Startups spring from ashes of Big Tech purge

Nic Szerman lost his job at Meta Platforms in November, just two months after joining full-time, falling victim to a sweeping 13% reduction of its workforce as the advertising market cratered.

Days later he was back working, seeking investment for his own company Nulink, a blockchain-based payment company, and sent pitches to startup accelerator Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz’s cryptocurrency fund.

“As counterintuitive as it may sound, this layoff left me in a really good position,” the 24-year-old said. “Because I don’t have to pay back the sign-on bonus, I get four months of pay, and now I have time to focus on my own project.”