- Clubhouse was one of the star containment apps
- But that went into decline when the world started to reopen
- To stay relevant, it must reinvent itself and downsize
In 2020, when COVID-19 forced us to confine ourselves, a new app caused a sensation: Clubhouse. It stood out from other online platforms thanks to its audio lounges, practical when everyone stayed at home. But once life got back to normal, Clubhouse became less relevant. And today, as the company seeks to reinvent itself, it announces the dismissal of 50% of its workforce.
The bad news was announced by Clubhouse co-founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth in an internal memo that was shared on the company’s official blog. “Clubhouse was designed to be a place where you can hang out with friends, meet their friends and chat. It works great when your friends are using the product and you have time to meet. Millions of people in our grassroots community know this,” we read in this note.
Clubhouse must find its (new) place
But as the world has reopened, post-COVID, it has become harder for users to find their friends on the app. And, as a result, Clubhouse must evolve. The co-founders speak of a “reset” of the company which is incompatible with its current size. “It’s difficult for us to communicate strategy to cross-functional teams when it’s changing by 1% every day, or to make quick changes when each surface is owned by a different product team,” explain these.
The dismissal of 50% of the employees must therefore solve this problem, and allow Clubhouse to have a small team focused on the product, while evolving more quickly. “We came to this conclusion reluctantly,” assure the co-founders of Clubhouse. They also state that it has nothing to do with cost reduction. Indeed, the company would still have reserves of money to last several years.
The app that influenced the internet
In any case, if Clubhouse is in difficulty today, three years ago it was one of the apps that the media talked about the most. Moreover, the success of the Clubhouse audio lounges was beginning to worry Facenook and Twitter, which were inspired by it. Spotify has also launched a Clubhouse-inspired feature called Spotify Live. But it has already been closed. On the other hand, on Twitter, the equivalent of Clubhouse’s audio lounges (the Twitter Spaces) continues to have a good audience.
It remains to be seen what the new Clubhouse under development will look like. In any case, the co-founders claim that they already have a clear idea of the direction the Clubhouse 2.0 will take. However, to realize this vision, a smaller and leaner team is more relevant.
According to our colleagues at The Verge, the company already launched a new feature called “Houses” in August. This allows users to make new friends among their friends’ friends.
