Miro, a unicorn startup once valued at $17.5 billion, is laying off 18% of its workforce amid competitive pressures

Miro, a productivity software startup valued at $17.5 billion, is laying off around 275 employees—approximately 18% of its workforce—as it faces intense competition in the crowded productivity software market, The Information reports.

This marks Miro’s second round of layoffs in recent months. In February 2023, the company cut 119 positions, about 7% of its staff, as part of a wider trend among tech firms trimming their workforces in response to evolving market demands.

This latest restructuring reflects Miro’s efforts to streamline its operations and adapt to shifting economic pressures that are prompting many tech companies to reassess their staffing models.

CEO Andrey Khusid cited structural issues as a key factor, noting that Miro’s internal setup had grown overly complex with role redundancies and multiple layers slowing down execution.

“Our internal organizations have become too complex, we have too many layers, some duplications in roles, and candidly, we’re not set up to execute on our strategy with the speed and flexibility that success will require,” CEO Andrey Khusid said, confirming the layoffs, as reported by The Information.

A former Miro employee offered some insights into the company’s strategic mistakes and issues that may have contributed to the company’s decision to lay off staff. In a Reddit post, user DryTown shared:

“I worked at Miro for 2.5 years. It’s true that they grew insanely fast (when I left in 2023 they had about $600M annual revenue, insane for a Pre-IPO company). But I also think they had no idea where to go next. They kept talking about being a “multi-product company” but every new product was really just a new feature. They raised too much money at too high a valuation. They hired insane amount of people to do fuck all. They had no way to get drive value growth. I think their strategy was to pray for more Covid variants. I left the day before their first round of layoffs. Not surprised they have struggled.”

Founded in 2011 in Russia by Andrey Khusid and Oleg Shardin, Miro provides a digital collaboration platform aimed at helping remote and distributed teams communicate and manage projects seamlessly. Miro’s online collaborative whiteboard platform helps teams work seamlessly together, from brainstorming with digital sticky notes to planning and managing agile workflows.

The platform gained widespread adoption during the pandemic as businesses leaned into remote tools to keep their teams connected. By 2022, Miro had grown to 40 million users, fueled by demand for its virtual whiteboard tool, which allows teams to brainstorm and collaborate in real time.