Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

I’ve been working in a startup in London for the past few months, and last week we learned that the company is scaling back on staff dramatically. Unfortunately, our product hasn’t been quite the hit that the management expected and costs need to be cut, as funding is running out quite rapidly.

Taking the cuts into account, we have about five months to turn things around before we run out of cash. Morale in the company has obviously taken a nosedive since this happened, and staff seem to be leaning on the pessimistic side of things. The management doesn’t appear to have faced up to why our uptake has been so poor, and their plans to correct the situation all seem to hinge around veering wildly from our original product offering. This could be read as an admission of sorts that the product is either substandard or is merely a solution looking for a problem.

I know that startups often pivot dramatically in the early stages of their life, and it’s clear something needs to change. But, I’m afraid that their proposals are so starkly at odds with what the original product was intended to do, that we’ll just end up with a frankenstein product nobody wants.

While it’s good that we got advanced notice of the company being in difficulties, it’s quite a prolonged period of uncertainty to have hanging over you while you shelve your own personal plans. I was planning to hang on for 2-3 months and see if the situation improves. If it hasn’t, I’ll start looking for new employment. However, I’m curious to know what others think I should do? Any feedback would be appreciated.