You probably heard the rumors, or not, but there are enough buzz on the Internet to make it almost a truth: Microsoft is laying off employees on the next few weeks and might be as large as 10% of its workforce – this is a first for Microsoft. The information is being guarded very safely.
So, what a Microsoft layoff means to the Seattle startup scene? Here are my predictions…
#1: Influx of people into startup
If you have a startup and you are hiring, you should expect a flood of resumes from ex-Microsofties and some will land at a startup near you.
#2: Higher cost for office space
That’s right, more layoffs means more people trying to do their own business and going for either a co-working spacing, a shared office with friends or their own office space. Although, because of the global economic situation, this increase in demand for office space might be offset by the number of companies going out of business.
#3: More silly startups
It’s easy! You need $3,000, a PC, a brain, 30 days and you can build a startup, right? Well, the Web 2.0 wave certainly made it look like that and a lot of those laid-off people will think this way and go ahead and join the party, which leads me to…
#4: More readers for the Seattle 2.0
Once you are isolated inside the mother-ship, there is no reason to read and find out what’s out there (I know this feeling from the inside). Now they will need to find their way around town, and I predict many will find the Seattle 2.0, the same way they will find the STS, NWEN and many of the goodies for entrepreneurs in Seattle.
#5: Notebooks, books and coffee shops
If you don’t have a job, have plenty of spare time, you might stay in PJs all day playing Xbox, but after a while you’ll feel the need to do something productive. I expect lots of people with books on Ruby on Rails, jQuery, Python and Amazon Web Services flooding the local Starbucks and Tully’s.
Now, it’s inevitable for me to make a non-techie prediction as well, and that will be an even tougher effect on the housing market. If you think 10% of people will be laid off – roughly 4,000 families being affected – how many will not be able to keep up with their $3,000 a month mortgage? How many will leave their rented apartment and move somewhere else? It’ll be absolutely tough on the local economy in general.
What other effects do you think a layoff at Microsoft will have?