Friday Buzz Kill - Buzznet Layoffs

Damn economy.  Damn Sequoia.  Now they've made Hollywood-based Buzznet lay off 10 - 15 of their 90 employees.... today.  That's Friday.  

What a buzzkill.

Linked To Layoffs - LinkedIn Trimming Staff

Bay Area's very own LinkedIn surprised everyone by being the first startup to announce layoffs..... ok, maybe this is not a joking matter.

Anyway, LinkedIn is also laying off staff.  I am a bit fan of the service - I prefer it greatly over FaceBook, Friendster, MySpace, Hi5.  I hope this means the company is growing up, trying to get its act together, because the rumors out of their campus are not favorable.  And they did raise a lot of money recently, so the layoffs are a pre-emptive move, hopefully (I really don't want LinkedIn to disappear!)

By the way, surprise surprise - LinkedIn has Sequoia as one of its funders.

Searching for a Job - SearchMe Layoffs

SearchMe, a promising startup in the search space, is laying off 1/5th of its employees.  And yes, they are another Sequoia-portfolio company.  

SearchMe was another of the startups trying to carve a niche in Google's backyard; their tack - 'visual' searches.  You should try them, they are an interesting take.  And given they have almost $44 Million in funding, and one of the most successful serial entrepreneurs as a founder, (Randy Adams, with over 4 successful startup exits to his credit), they have a good chance of weathering the downturn.

It is a totally different question as to whether their visual search method helps them get anywhere. 

In the screenshot below, I searched for Kosmix on SearchMe.com

Signs of a Downturn - Adbrite Layoffs

Adbrite, another Sequoia portfolio company, is feeling the pressure of Sequoia's doom-and-gloom lecture, and is laying off 40 of its 100 people, including the VPs of Finance and Marketing. 

San Francisco-based Adbrite, which was spun out of Philip Kaplan's FuckedCompany.com half a decade ago, has $35 Million in funding, and made almost the same amount in revenues in 2007.  They are one of the top ad networks, serving over One Beellionn ads.  But the coming ad slowdown is going to affect them, no doubt.  Adbrite folks think they'll come to about break-even after these layoffs, but my guess is they'll stay below profitability for a while.