[throwaway345826]

Thanks for your advice. It doesn't have to be cruel, but I've just read so many stories here about times when it was... So _something_ drives that cruelty, and I need to avoid it.

Okay, so it sounds like company-wide announcement first and then start getting into the 1:1s quickly to prevent people from suffering in purgatory.

Being let go is definitely not personal for anyone, it's not a cheeky excuse to let go the low performers. I'd keep them all if I could, I've got good references for everyone, we got phenomenally lucky with hiring - just not phenomenally lucky with everything else.

I've worked at places where I can't do things like: give realistic interview feedback, give proper references to people leaving; I hated it. Now that I'm in a leadership position - as badly as it has turned out - I can at least make my choice to do these basic humane things.

[jdwyah]

You can have two tracks of 1-1s. You do the layoffs and pick a lieutenant to do 1-1s with the stayers. They should be able to get through those much quicker so you can leave your go forward team with as little purgatory time as possible. I would suggest prioritizing that list by how worried you think they’ll be as an additional attempt at humanity.

One other note: you are transitioning company size. You were on the cusp of midsize and you are right back to startup. Make your choices accordingly. Even if someone was going to be great at 50->100 they may be the wrong person for 25. Keep the scrappy, true-believer do-ers. You’ll need them.