The People Who Make OpenAI Run FastSee the Org Chart

Cameo CEO Steven Galanis. Photo: Cameo. Artwork: Mike Sullivan

Cameo, a Celebrity Shoutout App, Lays Off 25% of Workforce

Photo: Cameo CEO Steven Galanis. Photo: Cameo. Artwork: Mike Sullivan

Cameo, an app that became a pandemic darling by letting people pay celebrities to send them customized video greetings, told its employees that it was laying off more than 80 employees, about a quarter of its workforce, according to one of the employees. The company told employees about the plans on Wednesday during an all-hands meeting.

“The decision to reduce our headcount was a painful but necessary course correction” to “balance our costs with our cash reserves,” CEO and co-founder Steven Galanis said in a statement to The Information.

Other startups and public companies that boomed during the onset of the pandemic in 2020 have experienced slowdowns and laid off some staff to save on costs. They include online-events app Hopin, stock-buying app Robinhood, automation firm Hyperscience and food-delivery app Gopuff. Most of the 350 or so employees at the Chicago-based Cameo had been working remotely since the pandemic.

Get access to exclusive coverage
Read deeply reported stories from the largest newsroom in tech.
Latest Articles
 
The Electric electric vehicles
The Electric: A Rift Over the Climate Law Bursts Into the Open
Sen. Joe Manchin thinks the spirit of the Inflation Reduction Act is being violated. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty
Sen. Joe Manchin thinks the spirit of the Inflation Reduction Act is being violated. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/GettyTension over the $369 billion climate law boiled over Wednesday, with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) threatening to sue to stop implementation of the legislation if he believes the White House is doing it the wrong way. His admonishment came ahead of the Biden administration’s scheduled...
Latest Briefs
 
Alphabet’s DeepMind and Google Brain Set Aside Rivalry, Target OpenAI
Startup Wiz Finds Critical Azure Flaw Tied to Bing Search
ByteDance Promoting Lemon8, New Community App in U.S.
Stay in the know
Receive a summary of the day's top tech news—distilled into one email.
Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
From left, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Google Brain chief Jeff Dean. Photos by Getty, Bloomberg
Exclusive google ai
Alphabet’s Google and DeepMind Pause Grudges, Join Forces to Chase OpenAI
OpenAI’s success in overtaking Google with an artificial intelligence–powered chatbot has achieved what seemed impossible in the past: It has forced the two AI research teams within Google’s parent, Alphabet, to overcome years of intense rivalry to work together.
Art by Clark Miller.
Opinion startups
Don’t Build the Wrong Kind of AI Business
At a catch-up coffee a few weeks ago, a founder friend asked me, “What AI thing should we build?” It was the third time that week a founder had asked me the same question.
Bill Gurley in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive
Good Eggs Cuts Its Valuation 94% in Lifeline Financing as More Startups Get Desperate
As more startups struggle to raise money from venture capitalists and approach bankruptcy, they are going to extreme lengths to stay afloat.
Block chairman and co founder Jack Dorsey. Photo by Getty
markets
Fintech’s Big Wakeup Call
Fintechs were supposed to transform banking by making it dead simple for users to open savings accounts or pay their bills.
Art by Clark Miller.
Market Research e-commerce culture
The Skin-Tech Devices Helping Execs Beautify in a Hurry
I’m always 29 at heart,” said Liyia Wu, CEO of ShopShops, a livestream shopping app for fashion, beauty and lifestyle products.
Art by Clark Miller
Surreal Estate real estate
Silicon Valley’s Realtors, Like Its Bankers, Are Having a Tough Month
In early March, Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty, a Silicon Valley–based brokerage that sold more than $1 billion in homes in 2021, called one of his venture capitalist clients to discuss the purchase of a $20 million–plus megamansion.