Avi Eyal, one of the first investors in Monday: "The layoffs were managed as well as possible"
Avi Eyal, co-founder of Entrée Capital, addressed the recent layoffs at Monday and the compensation request for its CEOs. He emphasized that these steps are essential for the company's survival in the AI era.
Avi Eyal, co-founder of the Entrée Capital fund, which manages $1.5 billion and whose largest and most famous investment is the software company Monday — on which the fund earned more than $1 billion — stood in the eye of the storm this week. The reason: the request to double the compensation for Roy Mann and Eran Zinman, the two CEOs of Monday, to $14 million a year. A request that came just days after 620 of the company's employees, 350 of them in Israel, received layoff letters.
"I cannot comment on the compensation issue, which is up for a vote at the shareholders' meeting, due to legal restrictions, but I can say that Monday is a company in good condition in a world that is changing completely. If it hadn't made the changes, it would have been ignoring the new world. True, we waited relatively long with the cuts, but that's because we always had fewer employees relative to revenue compared to competitors," Eyal stated.
Regarding the layoffs, he added: "Firing 20% of the employees is a difficult decision that we were not quick to make. But when you see a software company like AIRTABLE, which last raised funds at a valuation of $11 billion and is now selling for $1.3 billion because it didn't adapt itself to the AI era, you understand that Monday's management is making the right moves. The decision to move to the AI world in a strong and determined way brings us to a situation where it is possible to compete in this market. No one is happy about layoffs, but it is something we needed to win and stay relevant. I think the layoffs were managed in the best way possible."
Commenting on the broader state of Israeli high-tech, Eyal acknowledged the challenges of political uncertainty and international pressure. However, he remains a realist: "We have amazing problems, but on the other hand, look at the young people, at the new generation. They have no fear, they don't know what failure is, they just build. This is the foundation of the country."
