTech coding bootcamp, formerly known as Lambda School, cut half its staff in the pursuit of profitability.
In Career Karma’s final cut, Harris highlighted that layoffs and a previously closed $40 million Series B will extend the startup’s runway to three years. After laying off staff this week, Career Karma now has a five-year runway.
As TechCrunch has discussed in the past, the strategy of “expanding the runway” always comes into vogue whenever investors slow their pace of investment. Career Karma’s change of basic rule of thumb from his three to five years suggests that rule may become even more conservative as the recession continues. In an email, Harris told TechCrunch: [wants] I just don’t want to be forced to raise to get the option to raise. ”
With 80 staff members remaining at Career Karma, Harris confirmed that no executives were affected by the layoffs. Affected employees were offered two months of severance pay and extended benefits. Career navigation platforms also adequately provided career navigation support to new graduates.
Current and former Career Karma employees can contact Natasha Mascarenhas on Signal, a secure and encrypted messaging app, on 925 271 0912. She can also send her DMs on Twitter. @nmasc_.