The Pulse #89: The end of Hopin

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the rise and fall of the startup Hopin, as well as other industry news and trends, including:

• The first mass layoffs at Apple since 1997 (or not?)
• An amateurish URL rewrite at X (formerly Twitter)
• The never-ending job interviews for engineering executives
• The sale of Hopin's StreamYard product
• A weekend systems update that took an Italian bank offline for days
• Adyen, the only major Fintech with zero mass layoffs, becoming one of Stripe's biggest competitors

🙋 Q&A

[01] The end of Hopin

1. What happened to Hopin?

• Hopin went from zero to a $7.7B valuation in just 5 years, but then went back to zero again.
• The company is no more, and the final valuable parts of Hopin are being sold, with all staff expected to be let go.

2. What are the details on the sale of Hopin's StreamYard product?

• The article mentions "exclusive details on the StreamYard sale", but does not provide any further information.

[02] Industry pulse

1. What happened at Apple and X (formerly Twitter)?

• There were the first mass layoffs at Apple since 1997 (or not?).
• X (formerly Twitter) had an "amateurish URL rewrite".

2. What is the issue with engineering executive hiring?

• The article mentions "never-ending job interviews for engineering executives", but does not provide any further details.

[03] Weekend maintenance kicks an Italian bank offline for days

1. What happened to the Italian bank Sella?

• After a weekend systems update, Sella's apps and internet banking have been down for 5 days.
• The problem seems to be database-related, with the article stating "something, something Oracle".

[04] Adyen, the only major Fintech with zero mass layoffs?

1. How is Adyen different from other major Fintech startups?

• While all major Fintech startups have let go of some staff over the past two years, Adyen has not had any mass layoffs.
• Meanwhile, Adyen's business has quietly become one of Stripe's biggest competitors.