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Daily Crunch: Former employee says Patreon has laid off its entire security team

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The Patreon Inc. logo on a laptop computer arranged in Dobbs Ferry, New York, U.S., on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. More than 200,000 artists and entertainers use Patreon Inc. to connect with and raise money from fans. That momentum has helped the company raise some money of its own. Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Image Credits: Tiffany Hagler-Geard / Bloomberg / Getty Images

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Fridaaaaaay. It was a short week, but it still dragged on a little.

We’ve got some exciting Twitter Live action coming up on September 13, so mark your calendars! At 8:00 a.m. PDT / 11:00 a.m. EDT we are talking with Andrew Chan about why Gen Z VCs are trash, and at 12:00 p.m. PDT / 3:00 p.m. EDT, we’re talking with M13 partner Anna Barber about what today’s founders can learn from the dot-com bubble bursting.

Enjoy your weekend!  — Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

  • More layoffs: Patreon, a company that enables content creators to offer monthly payment subscriptions to customers, confirmed that it let go of five people from its security team. Zack reports there are not a lot of details about the layoffs, but did have some information about how Patreon will manage its security going forward. 
  • Thank you, Mr. Roboto: Amazon announced it is acquiring Cloostermans, a mechatronics company based in Belgium. The e-commerce giant’s focus on robotics has Ingrid writing that Amazon “is taking an interesting turn in that strategy as it expands its industrial warehouse capabilities.”
  • We like a startup with a fun name: Cryptocurrency is a hot market in Africa, and Tage writes about one blockchain payments startup, called Bitmama, that raised $2 million in pre-seed funding to show what it can do in new markets.

Startups and VC

For our episode of Chain Reaction this week, our trusty crypto desk discussed the latest drama surrounding crypto mega-exchange Binance, which is shaking up the stablecoin ecosystem as it looks to muscle its way to supremacy. It’s a fantastic episode and well worth a listen.

Over the past decade, startups migrated north from Silicon Valley to make San Francisco the country’s hottest tech hub. The streets of the city were bustling with throngs of workers, writes Mary Ann. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and things slid to a halt. Now, more than two years and several vaccines later, San Francisco’s office scene has still not rebounded and the city’s streets remain eerily quiet.

Let’s do a few more, shall we:

Use DORA metrics to support the next generation of remote-work models

Liwa, UAE - Laptop glows outside a tent pitched on the dunes of the Empty Quarter desert
Image Credits: Edwin Remsberg (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Nontechnical CEOs often rely on someone else’s assessment to find out how good their developers are. Without data, that’s a pretty subjective process.

Startups that don’t use DORA (DevOps research and assessment) metrics have a harder time measuring a software delivery team’s performance. For example, a group that has a high failure rate may cover their deficiencies (for a time) by deploying quickly.

Remote work is the new normal, especially for engineers, says Alex Circei, CEO and co-founder of development analytics tool Waydev. By using DORA metrics, CTOs, CEOs and HR managers can “get back on the same page to support their tech teams and business outcomes.”

Use DORA metrics to support the next generation of remote-work models

(TechCrunch+ is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Big Tech Inc.

India is taking more control over which lending apps are permitted in app stores. Manish and Jagmeet keep us updated on the country’s efforts to bring more disclosures and transparency to the world of digital lending, which they write is full of “sketchy and unethical lenders.”

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