Bending Spoons product leader Federico Simionato faced backlash after announcing significant layoffs at Airtable in a post on X.
“Today we’re laying off a large part of the Airtable team,” he wrote. “This is not a reflection of their work but a reflection of our deep belief that small teams ship more and better.”
Simionato outlined upcoming changes at Airtable, including a “new Core team shipping your top requests monthly (already 30+ shipped in 3 weeks),” “upgraded Omni, Airtable Canvas, a stronger MCP, and BYO agents,” and “new Performance and Infra teams focusing on speeding up bases and increasing limits on records, fields, and syncs.”
“To everyone leaving: thank you,” he concluded. “If you’re hiring, these are excellent people and worth a call.”
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Several commenters criticized Simionato’s post, calling it insensitive and self-promotional.
“I’ve seen some spectacularly tone-deaf layoff announcements, but turning one into a product launch announcement is genuinely pioneering work in the field of corporate sociopathy,” one user wrote.
“Celebrating layoffs is not a flex, no matter how you try to dress it up,” another commenter wrote. A third called it “the most unempathetic thing I’ve read in my life.”
Simionato responded to one commenter, saying he was “not celebrating at all.”
“It’s a hard day for good people,” he wrote. “I’d rather be upfront about why than vague about it.”
A Bending Spoons representative told Fast Company, “The decision to part ways with members of Airtable’s pre-acquisition team wasn’t taken lightly and doesn’t reflect on the team’s excellent work.”
“Their passion and dedication made Airtable the product and business it is today, and together with the team members who are staying we’re honored to carry their work forward,” the representative added.
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Bending Spoons, a Milan-based technology conglomerate, has drawn attention for acquiring companies such as AOL and Vimeo. The company also completed its initial public offering in July and went public on Nasdaq this week, briefly reaching a market capitalization of more than $25 billion.
Oliver Ellerton, managing partner at public relations firm Ellerton & Co., told Fast Company that Simionato’s announcement was an example of “confusing corporate conviction with public empathy.”
“You can genuinely believe that smaller teams build better businesses—fair enough. But announcing significant layoffs is not the best time to make the case for how clever that strategy is,” he said.
“This is another example of something that probably sounds perfectly reasonable in a boardroom but belongs nowhere near a public statement or social media post.”
“He wants to project confidence and decisiveness,” Ellerton added. “But if you’ve just lost your job, it’s difficult not to read this as management congratulating itself on becoming more efficient at your expense.”