I shared an update with our employees today that I want to also share publicly, thus I’m republishing it here on our blog. Here it goes:
Dear Rockers,
Today we made the decision to reduce our workforce by 15% percent. Rockers affected have already been informed and met with their leaders for clarity on their next steps. I cannot express enough my gratitude for their contributions to the company, and we have assured them that we will do everything we can to support them in this transition. I will also be personally available to offer my support.
It was a hard but necessary decision to enable Rock to become a more sustainable and focused company, allowing us to return to profitability. Although some things that brought us here are beyond our control, the accountability for this decision rests with me as the CEO.
Moving forward, I want to reassure each of you that our mission remains the same: to make marketing better while having a positive impact in the world. These adjustments were important and necessary for us to continue working towards that.
Why are we doing this? Why now?
Over 2022, we’ve started several initiatives to streamline and scale our operations to return Rock to profitability. Besides that, we delivered a performance below our plan and could have done better as a team. Not that we didn’t work hard, in fact, we did, but we lost operational efficiency and became more complex, preventing us from putting our A-game out there. Unfortunately, in spite of all our hard work, our efforts weren’t enough to get us where we needed to be.
We are also living in a moment of increased economic uncertainty, rising interest rates, geopolitical conflicts, and a global recession looming. The moment called for action, decisiveness, and focus. Rock has navigated uncertain moments like this before, and I’m sure this won’t be the last. Great companies are resilient companies. They are defined by their ability to meet the moment and adapt fast.
What changes?
More than ever, it is time to be frugal, resourceful, and agile. It’s time to simplify— doing fewer things better. It’s time to focus on the things that matter to our clients and business, becoming more scalable every day.
Over the last few years, we started to move more slowly, and we lost some of our startup frugality. With these changes, we are becoming a simpler, more focused organization with fewer products, departments, and organizational layers. We have a clear plan to accelerate the sunset of non-core products & projects while focusing on two business priorities:
I) accelerating our global self-service and product-led growth model, and
II) doubling down on delivering success and growing our enterprise clients.
Our team size, structure, and composition now reflect these priorities.
These adjustments will enable us to achieve our profitability goals, becoming less dependent on external market conditions and external capital to exert more control over our destiny.
Your role in this journey
I understand that the current downturn has caused plenty of anxiety among our team and the tech industry as a whole. I wanted to thank each Rocker for your endurance and for always believing in Rock and our mission, which remains as important as always. By embracing change and working together as a team, we will continue building an enduring company.
You stayed for a reason, to help us fulfill this mission as a team. This moment asks all of us for increased responsibility, and we must execute with discipline to continue the beautiful trajectory we are so proud of. Remember that smaller teams can get more done and move faster. With increased focus and agility, we will continue building the world’s leading Content Cloud and, now, every Rocker plays an even bigger role in this journey.
As always, you can count on my commitment, and I’m counting on yours. We expect you to be there for our clients and Rock.
So, today, let’s focus on supporting our colleagues with the compassion they deserve. Tomorrow, we will gather at a Town Hall meeting to discuss the updates to our strategic plan and start next week focused and energized to deliver our goals for 2023. With the right structure and an increased focus, it’s upon us to execute.
The future of marketing is content-first, and in times of economic uncertainty, brands need content more than ever. We will be here to support them!
Rock on,
D.
