63% of tech professionals started their own firm post-layoff

About 63 per cent of technology professionals have started their own company post-layoff, with 83 per cent of these new ventures being in the technology industry, a new report has shown. According to the lending firm Clarify Capital, nearly 1 in 4 tech workers couldn't get hired by another company post-layoff. The report included 1,000 surveyed tech workers who were laid off during the Covid-19 pandemic years and have since started their own companies.

About 93 per cent of workers say they are now competing with the company that let them go. Moreover, the report said that the tech workers reported a yearly salary increase of $13,000 on average after starting a company after a layoff. Around 58 per cent of tech workers who started a company after a layoff feel better about their new job security. For professional growth, more money, creating something new, leading others, being their own boss, difficulty getting hired, and others were the top reasons tech workers decided to start a company after being laid off.

Further, the report mentioned that for 40 per cent of respondents, the idea to start a company came between 6 and 12 months after getting laid off. Nearly one-third had their lightbulb moment even sooner -- in under six months -- and the rest took a year or more to decide that owning a business was the next logical step in their career.