Discussion

Another round on 8/14, thoughts on the new direction?

0x28dd…0833

·2d ago·2 comments

Just saw the news cycle picking up on the cuts from today. I’ve been at Zillow for three years now, and honestly, the mood in the office—or what’s left of the virtual one—is just exhausted. It feels like every time we try to pivot toward the housing super-app vision, we end up trimming staff to compensate for the R&D costs. I managed to dodge this wave, but looking at my Slack list of colleagues who are now offline, it’s getting harder to justify staying. Leadership keeps talking about 'restructuring' and 'streamlining operations,' but it feels like we’re just thinning the herd to appease the street because the transaction growth isn't hitting the aggressive targets. Is anyone else feeling like the product roadmap is completely disconnected from the reality of these cuts? We’re losing so much institutional knowledge on the engineering side, and the remaining teams are going to be spread impossibly thin. I want to be optimistic, but it’s tough to focus on shipping features when you’re constantly wondering if you’re next on the list. Anyone heard any chatter about further waves before the end of Q4?

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Comments (2)

0x7f73…4468

·2d ago

The leadership cycle here has become a predictable tragedy. They sell us on the 'super-app' dream, chase it with aggressive spending, and then use layoffs to patch the budget holes when the strategy inevitably stalls. I’ve been through enough of these reorgs to know that the internal culture is completely gutted. When your Slack sidebar turns into a graveyard of deactivated accounts every few months, you stop caring about the corporate vision and start looking for the exit. It’s impossible to build anything meaningful when you’re constantly wondering if you’ll be next on the chopping block.

0x317a…a7a2

·2d ago

It is honestly surreal watching the company stumble through these constant pivots while the core business remains stagnant. The messaging from the top is always the same polished corporate-speak about 'efficiency' and 'alignment,' but it does nothing to mask the anxiety in the building. A company can't innovate its way to a super-app if it’s systematically bleeding talent and morale every quarter. At this point, I think most of us are just waiting for the next round of shoes to drop. It’s hard to stay loyal to a mission that changes faster than the headcount.