Same problem as before, terrible leadership has caused the need for another round of layoffs. This time 7%-9% of total workforce. Meanwhile we continue to hire for various positions and just completed a fancy new 50,000 square foot office in India.
Co-CEO Owen recently answered a question at a Townhall about the missing of certain expectations from Wall Street and divulged that annual reviews always came up great for individual performances, and yet here we are with a suffering stock price…so obviously there’s an “overvaluation of the workforce of itself”. Rather than look at themselves in the mirror, Owen, Therese, Charlie, and the rest of the C-Level are blaming the employees instead of the culprit being their ineptitude as it pertains to software engineering, delivery, and sales in a SaaS model. From Sales & Marketing to Product, BlackLine has been getting ran into the ground by accountants who refuse to acknowledge their own limitations as they pertain to the ins and outs of enterprise software. It has some of the most talented engineering teams, but even those are being slowly replaced by cheaper / mediocre engineers in India. And to make the abuse even worse, reviews are being contrived as bad to foster the narrative of blame, thus justifying the lack of RSU grants, raises or bonuses to their top performers.
It’s a disgustingly sad time for BlackLine as it’s destroyed by the arrogance of its founder and her narcissistic lack of self-awareness (a posture which she has made contagious across the C-Suite).