13 Jul 2025 5 min read AI

Why So Many Layoffs? And What AI Has to Do With It

#20: AI, Layoffs, and What I’m Hearing from Founders

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Welcome to Peaceful Growth, where you will find actionable tips to grow your agency to $10M (without working overtime).

Hey Founders,

Not sure how you’re feeling about the web agency world lately… but I’ll be honest—I've been a bit anxious.

Last year already felt kinda "meh" with slow growth (more on my agency's four-season post), and 2025 isn’t looking much better so far.

Since we’re big on WordPress, I’ve been keeping an eye on that ecosystem too. I went to WordCamp Europe last month and caught up with several agency, plugin, and platform founders. Most of them said the same thing: slow growth, hiring pause, and a lot of uncertainty.

But today, I wanted to talk about something that’s hitting everyone—not just tech giants:

Layoffs and hiring freezes.

Even web and creative agencies aren’t being spared.

I've been curious—why is this happening across the board?

So over the last 6 months, I made it a point to talk to other founders. I met with over two dozen, and I asked them:

How’s your pipeline looking?
Are you still hiring, downsizing, or on pause?
What’s changing in your business?

On the topic of AI and layoffs, here’s what I’ve been hearing from founders, mentors, and founder communities

1: A lot of companies over-hired during the COVID boom. Now they’re adjusting.

2: With AI moving fast, many brands are holding back on big spend decisions. That's affecting the agency's pipeline.

3: Global uncertainty (wars, tariffs) = more cautious budgeting.

4: Some companies are pushing return-to-office and cutting remote roles altogether.

5: Tech leaders at large enterprises are pouring big budgets into AI initiatives—often at the expense of other areas like website updates, maintenance, and non-essential projects.

6: AI has made copywriting, design, and even coding faster—small jobs that agencies used to handle are now being done in-house or by AI.

7: Some layoffs are simply performance-based.

8: A lot of founders are adopting Shopify founder Tobi’s mindset: “Before you suggest a new hire, explain why that can’t be done using AI.” That thinking is causing hiring freezes across teams.

9: Based on Ravio's recent tech job reports, Admin roles are disappearing fast as AI handles more repeatable, process-heavy tasks. This trend is creeping into technical roles too—Scrum Masters being a big one.

10: Interns and junior roles across almost every industry are getting hit hard by AI. According to the latest Ravio jobs report, there’s been a massive 75–84% drop in entry-level hiring just in the past year. Before AI took over, founders used to bring in lots of interns and junior folks—train them, mentor them, and keep the top 10%. Now? They’re skipping all that and going straight for the top 10%.

AI isn’t just about cutting costs—it’s changing productivity expectations. Writers, coders, designers—everyone is now expected to do more with less.

Now, to be clear: AI isn’t the only reason for all these changes. But I’d bet it’s playing a bigger role than most people want to admit.

For us at Multidots, we haven’t had to let go of anyone due to AI yet. We’re still hiring—but I’ve made it very clear to my team:

To stay competitive, we need to learn and use AI—across roles.

Here’s what I shared with my team recently, along with a copy of the letter Fiverr’s CEO sent to his employees. It hit home. (If you haven’t read it, you should.)

Subject: We need to talk about AI. Seriously.

Dear Dots,

I came across a message that Fiverr’s CEO, Micha Kaufman, sent to his team about AI.

It was bold. Honest. A little intense. But it really stuck with me—and I think it's something we all need to hear.

He didn’t sugarcoat anything. Just laid it out. AI is here. It’s moving fast. And it’s coming for all of us—no matter what role or title we have.

I’m not sharing this to scare anyone. I’m sharing it because I care. I care about your growth. I care about our future. And I want us to stay ahead of the curve, not get blindsided by it.

The truth is, we’re in a moment where everything is changing—fast. What used to be “hard” is now easy. What used to be “safe” is now automated. The game is different now. So we’ve gotta level up.

Here’s the good news: We’re not powerless. In fact, we’re in a great spot—if we choose to grow.

So here’s my ask:
Don’t wait for someone to hand you an AI playbook. Go play.

Start learning, experimenting, and asking better questions.
Use tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to help you work smarter.

Take a look at your daily tasks—both personal and team—and think about how you can use AI tools to automate or speed things up.

https://www.lindy.ai
https://www.make.com/
https://n8n.io/
https://useplumb.com/

Get curious about how AI is changing our space—because it already is.

If you don’t know where to start, just ask. Ping someone.

I’ll leave you with this:

This is a moment where we either grow fast—or fall back.

Let’s choose growth.