Changes to the Linktree Team
Earlier today, Linktree Co-Founder and CEO Alex Zaccaria sent the following note to all Linktree employees.
Team,
When Anth, Nicky and I started Linktree over six years ago we couldn’t have imagined how quickly we’d achieve the scale Linktree is at today. What started out as a side hustle to meet the needs of our music clients, quickly turned into a solution that addressed a far more pervasive problem. In meeting this need, we have helped over 25 million people, largely enabled by the tremendous growth in our talented team that helped us build towards our vision for Linktree.
That is what makes the news I have to share with you all today harder than anything I have ever done. After careful consideration we have made the decision to reduce the Linktree workforce by 17%.
Our creators rely on Linktree to unify their digital presence and many use Linktree to run their business day-to-day. This is a responsibility we do not take lightly. To meet the needs of our users throughout the last year, we scaled many of our functions, made some big bets and set ambitious hiring targets to meet them. I assumed the favourable economic environment would persist into 2022.
Instead, conditions changed faster than expected and those assumptions I made were wrong. I have many learnings to take into the next phase of building Linktree. That next phase involves narrowing our focus on our long term strategy by reducing roles that are no longer aligned with our roadmap.
Those of you who may be directly impacted will receive an email to your Linktree and personal emails in the next 10 minutes outlining exactly what happens next and what we will be doing to support you.
Nicky, Anth and I are saddened about needing to say goodbye to some of you this week. For your context, the following principles helped guide our decisions today:
- Stay true to our values
- Go above and beyond for those departing
- Provide as much support as we can for our remaining team
- Always be transparent and open
- Ensure any changes are mapped to our future business strategy
To those leaving Linktree:
This is not a reflection of your efforts to date. Linktree is one part of your career journey that we hope you can be proud of. The principles above have led how we intend to take care of you with the following (over and above statutory and contractual entitlements):
- Severance: we are going over and above the statutory requirements in all markets and are rewarding tenure. The average payout is over 11 weeks
- Accelerated ESOP Vesting: For those who have accepted grants of options, the next vesting milestone will be waived
- Health Insurance (US): In the US, Cobra coverage until October 31, 2022
- Outplacement Support: Our Talent Acquisition team’s services will be made available to you for full outplacement support
- Computer + WFH Equipment: All Linktree Macbooks will be gifted alongside all purchased WFH equipment regardless of tenure with the company
- Mental Health Support: Mental health + EAP support with three months of Uprise and Headspace accounts
To our Linkers remaining:
My number one focus over the next couple of weeks will be being present for you. On top of our standing All Hands and AMA’s, I’ll be hosting a weekly AMA for the next four weeks. Anthony, Nicky and I will also be making ourselves available to meet with both those impacted, and those remaining. Please reach out if you would like to chat.
Friday will be a company-wide mental health day at Linktree. For a company like ours, so focused on culture and comradery, this will be difficult news. I don’t expect anyone to be their normal selves. We will also be allocating you an additional mental health day that you can take at a time that suits you.
The opportunity for Linktree is immense and I have no doubt we’ll achieve everything we intend to and more for our creators. The right path is rarely the easy path. Today’s change to our team is the hard path, but it puts us in a strong position to deliver on the opportunity we have in front of us.
-Alex
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