Latest news with #LidianeJones
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
7 Business Lessons For AI
From above photo of an anonymous African-American woman analyzing business graph on a laptop ... More computer while sitting at restaurant desk with notebook, pen and eyeglasses. When considering any implementation of AI in a business, leadership teams have a weighty responsibility. This is an approach that people want to get right. They face a few challenges – that the technology is so nascent, that there doesn't seem to be a lot of road maps available for companies, and that many people instinctively distrust large language models to automate processes. So what's to be done? A Leader's Perspective Here's where I recently got some insights from a paper written by Lidiane Jones, who was previously head of Slack, and CEO of Bumble, a major dating platform. Jones breaks down some of the aspects of AI implementation that C-suite people are looking at. Data Transfers and Governance Jones points out that transformations like ETL (extract, transform, load) and ELT (extract, load, transform) predated AI, but data is still siloed in many cases. One solution Jones touts is an 'omnichannel data strategy' – this, she writes, 'will ensure privacy and security of your data, ease of access for business applications, offer real time capabilities and can integrate with your everyday tools.' Compliance with Financial Data Rules For example, Jones speaks about the need to focus on compliance in some areas. 'Every company has critical financial data, subject to audit, regulation and compliance that must be carefully protected,' she writes. 'Normally, for more scaled companies, this data sits on an ERP system. Every CEO, CFO, COO and CRO needs critical real-time insight from these systems, to determine how the business is performing against plans, how expenses are tracking against the budget or how a change in employee investment … will affect the overall cost structure and velocity of the business, among numerous other capital allocation considerations.' Business Intelligence for the Win In terms of general business intelligence, Jones spins a story to illustrate: 'Imagine a Sales Executive who develops a multi-year high trust relationship with one of a company's most important large customer, and she decides to leave the company for a better career opportunity,' she writes. 'Historically, though there will be good information about that customer and notes from this leader, much of her institutional knowledge leaves with her. Corporate human knowledge exists within organizations, and is shaped by the culture, people and business processes.' She then addresses the role of workflow tools and other platform resources. 'Collaboration software of all kinds like Slack, Google Workspace and Teams … have a lot of people's knowledge embedded in them that is hardly ever nurtured,' she adds. 'Unstructured data like this is highly effective in training LLMs, and can provide opportunities that haven't existed before - like capturing the sentiment of what this large customer loved the most about their relationship with this Sales Executive.' She also gave a nod to the potential difficulties, conceding that ' it might feel daunting to expand data strategy planning to be as broad as this,' but notes that partnering with vendors and other firms can help. 'Phasing and prioritizing how you bring more of your data into a single system is key to making progress and capturing business value along the way,' she writes. Agents do the Agenting Jones also makes an important point about the use of AI agents. It goes sort of like this: we're used to computers doing calculations, and digesting and presenting information, but these new systems can actually brainstorm on their own to change processes. 'In many instances, agents can optimize workflows themselves as they determine more effective ways to get the work done,' she writes. A Story of Implementation Citing ChatGPT's meteoric rise, Jones talked about using these technologies in the context of her work at Slack, which is, after all, a business communication tool. She chronicled the firm's connection with companies like OpenAI circa 2017. 'At the time, when I was leading Slack, it was exciting to collaborate with OpenAI, Cohere and Anthropic to use their LLMs to help our customers with some of the most challenging productivity challenges at Slack,' she writes. The challenges she enumerates: 'finding a conversation they knew they had but couldn't remember in what channel, or help customers manage the large amount of messages they received with summaries and prioritization, optimize search for information discovery and so much more.' Then, too, the company created tools. 'We introduced Slack Canvas based templates to help our customers quickly create content based on their corporate information, and captured Huddles' meeting notes and action items, and that was just the beginning,' she explains. 'The capabilities of LLMs gave us the opportunity to solve real-world customer challenges in a pleasant and insightful way, while maintaining the experience of the Slack brand.' Calling this kind of thing the 'table stakes' of the new corporate world, Jones walks us through a lot of the way stations on the path to what she calls 'co-intelligence.' That includes workflow automation, agentic AI, multi-agent systems, and new interfaces. Our AI Brethren Here's one way that Jones characterizes managing an AI: 'Considering autonomous agents as truly 'digital workers' can be a helpful framing for questions we already think of today with 'human workers' like: how does the employer track the quality of the work done? What systems does the digital worker have access to? If the company is audited, how do we track what steps and actions were taken by the digital worker? If the digital worker's actions turn malicious, how do we terminate the agent?' As for the extent of agent autonomy, Jones suggests that fully autonomous agents will be able to handle a complex or 'scoped' job on their own, conceding, though, that 'even an autonomous agent, like a human, needs a job scope and definition - or a set of instructions - on the job at hand.' This new world is one we will have to reckon with soon. Four Principles of Leadership Jones finished with a set of ideas for those who are considering these kinds of deployments. 1. Be hands-on: as a leader, stay close to what's happening 2. This one goes back to prior points: working with vendors and partners is a plus 3. Build an AI-first culture with AI-native projects 4. Find the value for your company I found this to be pretty useful for someone who is contemplating a big move in the age of AI. Some of the best ideas for leadership can be gleaned from TED talks, conferences, and these kinds of personal papers on experience with the industry.
Fast Company
25-06-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Bumble shares soar after dating app announces major job cuts
Bumble is cutting a third of its workforce, the latest sign that all is not well in the business of online dating. The company informed its staff of the layoffs in a letter from founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd on Wednesday, describing the company and the dating industry as reaching an 'inflection point.' 'In recent months, we've been rebuilding – returning to what makes us trusted, unique, and deeply human,' Wolfe Herd wrote. 'But intentional rebuilding requires hard decisions.' Bumble's workforce reduction will affect 240 positions, reducing the company's headcount by 30%. In an SEC filing, Bumble said that it expects the layoffs to save $40 million annually, cash that it plans to reinvest into product and technology development. The company expects to pay between $13 to $18 million in costs related to the layoffs in the third and fourth quarters of the year. On Wednesday, Bumble's shares rose more than 20% on news of the layoffs and were trading around $6.26 at the time of writing. 'The reality is, we need to take decisive action to restructure to build a company that's resilient, intentional, and ready for the next decade,' Wolfe Herd wrote. 'We've reset our strategy, and are going back to a start-up mentality – rooted in an ownership mindset and team structures designed for faster, more meaningful execution.' Wolfe Herd left her role as Bumble's CEO at the beginning of 2024, with former Slack CEO Lidiane Jones stepping in to lead the company. In March of this year, Jones resigned for personal reasons and Wolfe Herd again took the helm of the company she founded in 2014 after co-founding Tinder – now Bumble's main rival. Dating app decline Bumble, which has historically put women in the driver's seat of the online dating experience, has struggled to find its footing in a post-pandemic online dating world where many former users feel burned out by the churn of dating apps. The company isn't alone in that struggle – dating giant Match Group announced its own major layoffs last month – but it has resorted to altering its own DNA to adapt to a changing landscape for users looking for love. Last year, Bumble announced that men on its app would be allowed to message women first, a huge change for a dating system that's prided itself on letting women make the initial move. The feature, called Opening Moves, let women set prompts on their profiles that men could choose to respond to. The gamble doesn't appear to have made a lasting impact on Bumble's bottom line, and the company's stock continued to slide into 2025. Bumble first went public in 2021 with its buzzy stock debuting at more than $70 a share – a distant memory from the stock's recent single digit values. Bumble's woes are shared by Match Group, its biggest rival, which owns Tinder, OkCupid, Hinge and a deep roster of other niche and general interest dating apps. The two competitors, which together account for nearly all of the online dating market share, lost more than $40 billion combined between 2021 and 2024. Online dating is a strange business in some ways. While hookup apps like Grindr might beg to differ, a successful dating app interaction could result in both users leaving the app for a long stretch, or even forever. That intrinsic paradox is a tricky business to begin with, but the more dire existential threat might be that neither Match Group nor Bumble can seem to crack the code of Gen Z's dating habits. So far, that emerging cohort of eligible singles isn't very interested in paying for a subscription on a dating app and, worse yet, might be looking for love IRL, of all places.
Hindustan Times
25-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Bumble to lay off 30% global workforce, likely to save $40 million in annual cost savings
Bumble Inc. said it's cutting almost one-third of its staff, months after founder Whitney Wolfe Herd returned as chief executive officer to overhaul the struggling dating app. Shares of Bumble jumped 23% after markets opened in New York.(Reuters) The Austin-based company will eliminate around 240 roles globally, or about 30% of its workforce, it said in an exchange filing Wednesday. It expects to achieve as much as $40 million in annual cost savings from the reductions, and plans to 'reinvest the substantial majority' of those savings in 'strategic initiatives including product and technology development.' Shares of Bumble jumped 23% after markets opened in New York. Bumble and rival Match Group Inc., which owns Tinder and Hinge, have been struggling to adapt to a generational shift in how younger users date. Both companies have overhauled their executive teams this year in the hopes of returning to revenue growth. Match cut 13% of staff recently to streamline the company's organizational structure and reduce costs. The size of Wednesday's layoffs matched the last round Bumble conducted in 2024, weeks after the prior CEO, Lidiane Jones, assumed the role and shook up the C-suite ranks. Since returning to the company in March, Wolfe Herd has vowed to double down on removing bad actors from the platform to help users find higher-quality matches. She also said the brand will unveil a 'big update' to its Bumble BFF app for friendships, among other product releases planned this summer. The company said in the filing it expects to incur about $13 million to $18 million of charges primarily related to severance packages, mainly in the third and fourth quarter. On Wednesday, the company also boosted its second-quarter revenue guidance range to between $244 million and $249 million, up from a prior forecast of $235 million to $243 million. It also raised its outlook for adjusted earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization to a range of $88 million to $93 million. The company has previously forecast $79 million to $84 million.
Mint
25-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Bumble Announces 30% Job Cuts as It Raises Quarterly Outlook
(Bloomberg) -- Bumble Inc. said it's cutting almost one-third of its staff, months after founder Whitney Wolfe Herd returned as chief executive officer to overhaul the struggling dating app. The Austin-based company will eliminate around 240 roles globally, or about 30% of its workforce, it said in an exchange filing Wednesday. It expects to achieve as much as $40 million in annual cost savings from the reductions, and plans to 'reinvest the substantial majority' of those savings in 'strategic initiatives including product and technology development.' Shares of Bumble jumped 23% after markets opened in New York. Bumble and rival Match Group Inc., which owns Tinder and Hinge, have been struggling to adapt to a generational shift in how younger users date. Both companies have overhauled their executive teams this year in the hopes of returning to revenue growth. Match cut 13% of staff recently to streamline the company's organizational structure and reduce costs. The size of Wednesday's layoffs matched the last round Bumble conducted in 2024, weeks after the prior CEO, Lidiane Jones, assumed the role and shook up the C-suite ranks. Since returning to the company in March, Wolfe Herd has vowed to double down on removing bad actors from the platform to help users find higher-quality matches. She also said the brand will unveil a 'big update' to its Bumble BFF app for friendships, among other product releases planned this summer. The company said in the filing it expects to incur about $13 million to $18 million of charges primarily related to severance packages, mainly in the third and fourth quarter. On Wednesday, the company also boosted its second-quarter revenue guidance range to between $244 million and $249 million, up from a prior forecast of $235 million to $243 million. It also raised its outlook for adjusted earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization to a range of $88 million to $93 million. The company has previously forecast $79 million to $84 million. More stories like this are available on
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Former Slack CEO Lidiane Jones Joins Silversmith Capital Partners as Senior Advisor
BOSTON, May 19, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Silversmith Capital Partners, a growth equity firm focused on supporting the best entrepreneurs in technology and healthcare, today announced that Lidiane Jones, an accomplished technology executive and former CEO of Slack and Bumble, has joined the firm as a Senior Advisor. Lidiane brings more than two decades of deep leadership, technical and product experience, having held senior roles at some of the world's most innovative technology companies. With a proven track record of delivering impactful products across enterprise scalability, machine learning, and consumer productivity, Lidiane will bring valuable industry insight, strategic guidance, and investment perspective to Silversmith and its portfolio companies. "Having known Lidiane for many years, I've long admired her technical expertise, product intuition, and ability to lead at scale," said Jim Quagliaroli, Managing Partner at Silversmith Capital Partners. "From her early days as a software engineer at Microsoft to leading category-defining companies like Slack and Bumble, Lidiane has consistently demonstrated world-class leadership. We're thrilled to welcome her to Silversmith as a Senior Advisor and look forward to the impact she will have across the firm and our portfolio." A seasoned CEO, Lidiane most recently served as CEO of Bumble. Prior to that, she was appointed CEO of Slack following its acquisition by Salesforce, transitioning from her executive leadership role within Salesforce to guide Slack's integration and future direction. During her tenure, she also led efforts to bring generative AI into workplace collaboration. Before taking the helm at Slack, Lidiane held several senior positions at Salesforce, including Executive Vice President and General Manager of Commerce Cloud, Experience Cloud, and Marketing Cloud, where she played a key role in driving product innovation and customer engagement. Earlier in her career, she spent four years at Sonos leading software product experiences, and 13 years at Microsoft, where she began as a software engineer on Excel and rose to lead major initiatives across Office, Azure Machine Learning, and enterprise management and oversaw several of the company's post-acquisition integration efforts. "It's an exciting time to be working with growth-stage companies as they lead, scale and innovate," said Lidiane Jones. "I'm honored to join Silversmith as a Senior Advisor and look forward to supporting entrepreneurs who are building the next generation of market-leading technology businesses." About Silversmith Capital Partners Founded in 2015, Silversmith Capital Partners is a Boston-based growth equity firm with $3.3 billion of capital under management. Silversmith's mission is to partner with and support the best entrepreneurs in growing, profitable technology and healthcare companies. Representative investments include ActiveCampaign, Appfire, Apryse, DistroKid, Iodine Software, LifeStance Health, Onbe, and Webflow. For more information, including a full list of portfolio investments, visit or follow the firm on LinkedIn. View source version on Contacts Media Contact: Kate CastleSilversmith Capital Partnerskate@ Sign in to access your portfolio
