TokBox Fires 50% Of Engineering Team, All Founders Gone

Man, look at the "team" page: http://www.tokbox.com/view/team

Why the hell do they need a "VP of Human Resources"? A "Community Evangelist"? I count 20 people on that team, I would have expected a third of that.

Good lessons here for startup hopefuls. First, don't take $14m for your fairly simple flash video app. Second, if you do, don't waste that money on feeding your ego with a large headcount. Third, if you do, don't be surprised when you're kicked out and someone else is in control of your baby.

Sometimes when you have too many employees some will show up, start their computer, sip on some coffee and pretend to work for the entire day. Then one magical day someone with a decision power realizes that this guys are just trading "showing up for 8 hours" for fat checks. On that day the collector gets fired.

This does not necessarily mean that the company is having trouble. It just means they can hire people who can actually do some work or be more productive than the ones who were fired.

Do your job. Do it damn well or at least show everyone that you are trying hard enough and if they bear with you a little bit more you will succeed at it. Otherwise enjoy the checks and know that sooner or later your circus will end.

Ouch. And not fired by crappy VCs, but by Sequoia and Mitt Romney. That's gotta be bad for their self-esteem.

Good to know that not dropping out of school to work for them 2 years ago was the right choice.

Seems like a case of raising too much money too soon and getting kicked out by the VCs. But I could be wrong and I am curious to know the founders side of the story.