Productivity app Evernote lays off 15 percent of its workforce

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Evernote
Evernote recently lost a number of senior executives.
Photo: Evernote

Weeks after a report stating that it is in a “death spiral,” productivity app Evernote has reportedly laid off 15 percent of its workforce — amounting 54 people in total.

The news was shared with employees by CEO Chris O’Neill at at an “all hands” meeting this week. He told staff that the move is intended to make the company, “operate more efficiently” and to focus its efforts on new initiatives, while streamlining certain functions.

A note written by O’Neill and sent to employees was shared with TechCrunch:

“For those of you who missed our All Hands today, I have some difficult news to share.

As part of an ongoing evaluation of our business, we’ve decided to make a tough, but necessary decision to set Evernote up for future success. We’ll be saying goodbye to 54 talented and dedicated people, each of whom has contributed to Evernote’s mission. This was an extremely difficult decision and one that we did not take lightly.

As you’ve heard me say during the past few months, I set incredibly aggressive goals for the year. We’ve grown significantly this year, but at the same time we invested too far ahead of that growth.

We must adjust quickly when part of our strategy is not meeting our expectations. Going forward, we’re streamlining certain functions and will continue to make investments to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering.

I understand that today’s news may cause concern. We need to remember our amazing community of people who rely on our products and believe in our mission. Together, we have built a product that serves over 225 million people around the world who trust us with more than 9 billion notes containing their most important thoughts, ideas, and inspirations.

As I discussed in All-Hands, Evernote grew over 20% in the first half this year and we are in a stable financial position. Our Q3 revenue numbers remain strong and we expect to end the quarter north of $27 million. We have over $30 million in cash on our balance sheet and will exit 2018 generating more cash than we spend.

Though today is hard, this is the right decision for the business and the best way for us to invest in our future. For those friends and colleagues impacted today, we’ll be providing severance and other benefits to support them in their transition. We’ll have a series of AMAs to answer your questions that were not addressed today. As always, feel free to contact me with your questions. Tomorrow, I will publicly address our customers, partners and community on our blog.

Chris”

Is Evernote in trouble?

At its height, Evernote was one of the most popular apps in the App Store. It has fallen some way since then. Part of this is due to the introduction of alternative apps which do much the same, minus the cost. This includes the likes of Google Keep, Microsoft OneNote, and even Apple’s stock Notes app.

Earlier  this year, Evernote reportedly lost its Chief Technology Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Procurement Officer, and head of HR.

However, despite a tipster telling TechCrunch that the company is in a “death spiral” due to flat user growth, the company denies that there is any trouble. A representative for Evernote said that the company is not currently looking for any additional funding, that it has $30 million on its balance sheet, and that it will exit 2018 without burning through any cash reserves.

Are you an Evernote user? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: TechCrunch

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