Two weeks ago, Xconomy published our first iteration of what we call the Seattle Layoff Litany. It’s a document that tracks tech and life sciences job cuts in the Northwest. Here is a quick update about three local companies that have gone through layoffs since then (one is unconfirmed). I thought it was especially interesting that each company has spawned successful entrepreneurs who are active in new ventures that we’ve written about extensively in the past month or two.
1. Hubspan
This is unconfirmed, but Xconomy has learned from a source familiar with the company that Seattle-based Hubspan, a maker of business-to-business integration software, laid off 11 employees (roughly 20 percent of the staff) across sales, marketing, and services and development, on November 14. E-mails sent to company representatives were not returned, and one person with apparent knowledge of the situation would not comment. My point here is not to muckrake, but rather to keep up with the facts.
Hubspan co-founder and former CEO Rick Luebbe now leads the Seattle energy-storage startup EnerG2, which we profiled last week.
2. CarDomain
Seattle startup CarDomain, a social-networking site for auto enthusiasts, cut 16 jobs (about half its staff) on November 18. “Although we are growing overall traffic and member engagement year-on-year, the economy and the automotive industry have taken a significant turn for the worse, leading to very pessimistic industry projections of advertising budgets and a protracted recovery period,” said CEO Rajan Krishnamurty, in a statement to TechFlash.
CarDomain was founded in 1998 by Alex Algard, who went on to become CEO of WhitePages.com, and more recently a limited partner in Founder’s Co-op, the Seattle-based peer-to-peer seed stage fund that we profiled last month.
3. Jobster
The Seattle-based office-networking firm Jobster cut some 15 positions (38 percent of its staff) on November 13, as reported by TechFlash. Founded in 2004, Jobster is backed by the likes of Ignition Partners, and once had about 150 employees. It is now down to about 25.
Former Jobster employees Dave Lefkow and Justin Esch, who left in 2007, have since made their name with a new startup called Bacon Salt, which they’ve been promoting using social media, to great effect.
