A senior Google manager is working to build his own company after being laid off by the tech titan, Insider reported. To help him, he has got a group of other sacked employees on board.
Henry Kirk said he had floated his business idea on a group chat he started with his team for moral support, after the mass layoffs.
With his new undertaking Kirk, who worked to refine Google apps experience for users, wants to offer businesses design and research tools to other companies.
And he is confident he has the right people on his side
"We have all worked together for so many years, we already know everyone's strengths," Kirk told Insider.
Also read: ‘Worked around the clock,’ says Gurgaon man laid off from Google
Kirk acknowledged that starting his own business was "super risky". He is aware not everyone on board has the same financial safety net.
"Some people have a family to take care of, some don't, some have strong finances and they saved for years, others don't," he told the publication.
Kirk also has a tight deadline to meet. He wants to break ground by the end of March -- when his layoff notification period will end. He has about six weeks to bag projects.
Kirk told Insider he had to quickly bounce back from his shock termination
"I was pretty bummed out for about five minutes, but then I said, 'well I still have a family to take care of, I learned a lot, and I think I'm ready to do my own thing,'" he added.
Google's mass layoffs have impacted workers around the world.
The company had announced in January that it will cut nearly 12,000 jobs, because of changed economic realities.
"Over the past two years we've seen periods of dramatic growth," CEO Sundar Pichai had said while announcing the layoffs. "To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."
Layoffs at Google came close on the heels of massive job cuts by Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Twitter.
The latest section of employees to be affected by the layoffs were those at Google India. The company reportedly sacked over 400 workers last week.
Google India lays off over 400 employees: Report
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