Max Levchin

very first time i had to do it was certainly not a firm which and every time i have done it i said i have i hope to never do it again but the very first time i did it i didn't know what i was doing and i was terrified of owning the responsibility that i screwed up i i was the ceo every single time i had to do a layoff and uh the first time you feel like everyone's gonna blame me it's my fault

very first time i had to do it was certainly not a firm which and every time i have done it i said i have i hope to never do it again but the very first time i did it i didn't know what i was doing and i was terrified of owning the responsibility that i screwed up i i was the ceo every single time i had to do a layoff and uh the first time you feel like everyone's gonna blame me it's my fault

very first time i had to do it was certainly not a firm which and every time i have done it i said i have i hope to never do it again but the very first time i did it i didn't know what i was doing and i was terrified of owning the responsibility that i screwed up i i was the ceo every single time i had to do a layoff and uh the first time you feel like everyone's gonna blame me it's my fault

I just want to run and hide. This is terrible. I have to go through with this, but I can't wait for the moment to be over, for the day to be over. I just need to not be here. Actually, a good friend of mine who was at the time an exec at that company took me aside and said, hey, this sucks for all of us. You are the leader. Like you have to be out there helping people pack their boxes.

I just want to run and hide. This is terrible. I have to go through with this, but I can't wait for the moment to be over, for the day to be over. I just need to not be here. Actually, a good friend of mine who was at the time an exec at that company took me aside and said, hey, this sucks for all of us. You are the leader. Like you have to be out there helping people pack their boxes.

I just want to run and hide. This is terrible. I have to go through with this, but I can't wait for the moment to be over, for the day to be over. I just need to not be here. Actually, a good friend of mine who was at the time an exec at that company took me aside and said, hey, this sucks for all of us. You are the leader. Like you have to be out there helping people pack their boxes.

Like you have to be part of the goodbye. This is not a death sentence. It's a professional event. It sucks no less than any other really major trauma. But you can play this from the comfort of your office or in the middle of the floor that's crying and like go be with the people. It'll feel better in the end and they will feel better in the end. And so that's what I did.

Like you have to be part of the goodbye. This is not a death sentence. It's a professional event. It sucks no less than any other really major trauma. But you can play this from the comfort of your office or in the middle of the floor that's crying and like go be with the people. It'll feel better in the end and they will feel better in the end. And so that's what I did.

Like you have to be part of the goodbye. This is not a death sentence. It's a professional event. It sucks no less than any other really major trauma. But you can play this from the comfort of your office or in the middle of the floor that's crying and like go be with the people. It'll feel better in the end and they will feel better in the end. And so that's what I did.

It was sort of between cathartic and therapeutic. And that was that was a really important lesson to learn. You cannot hide from the grief that a layoff is. And then the other thing that I learned over the years of watching my friends have, you know, having to do it and certainly having to do it a couple of times myself. Empathy is really important.

It was sort of between cathartic and therapeutic. And that was that was a really important lesson to learn. You cannot hide from the grief that a layoff is. And then the other thing that I learned over the years of watching my friends have, you know, having to do it and certainly having to do it a couple of times myself. Empathy is really important.

It was sort of between cathartic and therapeutic. And that was that was a really important lesson to learn. You cannot hide from the grief that a layoff is. And then the other thing that I learned over the years of watching my friends have, you know, having to do it and certainly having to do it a couple of times myself. Empathy is really important.

The other things that you will find is people actually, if you've built a great culture, this isn't the thing you can fix in the moment, but if the culture of the company is great, the blow is much softer than you think it'll be because people understand that you tried with every possible strategic or tactical idea to not have to go through this. And so this is the decision.

The other things that you will find is people actually, if you've built a great culture, this isn't the thing you can fix in the moment, but if the culture of the company is great, the blow is much softer than you think it'll be because people understand that you tried with every possible strategic or tactical idea to not have to go through this. And so this is the decision.

The other things that you will find is people actually, if you've built a great culture, this isn't the thing you can fix in the moment, but if the culture of the company is great, the blow is much softer than you think it'll be because people understand that you tried with every possible strategic or tactical idea to not have to go through this. And so this is the decision.

That was the last decision of a long list that he could have taken. And he they are inevitably more understanding and less hard on you than you are on yourself. Like one of the more amazing and sort of emotional events for me of the Affirm layoff a couple of years ago now was every single person I talked to had said, Hey, I get it. This happened. We grew too fast. We overhired. I understand.

That was the last decision of a long list that he could have taken. And he they are inevitably more understanding and less hard on you than you are on yourself. Like one of the more amazing and sort of emotional events for me of the Affirm layoff a couple of years ago now was every single person I talked to had said, Hey, I get it. This happened. We grew too fast. We overhired. I understand.

That was the last decision of a long list that he could have taken. And he they are inevitably more understanding and less hard on you than you are on yourself. Like one of the more amazing and sort of emotional events for me of the Affirm layoff a couple of years ago now was every single person I talked to had said, Hey, I get it. This happened. We grew too fast. We overhired. I understand.

I even understand why me and not the next person. I hope there's an opportunity to come back. I really love this place. I want to come back. Is overhiring a calculated risk? Yes, it certainly is. That's a good answer in retrospect to your question about calculated risks that did not pan out. You decide that you want every incremental engineer to build more features while the fundraising is good.

I even understand why me and not the next person. I hope there's an opportunity to come back. I really love this place. I want to come back. Is overhiring a calculated risk? Yes, it certainly is. That's a good answer in retrospect to your question about calculated risks that did not pan out. You decide that you want every incremental engineer to build more features while the fundraising is good.