Comments on: San Francisco’s PowerReviews Reduces Burn Rate By 30% (Updated)

By: Online retailer..

Online retailer.. — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:55:27 +0000

I have read a load of stuff about this… I dont see the big deal. The VP S&M had done a great job and got them up and running… over 3000 retail sites in less that 2 years… He is a God and gave them the credibility to get started!!! These guys charge on a pay for success model – for retailers, there is no other choice. We bought it anyway, removed their competition and saved over $120k per annum from our bottom line. And we get an extra channel to market through Buzzillions..

By: Layoff Stats in the Tech Sector | aajkacopypaste…lets kill some time!!!

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:34:26 +0000

[...] TechCrunch [...]

By: PowerReviews slashed 30% of staff | FuckedStartups

PowerReviews slashed 30% of staff | FuckedStartups — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:00:44 +0000

[...] reported (here) early this week that PowerReviews.com (from the founder of FogDog.com) has laid off 30% of [...]

By: CFO

CFO — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:46:11 +0000

Salary reductions only work when (a) the employees have more at stake (equity, options, etc…) or (b) the job market is such that there is no place else to go.

if you were a struggling company in a good economy, employees without a stake in the company would be out the door in a heartbeat.

By: John

John — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:40:32 +0000

I guess their VP of sales and Marketing is a non critical role.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:22:56 +0000

Called my PowerReviews rep and he assured me they only laid off a few non critical role employees and they were cutting the fat around expenses. Within hours of this post I received a canned email from BazaarVoice trying to solicit my business citing this article. Shame on TechCrunch for making it look like PR had laid 30% off.

By: ian

ian — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:30:45 +0000

In the email he says burn rate, not headcount.

By: F-ckedCompany.com

F-ckedCompany.com — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:44:58 +0000

if PowerReviews left development, support and IT alone….sounds like marketing and sales got kicked to the curb. If anything I would think PowerReviews should be adding sales people to track down each and ever deal. I’m not sure where the contractors came from…must have been development related.

By: jddavis

jddavis — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:58:08 +0000

I’m attempting to restructure also. 20% reduction in headcount and 20% reduction in base salaries across the board. This yields substantial savings (36%)…I wonder whether salary reductions work. Any feedback?

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:43:25 +0000

Mike you owe these guys an apology.

By: Web2.0 Chick

Web2.0 Chick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:16:45 +0000

30% out of 42 employees… umm, doesn’t sound too bad. Let’s just hope there won’t be more companies out there that will need to lay off employees… and, let’s hope that there will be more freelance work available for retrenched staff when companies reduce the number of full-time employees

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:32:42 +0000

Yes, it is weird. Just got back from London; while there I heard a brief comment on the BBC related to the medical group “medicins sans frontiers” I think that they are doctors who work in Africa. It seems that they are helping groups of patients witn HIV to be flown and treated in the US starting in January.

By: br

br — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:31:39 +0000

never heard of… now I do.

By: EH

EH — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:31:27 +0000

$21mill? Does “crowdsourced reviews” tickle the same nerve in VCs that regular people get from the idea of chocolate? There are too many of these types of companies (info-ponzi) for me to think there isn’t some Achilles Heel in the VC community for certain go-nowhere buzz-concepts.

By: Clayton

Clayton — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:31:03 +0000

These comments (there was one in an earlier article) have to be the weirdest comment spam I’ve ever seen.

To be honest, I can’t quite tell if that’s pro McCain or Obama. I want to help Kenyans, but the last line suggests that we shouldn’t.

By: Clayton

Clayton — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:29:22 +0000

That’s a good question, why is that?

By: Web2.0FD_Company

Web2.0FD_Company — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:24:56 +0000

What is up with 30% is that the magic number?

By: silicon valley dropout

silicon valley dropout — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:26:41 +0000

stanford lol

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:25:37 +0000

Damn, there goes another 30%!