MiXery Loves Company

MX is a big ol’ unicorn taking up all sorts of square footage down by Thanksgiving Point and revolutionizing the world of personal finance (we think… no one seems to know what it is they actually do). Founded by Ryan Caldwell in 2010, and later joined by Brandon Dewitt, MX established themselves as a company that lived and breathed their mission of “Empowering the World to be Financially Strong” (again… not sure how that’s being accomplished, but they certainly seemed to believe that it was working…). And if you’ve ever had the occasion to meet or speak to an MX employee, you know narrative is drilled deep into their bones.

Change at the top

After the passing of Dewitt in late 2021 to cancer, Ryan stepped down as CEO in January of this year and took an advisory role. Jim Magats (an 18 year veteran of PayPal) was announced as CEO in July of this year. After a few months with Jim at the helm, MX laid off around 200 of their staff in early October. The news was shared primarily by employees announcing the situation on LinkedIn, but details were scarce (possibly attributable to industry-standard agreements made with laid-off employees granting severance pay in return for a non-disparagement agreement). Additionally, Nate Gardner, MX’s Chief Customer Officer, announced his departure from MX within a day of the layoff as well (Gardner had been at MX since 2011).

Nothing’s More Important Than Family

MX announced their big-ass layoff “decision to reduce the size of our team and reorganize the company to better deliver on our mission” on LinkedIn the same day. The company even shared a Google Sheet of folks who opted-in to have their information available to those who are hiring (which is a great gesture…unless you are the ones that just made the decision to fire all of them…then it feels a little empty). As of writing, 57 individuals are on the opted-in list.

Being laid-off is the worst, and it is all-too-common in tech companies. What makes MX’s layoff feel more icky is that the company should be doing alright (from the outside perspective). MX raised $300 MILLION dollars in January 2021 on a valuation of $1.9 Billion and was reported to be growing and profitable pre-COVID. They reportedly tapped Goldman Sachs to explore an IPO in August 2021, and added a former Goldman President to their board. Those are usually signs that a company is growing and thriving (with the exception of Domo in 2018).

For a company that’s mission is “Empowering the World to be Financially Strong,” this feels like some pretty weak shit.