Clubhouse, a social audio app created by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, has laid off more than half of its staff due to customer habit changes and remote work complexities, as stated in a blog post by the co-founders. The affected employees will receive severance and healthcare coverage for a few months. A Clubhouse spokesperson declined to comment on the number of people impacted or the number of remaining employees.
Last October Davison told TechCrunch that the company had nearly 100 employees. This is the second round of layoffs for Clubhouse in less than a year; the previous one involved a few role eliminations as part of team streamlining, according to a statement to TechCrunch.
The social app, backed with more than $100 million in venture capital and valued at $4 billion by investors, is struggling to find its role in a post-COVID world where it’s difficult for people to find the time for long conversations. Its co-founders acknowledged that the product needs to evolve, and with their smaller team, they will focus on building “Clubhouse 2.0.” Davison’s product philosophy revolves around social audio and remote work. He points out that the audio product is designed for multitasking and feels that the trends they’re building towards are permanent.
Clubhouse did confirm it still has “years of runway left” and is not implementing a hiring freeze yet.
Contact Natasha Mascarenhas on Twitter @nmasc_ or on Signal at +1 925 271 0912 for further insight.
