Musk’s Twitter Layoffs Inspire Founders to Cut Deep

Some might call Elon Musk’s leadership style toxic. Others consider it heroic. It’s certainly influential. 

When the Tesla CEO and new Twitter owner fired more than half of the social network’s 7,500 staff in November, then took aim at standard tech-company perks like free cafeteria food and remote work flexibility, startup founders took note. 

“If Elon did it, we should do it,” General Catalyst managing director Niko Bonatsos said, describing startup leaders’ perspective on Musk’s cutthroat approach to job cuts. “What we saw with [Musk] and Twitter, it’s going to become commonplace—at the latest by March.”