60 comments

  • Kris KimKris Kim, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

    Oh by reading the title of this thread, I first thought Teehan & Lax finally made an account in Facebook :)

    59 points
  • ChrisArchitec t, over 8 years ago

    seems like a big hurt for Toronto. I mean, one of our biggest local design/dev successes and at their peak they jump ship?/disappear to SF? ouch.

    44 points
    • Julian CJulian C, over 8 years ago

      This.

      2 points
    • Jonathan SuhJonathan Suh, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

      I don't think it's fair to use the words "jump ship" and "disappear." We have no idea what was involved in making this decision, and to say it was as shallow as jumping ship is unfair. I doubt it was an easy decision—I'd like to think there was a lot of pain, doubt, heartache involved.

      If we respected T+L for the kind of agency, culture, and work they've built for the past 12 years, we can also give them the benefit of the doubt that, although a tough decision, they didn't do it so flippantly as disappearing.

      17 points
      • Cameron MollCameron Moll, over 8 years ago

        Well said, Jonathan. How often the internet forgets there are two sides to every story.

        And being a business owner myself, weighing "what's best for me personally" against "what's best for the business" doesn't always reconcile nicely and neatly, regrettably.

        15 points
      • Jonathan ShariatJonathan Shariat, over 8 years ago

        Ditto. I might be more inclined to think there was ill will if I hadn't had so many pleasant interactions, work, and writing from them over the years.

        1 point
      • Marcus CampbellMarcus Campbell, over 8 years ago

        When the 3 people at the top get new jobs and about 40 others beneath them lose theirs, I think it's pretty fair to call it jumping ship.

        2 points
        • Jonathan ShariatJonathan Shariat, over 8 years ago

          Theres other aspects to this:Did the 40 get good severance packages? Are they providing assistance with finding new positions? Did the rest of the company have an idea it might be coming?

          Theres still a lot of questions.

          3 points
    • Wade MeredithWade Meredith, over 8 years ago

      This will cut both ways. Yes, the individual jobs are a loss, but Toronto is now thrust into the spotlight (briefly) as a hotbed for talent.

      1 point
      • Adam Brace, over 8 years ago

        Toronto has been in the spotlight for a long time as a hotbed for talent. We have a great tech/design community here

        2 points
  • Frank Hulley-JonesFrank Hulley-Jones, over 8 years ago

    I'll just leave this here...

    Tweet

    36 points
  • Robbert EsserRobbert Esser, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

    Teehan and Lax right now:

    Image alt

    31 points
  • Ian ClarkeIan Clarke, over 8 years ago

    Lots of amazing talent now available for hire in Toronto.

    28 points
  • Daniel FoscoDaniel Fosco, over 8 years ago

    I think the title and overall tone of the piece are confusing people, making it seem they are a bit dishonest even. Because the thing is, no matter what Geoff and Jon think, they are not Teehan+Lax.

    Sure, they own the name and can do and say whatever they want with it. I also understand the image of the company was pretty much shaped around the two, hence the name.

    However, at 40 employees, a company is much more than its two founders, and to claim that Teehan+Lax is joining Facebook is dismissive of all the talented employees that are being left behind.

    This whole thing was terribly communicated, and it focused exactly 0% on the resposibilities they'll assume with their employees.

    No wonder people are saying they're jumping ship — that's exactly what they're communicating in a celebratory post that says we we we we we while disregarding most of their employees.

    21 points
  • Alex MacDonellAlex MacDonell, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

    For those newly unemployed, Shopify is hiring in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.

    shopify.com/careers

    21 points
  • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, over 8 years ago

    so like, most of the company's unemployed now? sucks.

    19 points
  • Trevor HenryTrevor Henry, over 8 years ago

    Footnote at the bottom of the page:

    *Although, we were ultimately not acquired by Facebook, this framework helped us, and key members of our company, make the decision to join Facebook.

    15 points
  • Lance Gutin, over 8 years ago

    [Insert speculation here]

    11 points
  • Art VandelayArt Vandelay, over 8 years ago

    Would be cool to see the left overs make their own agency in place of Teehan.

    7 points
  • Varun VachharVarun Vachhar, over 8 years ago

    Great for them. Sucks for the Toronto tech/design community.

    6 points
    • Adam Brace, over 8 years ago

      Its sad to see such a cool company go away but the Toronto tech/design community will be just fine. Lots of other awesome agencies/start-ups/communities here.

      3 points
  • ポール ウェッブポール ウェッブ, over 8 years ago

    What I didn't like about their post is that they were having hushed conversations about what to do, without consulting the rest of the team. And apparently, only the partners were offered jobs. 40 people are now unemployed (though, I doubt it would be difficult for them to find work).

    5 points
    • Kyle ConradKyle Conrad, over 8 years ago

      There is literally no part of this post that indicates it was "hushed discussions" or hidden from the rest of the team.

      2 points
      • Gavin TGavin T, over 8 years ago

        "We quietly began to put the word out that we were open to having conversations about alternative futures for Teehan+Lax"

        ........ further down the post ........

        "We also needed to ask these questions on behalf of our co-workers without them being involved in the process. This lead us to run through endless scenarios trying to balance the needs of those who would join us at Facebook and those who would not."

        8 points
        • Kyle ConradKyle Conrad, over 8 years ago

          Sorry, yeah. I mean that makes sense, I guess I was reading the earlier comment as if this was a surprise to their entire team out of nowhere with the announcement, I messed up my phrasing on that. And probably my understanding of the comment to begin with.

          1 point
          • Gavin TGavin T, over 8 years ago

            S'all good!

            I mean whether or not many details were given in the post, the secrecy does makes sense - I'm not sure many other businesses would go about this any differently. I just feel really badly for their team.

            2 points
            • Kyle ConradKyle Conrad, over 8 years ago

              Based on the hundreds if not thousands of job offers being thrown at them right now everywhere they (and I) look, I don't haha.

              0 points
              • pjotr .pjotr ., over 8 years ago

                Switching jobs sucks. Yeah most of them will probably get a job in a relatively short amount of time. That still doesn't mean that this all sucks for them. There's nothing good that can come of this for employees.

                1 point
                • Kyle ConradKyle Conrad, over 8 years ago

                  "There's nothing good that can come of this for employees."

                  Except maybe a better job or new opportunity or the chance to explore something else?

                  Getting laid off sucks. I got laid off and spent 5 months applying to over 500 jobs before I finally managed to find one via a friend of a friend. It certainly doesn't appear to be the case here, as there are hundreds of jobs being targeted at the T+L folks getting laid off.

                  Switching jobs doesn't always suck. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it's awesome. Being laid off was one of the best things that's happened in my life and maybe it'll be the same for some of them.

                  3 points
    • Wade MeredithWade Meredith, over 8 years ago (edited over 8 years ago )

      That's just business. You can't expect them to have open discussions about something like this.

      3 points
  • Lukas DryjaLukas Dryja, over 8 years ago

    Congratulations to T&L for the 12 years of success.

    Format (Toronto) is also hiring UI/Interactive Designers http://format.com/jobs/interface-design as well as developers http://format.com/jobs/.

    5 points
  • Hawke BassignaniHawke Bassignani, over 8 years ago

    Next up: Hoefler & Co. gets acquired by Adobe because Photoshop has a text tool that needs work.

    4 points
  • Paul ScrivensPaul Scrivens, over 8 years ago

    Prompted me to write this:

    http://scrivs.co/write-now-sell/

    4 points
  • brad wrage, over 8 years ago

    Wonder if this is an indicator for design firms not doing well in general

    3 points
  • Jordan KoscheiJordan Koschei, over 8 years ago

    This is unexpected.

    3 points
  • Binoy Xavier Joy, over 8 years ago

    This para pretty much sums it up for us "The opportunity to work on interesting and meaningful problems at such scale is very compelling. This may seem like a contradiction given our struggles with trying to scale Teehan+Lax. But scaling a services business and working on design problems and teams at scale are very different challenges. The former wasn’t interesting to us but the latter is very appealing."

    0 points
  • Jeremy RouxJeremy Roux, over 8 years ago

    Had I enough money, I'd hire all past employees, create a new agency and call it T+L version 2.

    0 points
  • Shaun TollertonShaun Tollerton, over 8 years ago

    But who's gonna release future GUI Templates now?!

    0 points
  • Nick Dominguez, over 8 years ago

    Gobble. Gobble.

    0 points
  • Kyle ConradKyle Conrad, over 8 years ago

    Huge.

    0 points
  • César MigueláñezCésar Migueláñez, over 8 years ago

    what.

    0 points