App development platform maker Appcelerator is looking to change the way it does business. Unfortunately for many employees at the company, that meant a massive reorganization that saw about 30 percent of its staff let go last week.
CEO Jeff Haynie confirmed to TechCrunch that last week Appcelerator reduced headcount by 30 employees, which he says included about 20 employees in the U.S. and another 10 in Asia. Those cuts, which bring the number of full-time employees down to about 70, were made as the company seeks to lower costs and move to a more flexible (and more sustainable) business model.
Founded in 2006, Appcelerator over the last several years has sought to build a platform that enterprises could use to build, deploy and distribute their own mobile apps. Rather than rely on in-house expertise and development, the Appcelerator Platform enables companies to quickly develop and test native, cross-platform apps.
But with that enterprise-facing product came an enterprise sales model — and that’s something Appcelerator hopes to move away from. Haynie says the company is pivoting away from that model to become more of a SaaS/self-serve one. By doing so, Appcelerator believes it can address a larger market, and in a more cost-effective way.
As part of its reorganization, Appcelerator fired Chief Revenue Officer Brian Carr, who led the company’s sales efforts and was largely responsible for the direct sales model it’s been operating under over the last few years. Carr is being replaced by Andy Zambito, who is the company’s VP of North America Sales.
Appcelerator also made changes in its “customer success” team, as the company seeks to move away from its current high-touch model. In doing so, VP of Customer Success Mark Pecoraro was also let go. Instead of having a standalone customer support team for enterprise clients, the company is bringing its product and customer support teams closer together. It hopes to reduce friction between the people who talk to customers and those who are building the product, the company says.
Haynie says the re-org has been months in the making, as the company gets ready to unveil a new, less enterprise-focused product that is currently in beta testing with some customers. He also noted that the company still had plenty of money in the bank, given a $22 million round of funding it raised last August.
Of course, a lot will depend on how well its new product is received. With a lower burn rate, the company will at least have a lot more runway to see if it takes off.
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