S
ide, a venture-backed white-label brokerage, has announced its latest round of layoffs, affecting its research and development teams. The company's CEO, Guy Gal, informed employees during an all-hands meeting that the decision was made to conserve capital in a down market. Gal stated that the economic environment is more challenging than anticipated and that new partnerships and sales efforts have not yielded sufficient returns on investment.

    To adapt to these changes, Side has introduced a revenue-sharing program called PartnerUp Revenue Share, which rewards agents for referring other agents to the platform and mentoring them. To be eligible, agents must generate at least $30 million in production annually. Gal expects it will take six to 12 months for the referral program to reach current levels of new business.

    Side has undergone several rounds of layoffs since its founding in 2017, including a recent cut of 10 employees last November and 12 remote workers from the sales team in May 2023. The company is not alone in downsizing its backend teams; Compass and Anywhere Real Estate have also announced multiple rounds of layoffs to maintain margins during the down market period.

    Gal emphasized that there is no shift away from Side's original model, but rather a strategic adjustment to invest less in growth, product, and research and development. The company plans to focus on partner referrals as its primary go-to-market strategy.