Amit Bendov, Gong co-founder and CEO, sent the following email to Gong employees earlier today
Team,
This is a message I am very sad to share. I’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our team by 80 positions (approximately 7% of our total workforce) across Customer Success, Sales, and General & Administrative functions. Impacted employees in the US have received an email and within the next several minutes, will receive a calendar invite for a conversation with their leader and PBP to discuss how we’ll support them moving forward. Impacted employees in Dublin and Israel have already had these meetings.
I know this decision hurts. It’s the hardest decision I’ve had to make at Gong. The Gongsters we’re saying goodbye to are not just colleagues, they are friends. We are helping those impacted by providing comprehensive severance packages and resources to help them during the transition.
I’m sure your first question is why?
The short answer is that while we expect to grow this year and we continue to see healthy new customer adds, our growth will be at a lower rate than we have planned for and have hired for in recent years. We need to adjust the size of our team to reflect our actual anticipated growth. This is a difficult decision and we did not rush into it. We took a “wait and see” approach for the possibility that we might not need to. It is hard to predict the market in the upcoming year, but our planning assumption is that the macro environment will continue to impact our customers, partners, and us. As a consequence, we need to reduce the size of our team in certain areas.
This change is about adapting our company to put us in the best formation to succeed in the years ahead. We are not reducing an equal % across the board. We are not making any reductions in R&D, product, or marketing as we will continue to increase our product advantage and strengthen our market leadership.
To the leaving Gongsters: I know how impactful this decision is for you, and I am truly sorry that I need to make it. I am grateful for everything you have done to help our company. You have helped build Gong, our culture, and will forever be part of our DNA. I am sorry that this is not the outcome you were expecting from me.
I am sure many of us will want to reach out and help our team members who are impacted. We will create a list of departing employees who opt-in so that we can help facilitate new opportunities.
At tomorrow’s Gang of Gong call we will discuss this decision and the plans ahead. We will answer questions that I am sure you have. This will be, as always, an “open-mic” session, but if you prefer, please feel free to DM me questions and thoughts in advance. In the meantime, please take care of yourselves and give yourself time to process today’s news.
Amit