Pendo, one of the fastest-growing software startups in the Triangle, confirmed it has laid off 45 people, representing close to 5% of its global workforce.
The cuts were mainly focused on “the people team, sales and services, and marketing,” said Pendo CEO and cofounder Todd Olson.
Pendo helps clients collect data on how customers use their products. Since forming in 2013, it has grown into one of the most valuable startups in the state, with a valuation around $2.6 billion earlier this year. Earlier this year, it opened a new downtown Raleigh headquarters in the Raleigh Crossing tower.
“Although we continue to deliver strong topline growth, we had to adjust due to changes in the macroeconomic environment,” Olson said in an email to The News & Observer. “This follows a year in which we nearly doubled the number of employees. As a result, we have eliminated select over-resourced positions.”
Company spokesperson Laura Baverman told The N&O that less than half of the reductions are for local positions.
Pendo has been a recent mainstay on the annual Inc. 5000 fastest-growing companies list, and Olson has openly discussed taking it public within the next few years. He said the recent job cuts doesn’t affect this goal.
After the layoffs, the company has 940 employees worldwide, with additional offices in San Francisco, Australia, Japan, Israel and England. Around half of its staff are based in the Triangle.
Earlier this year, Olson said Pendo would accelerate hiring, telling The N&O in February “we are a company inarguably in transition from a startup to a more established growth business, and we are having to level up.”
But the economy for tech companies has since weakened, with big companies like Google and Meta announcing hiring slowdowns and smaller companies like the Durham-based Avaya conducting layoffs last week.
“This was a next step we had to take to ensure we can continue to manage our expenses alongside our growth trajectory,” Olson said.
The layoffs were first reported by Axios Raleigh.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
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This story was originally published September 12, 2022 12:20 PM.
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