Layoffs (2026 Edition)

Some reflections having experienced layoffs at four different companies: Life360, Breeze, Abstract, and Continuum. tl;dr you'll be okay

With layoffs picking up again across tech, I wanted to revisit a topic I wrote about four years ago — and update it with a few years of additional perspective (and one more layoff story… what can I say, I like taking risks🤦🏻‍♂️).

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Here’s the 2022 post as a reference 👇

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I’ve had a front row seat to five layoffs at four companies, having been the person laid off three times and the person who “survived” twice. Each one taught me something I couldn’t have learned any other way.

If you’ve recently been caught up in a layoff — or you’re bracing for one — I hope this helps normalize the experience a little. It’s not the end of the world. I know that’s easy to say, but I mean it.

Life360

About a year and a half into my time at Life360, I was already frustrated. I’d been pushing hard to break into product management and it wasn’t happening. Then one Friday morning, I walked into a meeting and found out I was part of a ~20% reduction in force as the company hit a growth plateau.

It stung. But it forced my hand. Within weeks I was interviewing aggressively for PM roles — something I might never have done on my own timeline — and I landed my first PM job shortly after at a Series A startup called Breeze.

Breeze

Breeze leased cars to rideshare drivers and had been growing quickly before the unit economics started unraveling. We went from 85 employees to 25 through two rounds of layoffs, before ultimately being acquired by Ford.

I survived both rounds, and living through that period taught me something counterintuitive: a smaller team can move faster and feel more connected than a larger one. There’s real survivor guilt in those moments, but there’s also an unexpected clarity and cohesion that emerges when you’re the people who stayed. That’s something you can’t fully appreciate until you’ve been in it.

Abstract

Abstract was a design collaboration tool I loved and eventually joined as an early PM. But the rise of Figma proved to be an existential threat we couldn’t outrun. By 2020, we were watching major customers churn in real time — Shopify, Microsoft — and there wasn’t much any of us could do about it.

I was laid off alongside ~30% of the company the same morning our CEO was replaced. In a strange way, being let go was a relief. The Figma problem wasn’t mine to solve anymore. I went into interview mode right as COVID started, which was its own kind of adventure, and ultimately landed at Facebook.

Continuum

Most recently, at Continuum — a fractional exec marketplace I joined with a lot of excitement — we struggled to find the growth we needed. A 30% RIF followed, and the CEO stepped into the product function directly. That was my signal.

Rather than looking for my next full-time role, I decided to lean into solopreneurship. That was 2.5 years ago. It has been, genuinely, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I don’t think I get there without that push.

A few things I’ve learned

1. Layoffs aren’t personal. Companies are just people — people who get scared and make hard calls to survive. The decision to let you go was never a reflection of your value as a professional or a human. It was just business.

2. Surviving isn’t always the win it looks like. Morale craters after a round of layoffs, and I’ve seen it up close multiple times. Sometimes being let go is what actually liberates you from a sinking ship and gets you somewhere better, faster.

3. Being laid off can accelerate your career. Every time I was laid off, I ended up taking a leap I might not have taken on my own. The pressure created momentum. Some of my best career moves came directly from being pushed out of a role.

4. Have your story ready. Interviewers will ask about it. Know why the layoff happened, what you observed from the inside, and what you’d do differently. Own the narrative — don’t let it own you.

5. Life genuinely goes on. In the moment, a layoff can feel enormous. Career-ending, even. It’s not. I’ve watched so many people — myself included — land somewhere great within weeks or months. Resilience isn’t the exception here; it’s the rule.

If you’re impacted by layoffs right now, my advice is simple: put yourself out there, build a pipeline, and trust the process. You’ve gotten through hard things before. This is one of those things.

You’ll emerge stronger on the other side. People always do.

You got this 💪

Ben

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One more thing…

Announcing: Insider Loops scholarship program

This week Marc Baselga and I launched our Insider Loops scholarship program to help impacted PMs land somewhere great by offering 50% off our interview guides.

We read every application and folks can apply here 👇

PMs who were shipping great work two quarters ago are now being told they’re not needed and unfortunately I think we’re going to see a lot more of this in the coming year. I'm glad to be building something that can actually help.

Landing a role at top companies like OpenAI, DoorDash, Stripe, Anthropic, Figma, Uber, and Google can literally change the trajectory of someone’s life. The comp packages, elite rolodex, brand name, etc are all meaningful. Insider Loops helps land those roles.

We’ve been wanting to give back for a while now. And we’re starting now. The program will run as long as people find it helpful.

P.S. If you’ve worked at one of the companies we cover (Meta, OpenAI, DoorDash, Stripe, Anthropic, Figma, Uber, Google) in the last 12 months, we’re also happy to offer you one guide for free in exchange for substantive feedback that helps make our guide about your past company better. Just mention it on your application form.