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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Jack Altman is stepping back as Lattice CEO, the HR software startup he cofounded eight years ago.</li><li>He tells Business Insider that he wants to return to building at the early stages of a company.</li></ul>Jack Altman is the second <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-ousted-fired-openai-ceo-chatgpt-maker-2023-11">Altman brother to drop the CEO title</a> in the last month — but this time, it's of his own accord. Earlier this week, Lattice announced it was bringing on a new CEO — former Salesforce executive Sarah Joyce Franklin — and that Altman would step down from his role and become executive chairman, eight years after founding the human-resources software startup.These past few years, Jack Altman, who is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-openai-chatgpt-worldcoin-helion-future-tech-2023-4">Sam Altman's</a> brother, led the enterprise unicorn through a period of rapid expansion, largely fueled by a tight labor market and rise of remote work, and then a restructuring as businesses — and Lattice's would-be customers — reined in their software spending. Now, Lattice is preparing for a new phase of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allbirds-cofounder-startups-profitable-before-going-public-ipo-2023-11">sustainable growth</a>, according to company insiders.In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Altman said he fell out of wanting to run a late-stage startup these past few years, as the challenges and scope of the work evolved. He told us he plans to return to his first love: the earliest stages of company-building."I love early stage — it's always what I've loved — and I happened to add another love," he said, referring to Lattice.He said he felt a "first inkling" of wanting to move on during the '"highest of highs," when the company was blitzscaling in 2021. He says as a company scales up, "the role of a CEO just changes dramatically."But the passion fizzled and he started to look for a successor after realizing he wasn't going to be able to give his "absolute everything to the company." A former employee of social commerce company Teespring, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startup-paying-employees-100k-to-start-company-2021-12">Altman helped found Lattice in 2015</a> and built it into one of the most valuable startups in the human-resources space. The pandemic spurred a surge in demand as employers grappled with a changing workplace, catapulting Lattice from a luxury to a service seen by some people leaders as essential. In the heady days of 2021, Lattice <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hr-tech-startup-lattice-raises-series-f-funding-triples-valuation-2022-1">tripled its valuation</a> to $3 billion in a $175 million funding round.<h2>Lattice's crucible moment</h2>The funds largely paid for a new product that took a year and a half to develop, and reimagines how companies use Lattice. For most of its life, the company focused on point solutions — tools used to fix a particular problem — for tasks like performance reviews and workforce surveys. Then, in September, it launched an all-in-one human-resources information system — a database that collects and sorts all of the important information about employees, and feeds the right details to those point solutions and third-party apps. In time, the move may turn out to be the company's saving grace.Sales have slowed amid a dire situation in startup land. Companies that raised funding in 2021's frothy market <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-fears-exctinction-event-startup-failure-rate-increase-2023-6">have less than 12 months of runway</a> in the bank. They're going back out to raise their next round, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/late-stage-startups-vc-lack-funding-forced-shut-down-2023-10">facing venture funds less willing to write checks</a>. And so executives are ruthlessly cutting costs to survive."Every CFO in the world is out there right now looking at every single software expense and just pruning," Altman said.For Lattice, the slowdown forced its own hard decisions. In January, the company laid off 105 employees, mostly recruiters and salespeople, ensuring the company "builds with efficiency and financial health more prominently in mind," he wrote in a <a target="_blank" href="https://lattice.com/blog/ceo-jack-altmans-email-to-lattice-employees">blog post</a> at the time.In her new role, Franklin will be responsible for shepherding the company through a crucible moment for business tools, as savings-savvy executives take a closer look at the money they're spending on software. They <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2024-tech-trends-predictions-top-vcs">will try to negotiate costs</a> for services they want to renew, cancel others, and consolidate vendors. For Lattice, the silver lining is rising demand for services that bundle lots of point solutions, like Lattice HRIS."We had always known that the long-term path included being the system of record," Altman said. "In some ways, it's lucky that there's a downturn and that we have this [HRIS] because it's more important now. We'd still be better off — as all software companies would be — if we weren't in a downturn. So it kind of cuts both ways."<div type="image" title="Jack Altman is stepping down as chief executive officer of Lattice and has named Salesforce executive Sarah Joyce Franklin as his successor." height="1996" width="2661" msid="105994068" hostid="261"></div>The company is now charting a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hinge-health-ipo-2024-physical-therapy-startup-profitability-2023-10">course to profitability</a>, according to Lattice CFO Gabe Cortes. The strategy includes spending less to acquire new customers for its more mature products and putting more resources behind growing the full-stack solution.Altman says the company doesn't need to fundraise right now. It's pulled in $330 million from investors to date and has "plenty of cash" in the tank, he added. Even as growth slows, the company is still generating revenue that covers a growing share of its expenses."The burn is reasonable and coming down," Altman said. "Hopefully we don't need to fundraise ever."<h2>Leadership shakeup</h2>Franklin is far from the only new face in Lattice's upper ranks.Lattice has quietly reshuffled the executive suite this year. A closer look at its website team page reveals the changes: It promoted Stephen Poletto, head of engineering, to chief technology officer in February; in March, it hired Eric Schuchman as chief product officer and Stan Massueras as a general manager overseeing its international business; Elizabeth Walton Egan arrived in May to take over the role of chief marketing officer. And previous CFO Josh Brown left this fall as Cortes, who previously worked in finance at Workday, stepped in.Altman's Lattice cofounder, Eric Koslow, left in 2022 to pursue a new venture in the video content-creation space.According to Altman, the shakeup marks a successful transition of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/comparably-large-companies-highly-rated-leadership-teams-2022-7">executive teams</a> for the first time in the company's eight-year history. He said some of the outgoing executives wanted to join earlier-stage companies or start their own; some of them may have stayed in their positions longer than they ordinarily would have because business was taking off in the post-pandemic tech boom.<h2>Lattice isn't exploring an IPO</h2>Slowing growth. Focus on profits. New leadership. Some people might suggest these changes all-together indicate that Lattice may be bracing itself to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a-lackluster-return-for-tech-ipos-2023-9">go public when the market reopens</a>. The company wouldn't be the first to supplant its founder with a more seasoned executive who can ready the firm for a public offering. The board of Instacart replaced founder and chief executive <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/instacart-founder-apoorva-mehta-ipo-2023-9">Apoorva Mehta</a> with Fidji Simo of Facebook following a messy dispute with investors.However, Altman denied that a public offering is imminent. Lattice, which was last valued at $3 billion, is a much smaller company than software firms like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/instacart-klaviyo-profitable-lead-tech-ipo-revival-2023-8">Instacart and Klaviyo that took the plunge</a> this year, says Altman. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a-lackluster-return-for-tech-ipos-2023-9">market's tepid response</a> to those offerings has likely deterred other candidates from wading into the markets.Lattice is not yet <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/allbirds-cofounder-startups-profitable-before-going-public-ipo-2023-11">profitable</a>, which has emerged as a key ingredient for going public."There are certain markets you would IPO Lattice into right now," Altman said. "This is not one of 'em."Got a tip? Contact Melia Russell at mrussell@insider.com or through text or encrypted messaging app Signal at 603-913-3085.

Jack Altman led his software unicorn Lattice through blitzscaling and a restructuring. Now he's stepping back at a crucible moment for tech.

Online education company for developers and IT professionals, <keyword id="2681073" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="pluralsight" source="Orion">Pluralsight</keyword>, which was recently valued at more than $1 billion has announced to lay off 20 per cent of its global workforce, about 400 employees. CEO Aaron Skonnard said in an email to employees he owns this outcome and "take full responsibility for the decisions that got us here". "I've spoken to all of you this year about the challenging economic environment we're operating in and how it has affected our business performance," he wrote. Unfortunately, these challenges have only accelerated in Q4 and, as a result, "today we are restructuring and reducing the size of our team, impacting roughly 20 per cent of our team members", he said late on Monday. Founded in 2004, Pluralsight had a net loss of $163.5 million in 2019 and $164 million in 2020, according to the US SEC documents. The CEO said that those impacted "can also look for additional communication from your executive about special All-Hands meetings for each organization later this week". "I'm sorry for the impact this will have on many of you, we've let you down during a difficult time," he added. Pluralsight is an online education company that offers a variety of video training courses for software developers, IT administrators, and creative professionals through its website. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/indias-retail-inflation-hits-11-month-low-in-november-at-5-88/articleshow/96177420.cms">India's November retail inflation at 5.88%, within RBI's comfort band</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/dalmia-bharat-to-acquire-cement-power-plants-of-jaiprakash-associates-for-5666-crore-enterprise-value/articleshow/96175228.cms">Dalmia Bharat to acquire cement, power plants of Jaiprakash Associates for ₹5,666 crore enterprise value</a>

Online education company and unicorn Pluralsight lays off 400 employees

<ul><li><keyword id="6358963" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Warren-Buffett">Warren Buffett</keyword>'s <keyword id="6362665" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="berkshire-hathaway">Berkshire Hathaway</keyword> plans to invest about $570 million in Snowflake when the cloud-data platform goes public.</li><li>Berkshire is set to buy about 7 million to 7.4 million shares, giving it a roughly 2.5% stake.</li><li>The bet is striking because Buffett famously sticks to businesses he understands and has blasted IPOs as a poor value.</li><li>"We like to buy things where nobody's making a dime selling them to us," Buffett said in an interview last year.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/international?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Warren Buffett's <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/brk-b-stock">Berkshire Hathaway</a> is <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-invest-550-million-snowflake-ipo-2020-9-1029571458#">set to invest</a> roughly $570 million in Snowflake when the cloud-data platform goes public at a potential $24 billion <keyword id="51393" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="valuation">valuation</keyword> in the coming weeks.The famed investor's company participating in an initial public offering by a "unicorn" — a private startup valued at over $1 billion — might just be a rarer sight than a horned horse.<h2>Catching snowflakes</h2>Berkshire has signed up to buy $250 million worth of Snowflake's stock in a private placement. It has also agreed to purchase 4 million shares from former Snowflake CEO Robert Muglia at the IPO price.Snowflake expects to price its shares between $75 and $85. As a result, Berkshire is set to shell out $550 million to $590 million for roughly 7 million to 7.4 million shares.Berkshire's shares are likely to give it a 2.5% to 2.6% stake in the <keyword id="6361043" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="software">software</keyword> group, which is targeting a valuation of $20.9 billion to $23.7 billion — more than 78 times its revenue last fiscal year.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-strategy-us-championship-oliver-kell-shares-secret-to-returns-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">US Investing Championship contender Oliver Kell raked in a 359.4% return through July. Here's the strategy he's using to crush the competition — and 3 stocks he's holding right now.</a><h2>Avoiding technology</h2>Berkshire's bet on Snowflake is surprising because Buffett has avoided technology stocks for most of his career, preferring to stay within his "circle of competence" and invest in companies he understands.One of Buffett's deputies, Todd Combs, is likely behind the Snowflake investment, as his signature is in the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1640147/000162828020013381/snowflakes-1a1.htm">IPO filing</a>. However, it's still a jarring departure for Berkshire to back a <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech">tech</keyword> company that lost close to $350 million last fiscal year.Berkshire's stable is dominated by steady, reliable businesses such as utilities, manufacturers, retailers, and insurers. The biggest holdings in its stock portfolio are relatively staid companies, such as American Express, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, and Kraft Heinz.The glaring exception is Apple, the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-apple-cash-52-percent-berkshire-hathaway-market-cap-2020-8-1029516028#">most valuable holding</a> in Berkshire's portfolio. However, Berkshire invested only a few years ago, and Buffett views the iPhone maker more as a consumer-products company than as a tech firm.<h2>'They don't even call us'</h2>Buffett and Charlie Munger, his business partner, have long avoided IPOs and warned investors against participating in them."In 54 years I don't think Berkshire's ever bought a new issue," Buffett <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/06/warren-buffett-im-not-buying-the-uber-ipo-but-ive-never-bought-any-ipo-ever.html">said in a CNBC interview</a> last year. The sole exception is StoneCo, a Brazilian digital-payments group that Berkshire backed when it went public in 2018.Buffett highlighted the hype around IPOs and the strong incentives to drive up their price as compelling reasons to stay away."How can it be the best single thing to use your money for in a given day is something that you've got everybody in the world out pushing it?" Buffett said. "It just doesn't make any sense."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-picks-to-buy-for-covid-19-vaccine-gains-goldman-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GOLDMAN SACHS: Buy these 19 stocks right now for big future gains once a COVID-19 vaccine is available</a>He added, "We like to buy things where nobody's making a dime selling them to us."Buffett also said at Berkshire's 2004 annual meeting that the timing of an IPO tends to favor the company, not its new investors."The seller decides when to come to market in most cases," he said. "They don't pick a time necessarily that's good for you."Buffett <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOJOtUJIz4M">said in another interview</a> last year that valuation was a major concern for him."I certainly wouldn't buy a business for $25 billion," Buffett said, adding that it would have to earn $2.5 billion to $3 billion in pretax income in five years "to even be on the same radar screen as things you can buy now."The investor also dismissed the idea that avoiding IPOs means missing out on future stars such as Amazon and Google; he argued that most of them turn out to be duds."You can go around making dumb bets and win," he said. "It's not something you want to take as a lifetime policy though."Berkshire's reputation for eschewing IPOs has led to companies not even bothering to contact Berkshire before going public."They don't even call us," Munger said in the CNBC interview.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-trading-rules-blueprint-from-market-legend-marty-schwartz-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">'I had run $5,000 up to $140,000 in just 2 years': Here are the 7 trading rules stock-market wizard Marty Schwartz leverages to help ensure success</a><h2>A shift in stance</h2>Given Buffett's historical aversion to tech companies and IPOs, it's deeply surprising that his company is buying into a loss-making software business at a sky-high valuation.The best explanation may be that Buffett trusts Combs' judgment, especially as $570 million isn't too large a bet for a company with a roughly $200 billion stock portfolio and close to $150 billion in cash at the last count.The Snowflake investment is also the latest sign that Berkshire is revamping its strategy and seeking out new types of investments.For example, it <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-sells-jpmorgan-wells-fargo-buys-barrick-gold-2020-8-1029506182#">bought shares in a gold miner</a> for the first time last quarter, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-7-billion-japanese-sogo-shosha-companies-2020-9-1029561054#">disclosed 5% stakes</a> in Japan's five biggest trading companies just over a week ago, and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-cuts-wells-fargo-stake-17-years-2020-9-1029566739#">slashed its Wells Fargo stake</a> to a 17-year low last week.

Why Warren Buffett's $570 million bet on Snowflake is rarer than any unicorn

<ul><li><keyword id="1711444" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Snowflake">Snowflake</keyword>, backed by the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, said it would raise $3.4 billion on Wednesday in the largest software initial public offering.</li><li>The cloud-data platform said on Tuesday that it would sell 28 million shares priced at $120 apiece, valuing it at over $33 billion.</li><li>Snowflake plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SNOW.</li><li>Its highly anticipated IPO has managed to capture the attention of Buffett, who has agreed to invest over $550 million in the company.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Snowflake said it would raise $3.4 billion on Wednesday in the largest initial public offering for a software company, kicking off a big week for <keyword id="6355118" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="technology">technology</keyword> firms going public.The cloud-data startup <a href="https://www.snowflake.com/news/snowflake-announces-pricing-of-initial-public-offering/">announced on Tuesday</a> that it would sell 28 million shares at $120 each.Snowflake, which was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snowflake-cloud-data-warehousing-startup-files-to-go-public-2020-8">valued at $12.4 billion in February</a> and counts the billionaire investor Warren Buffett among its backers, plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SNOW.The San Mateo-based company's highly anticipated IPO has managed to generate enthusiasm from Buffett, who has famously steered clear of <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech">tech</keyword> <keyword id="6354298" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Stocks">stocks</keyword>. Buffett <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-invest-550-million-snowflake-ipo-2020-9-1029571458#">agreed to invest</a> upwards of $550 million once it goes public.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/options-trading-strategy-market-wizards-schwager-tony-saliba-shares-advice-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Legendary options trader Tony Saliba famously put together 70 straight months of profits greater than $100,000. Here's an inside look at the strategy that propelled him to millionaire status before age 25.</a>According to Renaissance Capital, Snowflake is the largest software IPO on record and the largest since <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-prices-ipo-at-45-per-share-2019-5">Uber's $8.1 billion IPO</a> in May 2019.Snowflake has emerged as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snowflake-cloud-data-warehousing-startup-files-to-go-public-2020-8">one of the strongest players</a> in cloud-data warehousing this year as the pandemic forced millions of people to work remotely, fueling a trend among businesses of setting up networks on web-based platforms.The company was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/snowflake-reported-ipo-plan-blockbuster-cloud-2020-6">reportedly aiming for a valuation of $20 billion</a>. In total, Snowflake has raised $1.4 billion from investors including Sequoia and Iconiq Capital.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-to-buy-6-cyclicals-gains-economy-recovers-mike-wilson-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MORGAN STANLEY: Buy these 6 stocks poised for gains as the economic recovery continues and Congress mulls more coronavirus stimulus</a>Snowflake said it had about 3,100 customers, including 56 clients that contributed about $1 million in a 12-month period.Ray Wang, an analyst from Constellation Research, said it would be "the blockbuster enterprise listing for 2020."Other tech IPOs set to debut this week include Unity, a video-game-software firm expected to raise $950 million, and Sumo Logic, a data-software platform expected to raise $281 million.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-investing-strategy-from-house-hacks-to-multifamily-units-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anthony Angotti quit his 9-to-5 career to pursue real-estate investing full time. Here's the strategy he's used to balloon his portfolio to 89 units after an initial duplex investment.</a>

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Jack Altman led his software unicorn Lattice through blitzscaling and a restructuring. Now he's stepping back at a crucible moment for tech.

Melia Russell

Online education company and unicorn Pluralsight lays off 400 employees

IANS

Why Warren Buffett's $570 million bet on Snowflake is rarer than any unicorn

Theron Mohamed

Buffett-backed cloud unicorn Snowflake nets $3.4 billion in record-breaking software IPO

Shalini Nagarajan

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