What’s the new normal for a company whose CEO is all in on AI and cutting jobs as a result? Look no further than DeepL’s layoffs memo.
Loading audio narration…
The German AI translation startup recently cut about 250 employees, over 21% of staff. In his message posted on LinkedIn, founder Jarek Kutylowski checked all the boxes for the new-age layoff memo: smaller teams, fewer management layers, more AI, and the old reliable “founder mode.”
Recent layoffs at Block, Atlassian, and more have taken a similar tack. The layoff playbook is here — and DeepL is the latest exemplar.
Breaking down DeepL’s layoff memo
Kutylowski began his note by introducing the layoffs, calling it the “most difficult I’ve had to make in my career.” He thanked the staff members he’s laying off for their work before launching into his state of the world.
“We are currently living through a massive structural shift in what work exists, who does it, and how many people it takes to do it well, and that shift is because of AI,” Kutylowski wrote.
Kutylowski framed DeepL as a leader. While most companies have recognized the AI-driven shift, few have acted on it, he wrote. Companies making moves like DeepL will “define the next decade,” he wrote.
Then Kutylowski riffed on one of the era’s biggest buzzwords: “AI-native.” He wrote that AI needed to be embedded deep within the organization, similar to Jack Dorsey’s reorganization of Block.
“This takes the pressure off of the hierarchical structure and team boundaries that have plagued companies for decades, allowing smaller groups – sometimes even an individual – to do work that once required entire teams,” Kutylowski wrote.
That sounds familiar. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned that one employee could handle a team’s work with AI during Meta’s January earnings call. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong also mentioned is experimenting with “one person teams” in a memo announcing a 14% reduction in head count and a maximum of five management layers below its C-suite.
Kutylowski also discussed the need for smaller teams and fewer layers of management. Then, he hit on one of the tech industry’s long-favorite slogans: founder mode.
“To accelerate this transition, I will personally go deeper into founder mode,” Kutylowski wrote, assembling “a small taskforce that will further completely rethink how we build products” while putting “AI at the center of it all.”
Kutylowski is leaning in deep into Silicon Valley culture. He’s even opening a San Francisco office, he announced in the memo.
Let’s play layoff Mad Libs
It’s not just you; layoff memos are all starting to look the same.
Companies like Block, Atlassian, and Snap have all referenced similar trends in their messages to staff. The companies need smaller teams, their executives say, and to work more effectively with AI.
Linear cofounder Tuomas Artman poked fun at the format in a post on Friday.
“This is not a cost-cutting exercise or a reflection of anyone’s performance,” Artman wrote on X. “We’re simply reimagining every role for the agentic AI era. We’re hiring. We’re sorry about that.”
Is AI really the culprit? In February, Sam Altman said that some companies were “AI washing” their layoffs. These companies blamed AI for layoffs that would have happened otherwise, he said.
Other execs — like Kutylowski — say AI is radically changing how companies need to run.
“What does it take to operate as an enduring global AI company at this pace of change, and are we built for that?” Kutylowski asked in his memo. His team’s honest answer: “No.”
