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Zeb Evans, CEO of $4 cardinal all-in-one productivity level ClickUp, announced that helium is laying disconnected much than 20% of his employees. Evans made the announcement that the institution chopped 22% of its headcount successful a much than 1000-word station connected X, formerly Twitter.
He called the layoffs restructuring to make "100x org" and the instauration of $1M currency wage bands for employees who physique oregon tally AI systems that nutrient outsized impact. The announcement layoffs arsenic proactive alternatively than financial. "This wasn't astir cutting costs," Evans wrote. "Most savings from this alteration volition travel straight backmost into the radical who stay."San Diego-headquartered ClickUP claims to beryllium the world’s archetypal Converged AI Workspace, bringing unneurotic each enactment apps, data, and workflows.
The US-based institution has offices successful Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom and Australia. In 2025, the institution was named to the Forbes Cloud 100 List.
Read ClickUP CEO Zeb Evan's unfastened memo announcing layoffs
Today we reduced headcount by 22%. The concern is the strongest it's ever been. So I deliberation it's important to beryllium nonstop astir what I'm seeing and why.First, I made this determination and I ain it. I did it due to the fact that the mode to run astatine the highest level of productivity is changing, and to triumph the future, ClickUp needs to alteration with it.
Second, this wasn't astir cutting costs. Most savings from this alteration volition travel straight backmost into the radical who stay. We'll beryllium introducing million-dollar wage bands. If you make outsized interaction utilizing AI, you'll beryllium paid extracurricular of accepted bands.Most importantly, I person the deepest gratitude for those affected. We're doing this from a presumption of spot specifically truthful we tin instrumentality attraction of radical properly.
Everyone affected receives a bundle aimed astatine honoring their contributions and easing the transition.I lone spot 2 options: hold for this to play retired gradually successful the marketplace oregon beryllium honorable astir what I'm seeing and enactment proactively.THE 100X ORGANIZATIONThe superior alteration is that we're restructuring astir what I telephone 100x org. The extremity is 100x output. The roles required to physique astatine the highest level are fundamentally antithetic than they were a twelvemonth ago.Incremental improvements to existing systems won't get america there. We request caller ones. That means creating capable disruption to rebuild alternatively than iterate connected what's already broken.The communal communicative is that AI makes everyone much productive. It doesn't. Many of the workflows of today, if near unchanged, make bottlenecks successful AI systems.These roles volition evolve. But waiting for that to hap people means falling down now.The 100x org is really heavy babelike connected radical - infinitely much than today. This is lone imaginable with 10x radical that person embraced and adopted caller ways of working.THE BUILDERS, AGENT MANAGERS, AND FRONT-LINERS— THE BUILDERS: 10X ENGINEERSI don't deliberation astir companies person internalized what's really happening with AI successful engineering. The communal communicative is that AI makes each engineers much productive.
That whitethorn beryllium existent successful isolation, but astatine an enactment level - that is the farthest happening from reality.Here's what we've validated precocious astatine ClickUp: the large engineers, the ones who tin orchestrate, architect, and review, are becoming 100x engineers. They're not penning code. They're directing agents that constitute code. The accomplishment is judgment.AI makes the champion engineers wildly much productive, and everyone other utilizing AI slows these engineers down.Think astir it - the bottlenecks are (1) orchestration - telling AI what to do, and (2) reviewing - what AI did. Everything is leapfrogged and nary longer needed.So who bash you privation orchestrating and reviewing code?And however bash you privation your champion engineers to walk their time?If your champion engineers are spending clip reviewing different people's code, past this is inherently an inefficient bottleneck. These engineers tin reappraisal their agent's codification overmuch faster than reviewing quality code.The caller satellite is astir enabling your 10x engineers to go 100x.The incorrect strategy is to propulsion each technologist to usage infinite tokens. Companies doing this are celebrating 500% much propulsion requests. But lawsuit outcomes don't lucifer the measurement of codification being generated.I telephone this the large reckoning of AI coding, and each institution volition look this soon if not already.More codification is conscionable different bottleneck to the champion engineers, and yet to your company's interaction arsenic well.— THE BUILDERS: 10X PRODUCT MANAGERSProduct absorption and plan roles are merging.Designers that person lawsuit focus, go much similar merchandise managers.And merchandise managers that person intuition for UX go much similar designers.The bottleneck of idiosyncratic probe is gone. It takes america conscionable 1 notation of an cause to kickoff probe and analyse results.The bottleneck of merchandise <> plan iteration is besides gone. The merchandise builder iterates connected their own, on with agents and skills that guarantee alignment with prime and strategy.Also arguable contiguous - I judge that the incorrect strategy is to person your PMs shipping codification - that conscionable introduces different bottleneck that the champion engineers volition discarded their clip on.To beryllium clear, PMs should beryllium coding but they should bash this successful a playground to iterate, validate, and scope. That codification should not spell to production.Everything extracurricular of managing systems, orchestrating AI, and reviewing output becomes a bottleneck.That's wherefore the different roles that are captious on with these are the systems managers (to trim bottlenecks) on with a bottleneck you can't regenerate - lawsuit gathering time.— THE SYSTEM MANAGERSIronically, the radical that automate their jobs with AI volition ever person a job. They go owners of the AI systems - cause managers. We person galore examples of these radical astatine ClickUp.The underlying systems successful which we run are perfectly captious to get right.
I deliberation astir companies are delusional to deliberation they tin iterate connected existing systems and vie successful this caller world.You indispensable make capable disruption truthful that aged systems are deprecated entirely. If there's immoderate explanation for 'AI native' that's what it is.— THE FRONT-LINERSIn a satellite that volition go saturated with AI communication, the quality interaction volition substance much than thing to customers.This is simply a bottleneck that you shouldn't regenerate - adjacent erstwhile agents are precocious capable prime to bash video meetings.One-on-one gathering clip with customers is thing that shouldn't beryllium automated. The systems astir the meetings should beryllium - truthful that front-liners walk astir 100% of their clip with customers.REWARDING 100X IMPACTIn a satellite wherever companies are capable to bash truthful overmuch much with less, wherever does that excess wealth go?In our case, overmuch of the savings successful this caller operating exemplary volition travel straight backmost to those that enabled it.We indispensable reward radical that make productivity accordingly. This aligns incentives connected some sides. Plus, successful a satellite wherever your champion radical make 100x impact, you can't spend to suffer them.You should purpose to clasp these employees for decades. The discourse they person and their quality to efficiently orchestrate and reappraisal volition beryllium astir intolerable to replace.Compensation bands of contiguous should beryllium thrown retired the door. We're introducing $1 cardinal cash/year wage bands with a way disposable to astir everyone successful the institution if they nutrient 100x interaction by creating oregon managing AI systems.THE FUTURENearly each institution volition marque changes similar these. The ones that bash it proactively volition specify what comes next.The aboriginal is not less people. It's antithetic work, caller roles, and amended rewards for those who clasp it. We're already seeing wholly caller roles emerge, similar Agent Managers, that didn't beryllium a twelvemonth ago.ClickUp is positioning to pb this shift, not conscionable internally, but for our customers too. I've ne'er been much definite astir wherever we're headed.
