DISQUS

andres · 1 year ago

loic, i like the idea behind seesmic and the transparent, creative and very entertaining way you have used so far to communicate and promote seesmic. many times i said to myself "that's the way i would like to do it if i were a CEO of a startup". so props for that!
however, what i constantly am amazed by is the obvious lack of skills and expertise of your technical team (or freelancers), that has lead to a technically imperfect and even annoying product, even after this long period of development time. i personally believe you have put your money on the wrong developers and engineers. how can it be that after such a long time, the flex client still has so massive shortcomings as the "session lost" bug? don't you see that such seemingly minor bugs puts off dozens people on a daily base, and finally even will turn away even the strongest supporters? do you really believe anyone is willing to re-logon every few minutes, just because you seem to have hired pretty incapable developers? similar can be said about the buggy mobile client. it's exactly those annoying details that people put off the fastest! at least this certainly is true for me..
don't understand me wrong, i don't want to be a troll - i just want to express my concerns why i believe it is quite obvious why seesmic is not where it could be as of now in terms of user base or new subscriptions. the first thing i would do if i were you is fire your CTO and developers. there are developers out there that could do it 10x better, in a 10th of the time. just my 2 cents.
still, i wish you all the best and hope seesmic will be successful in the long run. cheers, andres

sandieman · 1 year ago

Sorry to hear about this. I can only imagine how hard that had to be.

Otir · 1 year ago

Good luck. It is tough times, but we've always shown resilience and you shall overcome. Thank you for the transparency and the courage in letting us know openly how you are doing.

Henk · 1 year ago

Heavy stuff Loic. Everybody is so enthousiastic. Hope those people do understand the situation. But for you it's pretty tuff. Anyway we are very happy to work with you and your team.

Net · 1 year ago

I am really sorry to hear this my friend. Have faith and keep up all the good work!

pamslim · 1 year ago

Luc, for such a horrible message to have to deliver, I really appreciate your sincerity. You spoke clearly, to the point, but also expressed appreciation and love for the people who have helped build your company.

I am sure that with your help and their own skills and initiative they can land good new jobs (or start businesses!) and move onward and upward. Sucky times, but I really believe that real and meaningful business relationships survive even tough things like layoffs.

Hang in there - best of luck to the employees and to Seesmic

-Pam

Ryan Graves · 1 year ago

Loic- I love the product, I love the community and I have grown to love the team! I am sorry that you are being put in such a tough position but I believe you are making the right decision to act early...

I'm sorry to those on the team that will have to leave but I wish them best of luck. You're doing a great job with Seesmic Loic, keep it up.

jeanrem · 1 year ago

I am very sorry to hear that. I whish you the best for the future of Seesmic, Loic I am shure you will get back on your feets very soon, good ideas will reborn after the tempest. Comme dit Char, quelquefois «le réel désaltère l'espérance. C'est pourquoi, contre toute attente, l'espérance survit».

@silverton · 1 year ago

Yes, we *still* can ...

Guy · 1 year ago

You did right but I strongly suggest strong drinks tonight.

Jennifer Barthe · 1 year ago

How long do think it will be before the economy picks up again?

Perhaps you could create new services to meet your clients special needs during this tough economic time.

Laying people off is tough, but it's better to be honest right away and let them go rather than keep them around knowing you can't take care of them. That would be the worst thing to do.

Manuel Muller · 1 year ago

Hi Loic, has seesmic been put under pressure by VCs or is it your own decision to lay off people? I remember someone who has recently been hired by seesmic and who explained in an interview (Recorded at TechCrunch50 I think) how he successfully applied for a job at seesmic. Has this guy been layed off? Would be really bad luck for him. On the other hand he's one of the newer hires, making a lay-off perhaps more understandable.

David Sifry · 1 year ago

Hang in there, Loic!

Kate Foy · 1 year ago

Good luck to the company and to the ex-employees. Dreadful times. Hold fast.

Rayanne Langdon · 1 year ago

Seesmic video reply from Disqus.

sean808080 · 1 year ago

Seesmic video reply from Disqus.

Manuel Muller · 1 year ago

And of course, Loic, I hope for you, the whole team, all the users of seesmic and all the former employees that even though times are difficult at the moment and during the next months, we will all continue to strive and be successful in the end! I for one definitely believe in a bright future, as fundamental data of the market didn't change a lot. Currently, a lot of the panic is purely based on psychology. Even in a recession or depression, people will need to buy food, have a house or flat, buy clothes, have some fun, buy computers and gadgets and communicate. And the market will realize this after a while and stock markets will normalize.

Note that the need for communication is actually particularly high in these times (as long as it doesn't cost the users but only the advertisers), so to me, seesmic actually looks like a strategic winner. You continue to grow the number of users, and every user will communicate more often which will make seesmic more attractive to advertisers and make up for the smaller budgets people will temporarily have.

How's that? Good, isn't it? Always look forward! :-)

Jonathan Marks · 1 year ago

Hang in there Loic. Your are obviously a people manager with a big heart - and that makes decisions like this especially tough. Good luck to those who have to leave.

Some of those interviewees at Davos 08 have a lot to answer for. I expect big budget cuts here in Europe in the development aid and broadcast sectors. Part of it though, is simply a natural correction. Curious to see what happens to the Chinese and Indian economies which have been growing far too fast in my opinion.

nicolasschriver · 1 year ago

First of all, I want to wish good luck for the people that have been laid off. I know it might be hard. Their expertise, their skills should not be questioned, and I am sure this experience building up Seesmic will help them a lot.

Secondly, I am very sorry to hear that Seesmic will be affected by the crisis. I want to encourage you Loic, to tell you that a lot of people are supporting your business. As a Chinese proverb says: "In order to overcome adversity you need to face it". Keep faith!

I strongly believe Seesmic has a great future in front of it, and will become a major service on the Internet.

You should be ashamed · 1 year ago

You should be ashamed

This is YOUR fault Loic. If you had done a better job at monetizing your business model and managing your cashflow you would be profitable by now and would not need to take decisions like this.

Your incompetence is damaging the lives of 7 families today. Thats a lot of women and children. A few actions on wall street should make no difference to you. I instead hope you are proud.

Don't look all shook up. You knew this was coming. Congratulations, you selfish bastard.

Sean Percival · 1 year ago

Sorry to hear, if any of these folks are writers looking for blogger work please contact me at spercival@tsavo.com.

jeffclavier · 1 year ago

Loic does not need his investors to tell him to do this or do that. He has been very conscious of the rapid aggravation of the environment, and its potential impact on the company's ability to become a sustainable business. Loic shared his plans with me over the past few days, and as painful as it is to go through a rif for those impacted, it was deemed necessary to extend the co’s runway whilst maintaining its ability to innovate and serve the community.

That's called Leadership.

Oh..la..la · 1 year ago

pffft...it's called insuring his high-maintenance, high-expense lifestyle - unheard of for 99.9% of startup founders in silicon valley.

Loic Lemeur · 1 year ago

thank you Jeff. and everybody.

Sylvain · 1 year ago

Bad news and one of the most difficult decisions for a entrepreneur.
May the force be with seesmic ...
After the descent there is only one direction: the rise
---
Sometimes, you have to read the signs, even in the less positive ...
I remember that the last time you came in France, you found that the media talked a lot of the crisis. What is hard with Twitter is its memory...
---
http://twitter.com/loiclemeur/statuses/931532161
Everybody in Europe is talking about crisis and layoffs and catastrophy. You can't hear anything positive on TV /radio or read in the press.
01:41 PM September 23, 2008 from web
---
http://twitter.com/loiclemeur/statuses/931520851
I feel the conversations about the financial crisis and the number of people scared much worse in Europe than in Silicon Valley.
01:25 PM September 23, 2008 from web
---
With experience you have, you know react in difficult situation.
The life of an entrepreneur is also made of difficult choices but just (i hope) for the good of the company.

Courage Loic

Romsfou · 1 year ago

Well as a french man living in the US with his wife and little boy it's true that I feel really sorry for Loic.
Beside the great tool of Seemic I kindda enjoy the adventure of Loic. I do not have enough courage or patience or skills or... to run my own business but I do understand the sacrifice to build such a thing.
Therefore I do also feel how difficult it must be to let go part of his achievement.
Anyway I wish good luck for those who left (we will always need software developper) and the best for the small team that remains on the Seemic boat. I'm sure it will go through the storm.

Les conséquences de ce qu'on ne fait pas sont les plus graves.Marcel Mariën

charlieanzman · 1 year ago

I've actually been on both sides of this (twice). No matter how you cut it, it's not fun for a 'caring' CEO (and, yes, there are 'a few') and especially for the people that get cut. I have particular empathy for those in their 40's and 50's that got popped without pension (or just before) during the massive downsizing and consolidation over the past decade.

H. Ardly Surprised · 1 year ago

Terrible new but, is anyone really surprised? Seriously, have you EVER revealed a business model? And, do you know of any CEOs from established companies that clown around as much as you do or spend as much time pursuing recreational endeavors such as conferences? Sure, those are fun things to do - but Seesmic appeared to be spending money like drunken sailors - on ridiculous things (like studios!). Running a company is hard work and it's definitely not as fun as people think - not if you want to grow the business by attracting paying customers. It's not a part-time job. Sounds like you'd be a great founder - but you and your investors should have put a serious management team in place the day your millions got deposited.

Christophe Harrer · 1 year ago

Loic is both an amazing CEO and a hard working one.

While most startup CEOs are "just" (that's already a lot) there to write a business plan, find foundings and make investors happy. He is an incredible marketing asset for Seesmic.

Writting, twittering, networking, going to conferences or being a "clown" as you say is a lot of work (and I hope a lot of fun too). The Seesmic platform might be great, but without users it will be nothing. Loic is bulding an audience of passionate users and that's priceless.

I am very sorry for the ex-employees, but I do not fear for Seesmic , it is in good hands.

Manuel Muller · 1 year ago

Come on, that's a ridiculous complaint. Visibility is very important for a startup. I'm tempted to say it's the second most important thing apart from having a good product. What's the worth of a business plan now? You can shred it and you need to write a new one now. WOM, in contrary, has kept its value. People that heard of seesmic through one of Loic's appearances will not stop knowing it, just because of a financial crisis.

We should also remember that it isn't bad if work is fun. In fact, that's the ideal we're all striving for. Work should be fun, for all parties involved from the VCs, management to the employees. I for one would love to have Loic in my company.

zbowling · 1 year ago

Seesmic hits hard times. That sucks.

Loic Lemeur · 1 year ago

H. Ardly Surprised anonymous troll, it is in conferences that I met my investors and key partners and I get invited for free to most of them. The Seesmic studio is a green painted wall with a few cameras in it so keep your shit for yourself.

H. Ardly Surprised · 1 year ago

Oh, sorry. Your studio is just a room with green paint. How about the cameras? How about all the goofy videos you made and posted EVERY day. Seriously - your anger and grandstanding - even through this post - is amazingly arrogant. Each time you raised money (twice was it?) people I know were shaking their heads in amazement - one at your fantastic self-promotional skills (which everyone, including me, truly admired and was clearly the reason you were successful) and at the fact that investors were pouring so much money into your platform. You'll learn that how you behave as a CEO is very important in instilling confidence in your team, your customers and your investors. With $12MM you should have been able to run your company for several years. But - your ego, perhaps, drove you to expand too fast, spend unwisely and take your eye off the ball. Seemic may be a great product with lots of admirers, but it's also a platform that could have been built and maintained by a handful of people with a tiny management team and a burn rate way, way under $1MM/year. Don't be angry at some of the reactions here. You started the post and decided to live this event in public. Unlike the last year and half, you're not going to be greeted and surrounded only by "yes" people anymore.

Loic Lemeur · 1 year ago

"With $12MM you should have been able to run your company for several years." - well I am, Seesmic is barely one year old and will run for several years.

If you have so many things to say about my behavior as a CEO and enjoy me being here in public to talk about it then face me directly and put your name or a Seesmic video rather than hide. I can be blamed for many things but not to hide behind a stupid pseudo and not having the balls to take responsibility for what I say and do. Come on my friend, you can do it, it won't hurt you will see. You can even tell me in person how bad I behave if you like, I will just listen.

Al · 1 year ago

I'm amazed to see all the shit this laying off is stiring (see TC comments also). Not that we shouldn't consider the people and families affected by this decision but are we in 1930's USSR? I thought this was America. What happened to "what we stand for": market flexibility, layoff/hire given the needs and the mood of the market? If you are sincere and serious about what you write, then you should stop blaming/giving lessons to the rest of the world (eg. socialist countries) and go live in North Korea.

shareme · 1 year ago

I am sorry to hear that and I hope its not the Mobile Lead that I know(Mik Bry).

kel kelly · 1 year ago

the pain you felt in having to execute this rif is evident in your tone and vernacular. this is probably one of the many reasons your team loves you including the ones who were negatively impacted by this situation. tough times call for tough decisions. real empathy and compassion coupled with allowing for maintained dignity of the employee is the best you can do. you have done that. onward & upward.

shareme · 1 year ago

Hang in there Loic al of us had to make that adjustment.. i am receiving 'start up funding' but very small and will have to stretch it quite severely..

Cross fingers hopefully we will both be at TechCrunch50-2009

fred2baro · 1 year ago

@andres
The mobile client works really fine I've been using it a lot. so far so good. There's features that are .missing maybe but so far it's the only kinda of it and it may stay this way for a long time.. Because it took time to devellop and it was also a great demand from the community.
Being the first to expose the laid off looks odd in the beginning of hard time, It's visionnary few days /weeks later... and after the crisis even more.
I'm sad for the guys tho (because some of are valuable members of the community), and i had wished that the money would come earlier to help seesmic go thru the hard times.
Good luck my seesmic friends.

ledretch · 1 year ago

Sad times these days Big guy, hard decisions are best ones, ever.

hardaway · 1 year ago

Loic, Please don't feed the trolls by continuing to answer people who can't even have the courage to put their names on their posts. The economy is going to be in an L-shaped bottom, and everyone knows it. You did the necessary thing. Truthfully, I think Twhilrl might end up being the monetizable part of the company.

hardaway · 1 year ago

Seesmic video reply from Disqus.

Loic Lemeur · 1 year ago

thanks Francine, you are right.

WebPixie · 1 year ago

Absolutely agree with you, Francine! She's a lady who knows what she's talking about, Loic. Your service is fabulous. Trolls are never satisfied. The BEST they can do for you is just give you a splitting headache. Rock on! You will be able to hire all your people back, plus more, probably much sooner than you think.

Daniel Ha · 1 year ago

Hang tough, Loic. I'm sure you thought this through hard and made the right decisions. Everyone is going to have to make similar assessments sooner rather than later. We just need to keep our heads up and focus on the core of our services.

Here's looking to a better 2009.

Loic Lemeur · 1 year ago

thank you Daniel, really appreciated. Hanging tough.

mrboo · 1 year ago

Bon courage à ceux qui se retrouvent sur le carreau ainsi qu'à toute l'équipe Seesmic, les beaux jours reviendrons, le web a besoin d'innovation et donc des startups qui portent cette innovation.
Désolé pour ce message en français mais mon anglais ne m'aurait pas permit de transmettre le fond de ma pensé.

jlancon · 1 year ago

Loic, you have my most sincere good luck wishes here. Things are not easy these days, and sometimes tough decisions have to be taken. These times are not win-win, they are lose-lose. So be strong to go through that crisis.

Marc JESTIN · 1 year ago

Loïc,
Tous nos encouragements et nos voeux de continuation heureuse pour Seesmic.
No doubt you'll have better news on the exciting road to success for entrepreneurs in this tough world.
Bien à vous,
Cheers,
Marc

dom · 1 year ago

Loic, we all appreciate your transparence and you are really an amazing guy: during bad time most of the people are just staying hidden. You are a true leader: you face your obligations. Not so many Fortune 500 CEOs are like you....

I think it is a bad thing to link these layoffs to the financial crisis. *There is no link!* The root cause is for sure elswhere. It can be technical, it can be income growth, team members casting, etc.

Like the Onasis, the people staying positive and with a good business will start their success story during this uncertain period.

Remove the emotional part of the journalists propagenda and only trust the fundamentals!

Lee Wilkins · 1 year ago

Loic - keep your head high. These times will pass and I am certain you'll still be there.

Edouard · 1 year ago

Dear Loic
I hope that your decision will help you ton continue to build your service. Good luck !

Alex · 1 year ago

Je découvre votre blog et l histoire de cette start up ce matin grace a 20 minutes.
Je suis très étonné de la virulence de certains commentaires à votre égard, certainement le prix d une exposition choisie par vous...
Vous avez les bonnes réponses en tous cas; et le plus sympa , c est qu en les traduisant tout en lisant , on voit tout de suite le francais qui est en vous .
Keep it up, that s just a bad cycle! Je suis moi meme dans la situation d un des 7 qui partent... ce n est pas si grave, les bons retrouvent toujours, les moins bons, vous les aiderez et tout ira bien.
Je reviendrai m enquérir de l'évolution. Bon courage il faut aller chercher du new business now!!

Lola Deluxe · 1 year ago

Oh f*** ! Toute ma compassion pour votre équipe... Au Luxembourg, l'immobilier stagne aussi. Qui l'aurait cru ?! Environ 30 % à la baisse, ça brade et vu le prix du marché ici, ça nous laisse encore de la marge. Nous tenons le coup grâce à la diversification de nos activités qui ne sont pas que la promotion mais faudrait pas que ça perdure dans notre secteur principal... sans quoi, nous serons contraints d'y arriver et 30% de notre effectif, ce serait 18 personnes ! On n'ose pas encore de l'envisager... :(

Trev · 1 year ago

Sorry for this situation and best of luck to you and your team. I think you guys have a great product and I wish you success.

Trev · 1 year ago

Sorry for this situation and best of luck to you and your team. I think you guys have a great product and I wish you success.

RMK · 1 year ago

I'm quite sure that in these 7 guys that your fire, there is no usability/accessibility expert, nor graphic-designer (yes, I know the story of your logo).
Maybe that will be a good occasion to think about these aspects of your product, instead of just capitalizing on the buzz you created around it ?

For me its Seesmic resolute ugliness and non-functional interface that always kept me miles away from it.

dave · 1 year ago

Start up problems are the same as the financial system, how to make less with more. How is it possible to fire 7 persons after raising 5 millions for an internet company with half of the coding staff outsource in east europe. Banks tried to get even richer with nothing, not investing anymore in REAL biz generating cash, they failed, the web2 is doing the same thing today, build and hope to sell, no biz model, no revenue, just cross your finger and put all your energy convincing people that you just created the new google. How many of the company that will attend web2 are generating good old fashion money, Meetic or Ebay style ? This crisis is the best thing that ever happen to the net since the last bubble, back to reality guys

clark · 1 year ago

You raised 4 millions, stop wining, enjoy the excuse to justify the failure

golfgirl · 1 year ago

The entire script for the future has suddenly changed...for pretty much everyone. No one really saw it coming either, though many will now say they did. Yes, some did predict a slowdown but few foresaw a meltdown. Few foresaw this. Even now most don't realize or won't admit it: this really, really isn't like anything else that's ever happened before.

You're a great person Loic... a caring, hardworking, kind, person. Seesmic is awesome and has made a difference in people's lives. That's for sure. Hoping for the best for all of us, in these difficult times.

Loic Lemeur · 1 year ago

thank you so much Golf Girl!

Comment draguer · 1 year ago

Really sorry about that. I wish you very good luck

CManu · 1 year ago

As you said tough times for the good guys...

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

Yeah, our parent company just laid off 20 today. Major bummer. This is going to be a tough economy to work through.

@JoeHobot · 1 year ago

Whos that? Rob?

By the way sorry to hear about the people, but I think with 6Mills you could still have them there and instead just fire people that chat the whole day and used twitter. They might be an asset to your company at start, but looking at some of your employees I would maybe install web protection policy for using

Friendfeed,
Twitter,
MySpace
Facebook.

Anyways it's hard to see people go , that helped you build that investment. I hope they got good severance paycheck's !

Loic Lemeur · 1 year ago

dear anonymous troll, you are perfectly right, it is my entire fault and I take responsibility for it.