Clubhouse used to be one of the best blocking apps out there, but it went into decline as the world started to reopen. To remain relevant, it must reinvent itself and shrink. In 2020, as COVID-19 forced us to limit ourselves, a new app made a splash: Clubhouse. It stood out from other online platforms thanks to its audio rooms, practical when everyone stayed at home. But as soon as life resumed son normal of course, Clubhouse has become less relevant. And today, as the company seeks to reinvent itself, it is announcing the layoff of 50% of its staff. The bad news was announced by Clubhouse co-founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth in an internal memo that was posted on the company’s official blog. “The Clubhouse was designed to be a place where you can hang out with your friends, meet their friends and chat. This works great when your friends are using the product and you have time to meet up. Belonging millions people in our grassroots community know this,” the memo says.
Clubhouse gotta find its own (new) place
But as the world reopened after COVID, it has become harder for users to find their friends on the app. And, as a result, Clubhouse must develop. The co-founders are talking about “rebooting” the company, which is inconsistent with its current size. “We find it difficult to communicate strategy to cross-functional teams when it changes by 1% every day, or make quick changes when every surface belongs to a different development team,” they explain. So laying off 50% of the staff should solve this problem and allow Clubhouse to have a small, product-focused team while growing faster. “We came to this conclusion reluctantly,” the co-founders of Clubhouse assure. They also state that it has nothing to do with cost reduction. Indeed, the company would still have reserves of cash that would last for several years.
The app that changed the internet
In any case, if the club is going through difficulties today, then three years ago it was one of the most apps what the media talked about the most. Moreover, the success of the Clubhouse soundrooms began to worry Facenook and Twitter, who were inspired by it. Spotify also launched a Clubhouse-inspired Spotify Live feature. But it has already been closed. On the other hand, Twitter, the equivalent of the Clubhouse’s audio rooms (Twitter Spaces), still retains a good following. It remains to be seen what the new Clubhouse under development will look like. In any case, the co-founders claim that they already have a clear understanding of direction what Clubhouse 2.0 is going to take. However, to realize this vision, a smaller and more compact team is more appropriate. According to our colleagues at The Verge, in August the company already launched a new feature called “At Home”. This allows users to make new friends among their friends’ friends.
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