On Deck Cuts 25% Staff, MainStreet 30%, and Cameo Removes 87 Positions Including CTO and CPO

Cameo, the celebrity video greetings startup, laid off 87 of staffers Wednesday, a move that CEO Steven Galanis described as "right-sizing." From a report: The layoffs also affected some of Cameo's most senior executives, Protocol has learned. Leadership departures included Cameo CTO Rob Post, top marketing executive Emily Boschwitz, CPO Nundu Janakiram and Chief People Officer Melanie Steinbach, according to a source close to the company. The team in charge of music partnerships saw big cuts, according to a LinkedIn post. Also affected by the layoffs were the company's international operations, including much of its London office, as well as a number of employees in sales and marketing, the source told Protocol. In some other lay off news: On Deck, a tech company that connects founders to each other, capital and advice, has laid off 25% off its staff, TechCrunch reported. The publication also reported that MainStreet, a startup that helps other startups uncover tax credits that was valued at $500 million last year, has laid off about 30% of its staff.

imaginary value != business value

[Virtucon]

I'm sorry to see layoffs but if your business value is propped up by hype and you don't deliver revenue, then you're out of business.

I mean Cameo is based on getting a personalized celebrity greeting on video. That's impersonal as it gets. It may make the clients of Cameo giggle but still, this is a business model? I mean I like the work of Brian Cox but $689 for him to say hello to you in a vid isn't valuable.

Cameo prices have gone way up!

[megalon]

The company seems way too top heavy for the services provided.

Re:

[Virtucon]

Have you seen some of their "celebs?"

Just Sayin.

Re:

[youngone]

I had a quick look, and frankly I feel sorry for some of those "celebrities". If Cameo want $120 or so of my local money for a greeting I'm assuming the "star" is getting 30% or so.
They must all be broke as hell to be prepared to lower themselves to do that for that tiny amount of money.

Re:

[Virtucon]

Oh well the porn stars [cameo.com] are cheap at least. Wait, this would be a great way to get somebody divorced!

Re:

[youngone]

Porn stars? Of course there are porn stars.

Just the beginning

[stabiesoft]

Cheap money is over. I saw where carvana just did a deal where they are paying over 10% interest on some massive debt. The article went on to name numerous startups that have debt levels greater than annual revenues. Some were well known like wework. When money is free, moonshot startups flourish.

Right-sizing

[OrangeTide]

Translation: We're retaining the people that made bad decisions that lead us to hire beyond our capacity to serve. In fact we're very ones writing this press release.

celebrity video greetings startup

[Errol backfiring]

What does that even mean? Is it a pass phrase? "Correct Horse Battery Staple" makes more sense as a sentence.