Kajabi just laid off another 35 people and gave the rest of the company the “option” to take 10 weeks of severance and walk. That’s how dire things are.
The CEO spins a nice memo, but the reality is this company is rudderless. One week it’s “grow grow grow,” the next it’s “focus and cut.” It’s like watching someone throw darts blindfolded and call it strategy. Leadership keeps referencing “lean teams” and “nimble orgs” as code for “we have no idea what we’re doing, so we’re cutting costs.” There is zero transparency around decisions- people disappear from Slack with no notice. Heads of entire departments vanish without acknowledgment. It’s created a culture of fear and silence. Tiger Global must be watching this clown show in horror as their investment burns. Instead of keeping talent and paying people who actually build and support the product, Kajabi spent a fortune on a rebrand, a shiny new logo, and billboards in NYC and LA. Priorities...HA! The CEO has no operational experience and it shows. He plays favorites, tolerates high school drama, and appears obsessed with controlling optics over building a sustainable company. This place operates like a middle school cafeteria. The head of People is persona non grata to the CEO, yet somehow is still employed because she's the "mouth piece" for the CEO. The CMO is just trying to survive, and will say or do anything to stay on the CEO’s good side. The head of product was pushed out for challenging the status quo and trying to actually innovate. That’s how fragile the leadership culture is. All of this chaos in an extremely competitive industry where creator trust is everything. Internal values like “Heroes first” feel like a hollow joke. If this is what “customer-centric” looks like, I’d hate to see the alternative. The sales team had zero support and zero enterprise product to go to market with which makes for one GIGANTIC failure. The sales org has been set up to fail from Day One. No enterprise-ready product. No enablement. No roadmap. Just pressure to sell a dream that doesn’t exist. The mythical “enterprise package” has been duct-taped together from broken parts, and it’s painfully obvious to prospects. Add in a parade of desperate promotions like “3 for $99,” and you’ve effectively trained your customers to wait for a discount. Pricing volatility, no urgency, no trust. That’s the state of play. You want retention? Start by earning it. Employees are exhausted, insulted, and done watching talented colleagues get pushed out while the people driving the bus off the cliff are still at the wheel. I have never, EVER, in my career, had this LITTLE confidence in a leadership team. Let’s be crystal clear: the problem is NOT the employees. The real issue is a CEO who behaves like a founder cosplay artist, backed by a squad better suited to a frat house poker night than a SaaS company. Decisions are made with the grace and logic of a drunk roulette spin- completely untethered from data, customers, or the product we’re supposedly selling. This place is like the Titantic, sinking fast into the cold cold cold open sea...
