aliph

MrMedia

Alaska Miller · 11/10/08 07:40PM

Aliph, the maker of the Jawbone Bluetooth headset, dropped half a million on fancy furniture for its offices, then fired 25 of the 75 people whose seats the purchase was meant to warm. Today's featured commenter, MrMedia, explains why the expenditure was worth it:

Aliph CEO spends $500,000 on new furniture before layoffs

Owen Thomas · 11/10/08 12:20PM

Bluetooth headsets make you look like a rambling idiot, addressing an audience of one. San Francisco startup Aliph solves that problem: Wearing its sleek Jawbone makes you look like a stylish, rambling idiot. An appropriate accessory for CEO Hosain Rahman. Venture-capital news site PEHub reports that Rahman ordered $500,000 in new, high-end furniture for the office, instructed employees to box up their things, and then laid off a third of the company's 75-person staff. The company has raised $42.5 million in funding. Its backers include Sequoia Capital, the VC firm which recently issued a cost-cutting fatwa to its portfolio companies. Whatever one might say about Rahman, one should credit him for good taste: He has also commissioned a mural for the office from DeYoung Museum artist-in-residence Tucker Nichols.