Please. Stripe is privately held so let's look at a market comp, SQ.
SQ 2021 Revenue: $17B
SQ 2021 cash and short term investments: $5.3B
Stripe 2021 Revenue: $12B
Similar businesses, operating in the same market, with the nearly the same number of employees (about 8000). Barring exceptional circumstances, we would expect their financial health to be roughly similar.
You said it yourself:
> the leaders have to... [deal] with investors
The economy is contracting and their share price is falling. They could afford to dip into cash and keep everyone on board but their investors are more concerned about propping up the valuation. They don't have two shits to give about the people they're letting go.