In January 2015, after growth had already stalled, Sahil told his 20-person team they had roughly nine months to hit the growth numbers needed to raise a $15M+ Series B, or the company would have to drastically downsize.

“I told my 20-person team the road ahead would be a tough one.”

The venture-funded model required near-doubling growth to justify the next round; Gumroad's month-over-month growth wasn't clearing that bar even after nine months of an all-hands push shipping new features.

“we weren't doubling fast enough to raise the $15M+ Series B”

To keep the product alive once the Series B push failed, Sahil laid off 75 percent of the company, including many of his best friends; TechCrunch then reported on the layoffs, making the failure public.

“To keep the product alive, I laid off 75 percent of my company — including many of my best friends.”

The company had been staffed for a venture-scale growth trajectory that the fundraising failure made impossible to sustain, so headcount had to come down to match reality.

“TechCrunch got wind of the layoffs and published”