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☆ An Apple a day could keep the layoffs away
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For many tech workers, however, this Lunar New Year was tainted with layoff anxiety. Apple is the only Big Tech company that hasn't conducted sweeping layoffs recently. Apple has long been a lone wolf among its Big Tech peers. The chart above shows how more tech workers were laid off in January 2023 than during the first half of 2022 combined. Read four of the memos in full here, from Google Chrome, Google Cloud, Google UK, and its Europe, the Middle East, and Africa offices.

☆ Apple CEO Tim Cook's slow, steady leadership style may turn out to be the exact antidote to the carnage sweeping the tech sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Apple is now the only major tech giant that hasn't conducted mass layoffs recently. Apple is in a different position than its peers because it has been more strategic about its growth. Wall Street hopes that CEO Tim Cook's pragmatic approach puts Apple in a better spot. Apple is in a different, stronger position, though, industry analysts tell Insider — a position that they say validates CEO Tim Cook's pragmatic approach to growth. Lastly, another hallmark of Cook's strategy is that Apple doesn't have a history of pouring money into risky, whimsical side projects.

☆ Microsoft layoffs show that no tech company is safe to work at right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

On Wednesday, Amazon started its largest round of layoffs in company history after giving employees the heads up that they were coming two weeks earlier. I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and today, we dive into why all Big Tech employees are at risk of losing their jobs. Microsoft's layoffs proves that there is no such thing as a safe tech company to work at right now. The list of tech layoffs is long: Facebook, Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Salesforce, Microsoft, and more. The SVP of People Experience and Technology sent two missives on the first official days of Amazon layoffs.

☆ Microsoft's major layoffs prove that no tech giant is safe from the market downturn
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft is the latest tech giant to have major layoffs, with plans to cut 10,000 employees. It's a strategy that will help these tech giants weather the ongoing downturn and come out on top, he added. Microsoft's layoffs also bring attention to the fact that the only tech giants that have avoided significant layoffs this cycle are Google and Apple. In another note to clients, RBC analysts advised C-suite leaders to bring down their quarterly and yearly revenue estimates even more. Got a tip about tech layoffs?

☆ Experts from Okta, Deloitte, and Verizon share how technology enables the future of work in a safe and collaborative way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Elle Hardy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

One study found that knowledge workers waste 32 days per year toggling between apps and saving work. The conversation was part of Insider's event "Insider At CES: How Emerging Technologies Influence the Future of Work," which took place on Thursday, January 5, 2023. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. At this hour-long event surrounding CES 2022, presented by Lenovo in partnership with Verizon, Paayal Zaveri, a senior tech reporter at Insider, spoke with Antar and other future-of-work experts and business leaders about how technology enables the future of work in a safe and collaborative way. It's predicted that up to 25% of the global workforce will continue to work remotely in a substantive way.

☆ A proposed H-1B visa fee increase threatens to kneecap Silicon Valley's ability to hire the foreign talent it needs to compete
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The tech industry relies on skilled-work visas for foreign hires in a system critics say is broken. Now the USCIS is proposing fee hikes for visa applications, at a time when it's already challenging. It would be another hurdle on top of recent tech layoffs and scarce visa availability, experts say. While the proposed fee hikes are presented as a solution to end backlogs and address bureaucratic headaches, experts say they would make it more difficult to hire foreign talent. Are you an H-1B visa holder and have a story to share?

☆ Meet the 18 most promising productivity startups revolutionizing how teams email, record calls, and take notes in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Melia Russell | Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Insider asked VCs to pick the best-in-class startups helping people get work done in 2023. The result is a list of up-and-coming companies juicing productivity for individuals and teams. After years of private-markets investors urging cash-flush startups to grow at all costs, the mandate has flipped to: "do more with less." The shift is leading companies to look for ways to juice productivity, and they have their pick of products aimed at helping teams work smarter. Here are the productivity startups to watch, sorted from least to most capital raised:Additional reporting by Paayal Zaveri.

☆ Why India banned TikTok — and what the US can learn from it, as pressure mounts for Biden to follow suit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

To see what could happen if the US were to ban TikTok, analysts say to look at India. Why did India ban TikTok? What happened when India banned TikTokIn the summer of 2020, India banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, WeChat, Weibo, and QQ, an instant-messaging service owned by the internet giant Tencent. While the situation wouldn't be exactly the same, the US might face these questions if it decides to ban TikTok. "So if that continues to deteriorate, I can't imagine that that that doesn't increase the odds of some sort of TikTok ban."

☆ Salesforce is a cautionary tale for other tech companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's only day five of the month, but there have already been more tech layoffs than there were in all of January 2022. I'm your host Diamond Naga Siu, and I'm here to walk you through the latest tech job cuts. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced yesterday that it's shuttering multiple offices and entering its second round of layoffs within months. These are issues unique to Salesforce, but other tech companies have also been fumbling for a while. And the cloud company's layoffs signal that the tech industry is going to continue downhill this year, as customers cut spending.

☆ Salesforce's massive layoffs are a sign for Silicon Valley that the worst is yet to come
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Matt Weinberger | Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Cloud companies took a hit in 2022 and saw massive cuts in public and private valuations. Analysts say that Salesforce, Microsoft, and other business-oriented tech companies are staring down the barrel of customers cutting their IT budgets. The rush to remote working at the beginning of the pandemic meant companies purchased tons of new cloud software tools. For software vendors, any company that's offering a single tool versus a platform is likely to see cuts, RBC said. RBC analysts are expecting more layoffs ahead.

☆ TikTok's future is uncertain. This is how it could avoid a ban.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

At the same time government bans on TikTok are raising questions about a full on ban for US consumers. Moorhead says TikTok will likely need to open up more scrutiny to avoid a total consumer ban. Logistically, to completely ban TikTok, the government needs to cite a specific law TikTok is breaking. That's what happened when India banned TikTok, citing a law that allowed India to block websites and apps "in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, after a geopolitical dispute between India and China. Walling off data as a compromiseAnalysts said that one compromise could be stricter rules around how TikTok data in the US is shared and stored.

☆ Meet the VC firms that want to help immigrants found their own startups so they keep their talents in the US
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Immigrants play a vital role in the US tech industry, and many have founded successful companies. These VC firms and startup incubators can help immigrants on work visas found companies. But that opportunity simply isn't available to a certain key class of tech worker: The immigrants who are in the US on work visas like the H-1B. H-1B visas are sponsored by the holder's employer, meaning that if they lose their job — either voluntarily or as part of a layoff — they generally have to return to their home country within 60 days. Insider spoke with four firms that focus on investing in immigrant founders, which represent a mix of VC firms and startup incubators, about how to pitch them and which types of resources they could provide.

☆ If TikTok gets banned in the US, Oracle could be the secret loser
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

TikTok's US user data is on Oracle servers, so a ban would hurt its fast-growing cloud business. Any federal TikTok ban would have far-reaching implications for the future of tech regulation, for America's relationship with China, and for the growing ecosystem of creators on the app. But the entity that might take the hardest impact from any TikTok ban is one you may not expect: Oracle, one of its biggest partners in the US. "It's been a coup for Oracle to get this, and if they lost it because of the TikTok ban, those are tough shoes to fill." The deal was a huge boon to Oracle's cloud business, and is likely one important reason the cloud infrastructure business is growing so quickly, analysts told Insider.

☆ SIGN UP NOW — Insider At CES: How Emerging Technologies Influence the Future of Work
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Business Insider | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

On January 5, 2023 at noon ET, Insider is hosting " Insider At CES: How Emerging Technologies Influence the Future of Work ," a free virtual event featuring speakers from Verizon and Okta. ," a free virtual event featuring speakers from Verizon and Okta. Click here to register for this free virtual event. This Insider event surrounding CES 2023, "Insider At CES: How Emerging Technologies Influence the Future of Work," presented by Lenovo in partnership with Verizon, includes live conversations with an Insider reporter and technology innovation leaders. The panel will examine how technology enables the future of work in a safe and collaborative way.

☆ Salesforce is losing the key execs behind some of its biggest and most expensive bets at a critical moment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield is also departing, along with some other product-focused execs. The departing execs championed Salesforce's product strategyThe departures of Taylor, Butterfield, and Nelson come as Salesforce's strategy comes under the microscope on Wall Street. With Slack and Tableau, Salesforce already had a lot to prove. Salesforce has already said that Lidiane Jones, an executive VP, will take over for Butterfield as Slack CEO. What it does mean, however, is that Salesforce, Slack, and Tableau are all losing the biggest champions of the integrated product strategy right as the company faces hard questions.

☆ Elon Musk says he's resolved a 'misunderstanding' with Tim Cook about Twitter potentially being yanked from Apple's App Store
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk said a "misunderstanding" over Twitter with Apple CEO Tim Cook was resolved on Wednesday. Cook was clear that Apple never considered removing Twitter from the App Store, Musk said. Musk claimed earlier this week that Apple had threatened to remove Twitter from the App Store. "Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store," Musk wrote in the tweet. Musk claimed on Monday the iPhone maker had threatened to remove Twitter from its App Store and "won't tell us why."

☆ Marc Benioff's 2023 to-do list after his co-CEO's shocking departure
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Salesforce is seeing it's co-CEO Bret Taylor depart and facing slowing revenue growth. While earnings beat analyst expectations, it also revealed the slowest revenue growth in the past two years, at 14%. Figure out the future of SlackTaylor's departure also raises questions about Slack, since Taylor spearheaded the $27.7 billion acquisition in 2020. Figure out how to jump-start revenue and land big customersWhile it wasn't a huge shock given the overall economic environment, Salesforce's slowed revenue growth is worrying. Secondly, as part of its larger platform strategy, Salesforce has been going after larger customers and looking to land deals for multiple Salesforce products versus just one or two.

☆ Apple could sink Elon Musk's Twitter by yanking it from the App Store. But it would put Apple in jeopardy too.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Elon Musk is claiming that Apple threatened to remove Twitter from its App Store. While Apple could find a reason to take Twitter off the App Store, it likely will not, experts said. Experts say Apple could find a reason to take Twitter off the App Store, and doing so would devastate the company. That could be a basis for Apple to remove Twitter from the App Store, Carolina Milanesi, an analyst with Creative Strategies said. Even then, Apple still likely won't remove Twitter from its App Store, because picking a fight with Elon would exacerbate antitrust criticism of Apple.

☆ The 11 most promising DevOps startups of 2022, according to VCs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

That's giving rise to DevOps startups tackling issues that come with building cloud software. Insider asked top venture capitalists which DevOps startups excited them the most this year. In the second quarter of this year, early-stage DevOps startups raised a total of $654 million across 21 deals, according to PitchBook. Insider asked several VCs to pick the most promising DevOps startups both in and out of their portfolios. Here are the DevOps startups investors say are worth betting on, from least to most capital raised:

☆ Monday.com is restructuring over half of its workforce amid an exec shake-up
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The firm is restructuring, and all customer-facing teams will now report to Osherov. The move comes at a critical time as Monday.com looks to strengthen customer ties amid the downturn. Over half of the company will be restructured to be under his new leadership role, Monday.com told Insider. As CRO, Osherov will oversee all customer-facing teams, including consulting and sales, customer experience, marketing, customer success, and partners. The main motivation behind the restructuring is to bring all customer-facing teams under one umbrella so they can more easily collaborate.

☆ Hot startups like Miro and Canva are racing to dominate virtual whiteboards, an emerging category of workplace tools that sparked Adobe's $20 billion bid for Figma
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Virtual whiteboards are becoming essential workplace tools, as evidenced by Adobe's bid for Figma. The $20 billion price tag only further signaled the boom around virtual whiteboards, which allow users to collaborate visually and are quickly becoming essential tools alongside videoconferencing and workplace messaging. Besides Figma, Miro has gained momentum over the past two years, growing to 40 million users from 5 million users. But industry insiders think virtual whiteboards will become just one piece of a visual-collaboration arena. As a result, companies like Miro, Canva, and Lucid are on similar paths toward becoming larger visual-communications platforms.

☆ 14 cloud companies that could be acquired, as PE giants Thoma Bravo and Sunstone prepare to buy UserTesting for $1.3 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Adobe's $20 billion bid for Figma reopened conversations about what's ahead for software startups. More recently, UserTesting is set to be acquired by PE firms Thoma Bravo and Sunstone for $1.3 billion. These are 14 private and public software companies that analysts think could be acquisition targets. On October 27, 2022 private equity giants Thoma Bravo and Sunstone partners announced they intend to acquire UserTesting for $1.3 billion. Here are 15 private and public software companies that analysts and experts think are likely acquisition targets.

☆ Atlassian's work-from-anywhere policy helped my spouse and I ditch long-distance and finally be together. Here's why I think more companies need to do the same
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

She spoke with Insider about relocating under Atlassian's remote work policy, called Team Anywhere, that was implemented in 2020. She shared her experience and why she feels the company's approach to remote work has been working. AtlassianAtlassian's remote work policy works because of its online culture and management's transparency about the processAtlassian has a Slack culture that is just so vibrant, which is probably unique from a lot of other companies. Sometimes, we start fun conversations like "use one gif to describe your weekend," that really help in a remote environment. Atlassian's remote work policy allows for extended travel while workingAnother benefit we've gotten is freedom to travel and work remotely.

☆ These 16 cloud-software companies could be acquired by tech giants or private equity as the economy sours, according to RBC analysts
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Here are the 16 software firms RBC analysts say are M&A targets for tech giants and private equity. More software M&A is in the forecast as valuations and stock prices continue to drop — and private companies aren't the only ones likely to get gobbled up. Additionally, private-equity firms will likely continue snapping up public cloud-software companies and taking them private while prices are low, according to analysts. "In other words, we believe larger scale debt-financed private-equity takeouts could be unlikely in the near-term," RBC analysts wrote. Here are the 16 software firms that are M&A targets, according to RBC analysts:

☆ Index Ventures VCs say vertical software can be 'mission critical' for companies to survive the downturn. Here's what they're looking for in their next investment
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Index Ventures VCs Nina Achadjian and Paris Heymann are betting on vertical software in the downturn. Here's how founders of vertical-software companies can pitch them. Vertical software, or software tailored to specific industries, is poised to do well amid the current economic downturn, two VCs at Index Ventures said. When considering vertical-software companies to invest in, the most important thing they look for is the right kind of founding team. For vertical-software companies, it's important that the founders are familiar with the industry they're trying to sell to, they said.

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