Burn Rate: Startups Outside Silicon Valley Also Cut Staff
Its been all the rage for Silicon Valley technology startups to reduce their workforce in recent weeks to gird for an economic downturn. Now tech startups outside Silicon Valley are following suit.
Hatteras Networks, a well-financed startup whose equipment enables telecom companies to deliver carrier Ethernet and broadband services over existing copper infrastructure, has laid off a quarter of its staff. The Research Triangle Park, N.C., company let go of 20 employees, spread evenly across all departments, bringing the total remaining staff to 60, said Kevin Sheehan, the company’s chief executive. News of the cut was reported earlier on WRAL.com.
“Starting when the financial markets began to collapse, we started looking at all of our spending for 2009 and 2010,” Sheehan said. “Having lived through 2001 and 2002, we decided to proactively reduce our spending.”
The company currently has more than 100 customers and ships equipment to at least 40 carriers every quarter. Its revenue has grown more than 100% every year for the last three years, Sheehan said, though he declined to disclose specific figures.
Since its founding in 2000, Hatteras Networks has raised $89 million in venture capital. Its investors include Columbia Capital, ComVentures, Globespan Capital Partners and Grotech Ventures, according to VentureWire records.
-Scott Denne, VentureWire
Source: WSJ.com: Business Technology