#AskPeshev 192: Doubling Your Headcount?

Scaling teams vs. mass layoffs - where off to?

May 10, 2023

Have you ever wondered what it takes to scale a business?It's not just about increasing revenue or hiring more employees. Scaling requires careful consideration of numerous factors, from financial stability to customer demand. In this week's newsletter, we delve into 10 crucial aspects to take into account before making the growth jump. And while scaling can be a daunting task, it's essential for entrepreneurs and business leaders who want to take their ventures to the next level. But it's not all sunshine and rainbows in the business world. Growth comes with its own set of challenges, including rapid hiring and managing headcount. We've got you covered with our featured story of the week, which discusses startup considerations when doubling headcount over a few months. All this and more in this week's roundup.🚀 Mario My Take 10 Factors to Consider Before Scaling Your Business Towards GrowthWhile the global corporate community world aims for rapid growth, scaling your business towards growth does not come easy. In fact, not everyone is suitable for growth. This is the main paradox the startup community faces when it comes to venture-backed businesses. For instance, angel investors expect a profitable exit within 5 years of the founding round, preferably sooner. Different VC studies report anywhere from 4 years to 6.3 years on average. This requires...Read more…

 Business Strategy 

  • DOW: 33,561 (-0.17%)

  • NASDAQ: 12,179 (-0.64%)

  • S&P: 4,119 (-0.46%)

*Economy numbers as of May 9th close*

As stubbornly high inflation and a tight labor market weighed on sales and earnings, small business sentiment plummeted to the lowest level in a decade last month—a worrying sign that Main Street may become the latest facet of the economy to take a major blow amid the Federal Reserve's economic tightening campaign.Read more… Management 

  • Sullivan & Stanley Revenue: $16M

  • Year Founded: 2016

Sullivan & Stanley (S&S) has announced the promotion of Matt Bradley to the role of Managing Director UK South, as the business focuses on ambitious double-digit growth in the forthcoming year. Bradley’s promotion comes at a pivotal time for Sullivan & Stanley, which has a target of increasing +30% revenue in the next financial year.

 Recruitment 

  • 2023 Companies with layoffs: 662

  • 192,334 Employees were laid off in 2023

  • Q2 2023 Layoffs: 24,112

*  Statistic was taken from layoffs.fyi as of May 10th  *CNN: Where the jobs are: These are the industries that are hiring – and firingAll signs were pointing to a cooling labor market. Instead, the latest jobs report showed the unemployment rate fell to 3.4% in April after 253,000 jobs were added last month. But hiring isn’t strong across the board, and is concentrated in a handful of industries.Read more…

 Breaking News ðŸš¨

  • Ryanair has won its challenge against Lufthansa's state bailout in 2020 triggered by the coronavirus pandemic

  • US and UK oppose Syria’s re-admission to Arab League

  • Jury finds Donald Trump liable for sexual abuse and awards accuser $5m

 Marketing 

  • Users aged 25-34: 60%

  • Users aged 18-24: 20%

  • Users aged above 55: 2.9%

  • More than 900 million members in 200 countries

* Taken from SproutSocial's 2023 LinkedIn Statistics & LinkedIn's website *

In a letter to employees on Monday, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky announced that the company is taking steps to adapt to the "rapidly changing landscape" — a decision that will result in cutting 716 jobs. Roslansky added that while the company has experienced "record engagement on the platform," it has also seen "shifts in customer behavior and slower revenue growth." 

 Sales 

  • Creating more content and posting more often: 55%

  • Improving the quality of our content, making it more valuable: 53%

  • Creating more research-driven content: 37%

  • Paying more attention to keyword Research: 36%

* Taken from Semrush's "Which Tactics Help the Most to Boost Your Ranking". I am personally very fond of the Semrush toolkit and use it regularly in order to improve the ranking of my own site and our client's products. Start your journey with a 14-day Free Trial *

Much has been written over the years about how firms lack visibility into the returns from their marketing investments. In an analog world, the perennial reason offered for this problem was difficulty establishing a causal link between investments made in marketing activities and the market (or customer) response to those actions. 

 Featured Story of the Week 

Have you ever wondered what happens when double your headcount over a few months? 🤔 Most startups can't handle the growth surge and implode. 🎇 And while it's almost impossible for established corporations to grow at such as massive scale, enter 2023. 1. Amazon grew from sub-800,000 employees in 2019 to 1,600,000 in 2021! 2. There's also Meta that counted 45,000 staff members in 2019 and over 86,000 last year. Layoffs are horrible. I say that every single time.