[breathesalt]

It could be a motivation issue if it was a decline in work quality. If you're like most startups, and you're not profitable right now, it's important to quickly become profitable. Having a constant stream of real validation of your business's value is very important--make sure you're making the right product. Otherwise, there's no shame in pivoting or dropping the dead weight--but in my opinion that's like firing a canary because it stopped chirping.