Firing the entire HR team helped us eliminate ‘unnecessary problems’ : Bolt Ryan Breslow
Bolt now operates with about 100 employees, mostly junior staff, who Breslow claims are working harder and responding faster to customer needs. He said customers have reported receiving the strongest level of attention in years. The company currently markets itself as a “One SuperApp to rule them all,” offering money transfers, rewards programmes, and cryptocurrency trading.
Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow has defended his decision to eliminate the company’s entire HR department and cut large parts of its workforce, saying the move was necessary to reverse Bolt’s decline after its valuation collapsed from $11 billion to around $300 million. Speaking at Fortune’s Workforce Innovation Summit, Breslow said removing the HR team helped eliminate “problems that didn’t exist” and argued that traditional HR structures were not suited to startups in recovery mode. He explained that the company has since replaced HR with a smaller people operations team focused on training and employee support, while empowering managers to make faster decisions.
Founded in 2014, Bolt rose rapidly during the fintech boom and reached a valuation of $11 billion in 2022, employing thousands of workers. But after Breslow stepped down as CEO that year, the company’s fortunes reversed sharply, with its valuation falling by nearly 97% by 2024. Multiple rounds of layoffs followed, and Breslow returned as CEO in 2025, describing the company’s current phase as “wartime.”
At the summit, Breslow criticised what he described as a culture of entitlement and complaining that had festered during Bolt’s years of rapid growth. He said many employees “weren’t actually working hard” and most failed to adapt to a leaner startup-style environment when given 60 days to adjust. Nearly the entire leadership team was replaced, and policies such as four-day workweeks and unlimited paid time off were scrapped. Breslow said the company needed to return to a gritty operating environment focused on survival and execution.
Bolt now operates with about 100 employees, mostly junior staff, who Breslow claims are working harder and responding faster to customer needs. He said customers have reported receiving the strongest level of attention in years. The company currently markets itself as a “One SuperApp to rule them all,” offering money transfers, rewards programmes, and cryptocurrency trading.
The restructuring has not been without controversy, with reports of unpaid contractors and withheld wages, which Breslow denied. His comments are likely to intensify debates around startup culture, the role of HR, and workplace expectations during financial stress. Across the tech sector, companies have been reducing headcount, flattening management structures, and reassessing employee benefits as venture capital funding slows and profitability pressures rise. Bolt’s aggressive restructuring highlights the divide between founders pushing for leaner, high-intensity cultures and employees seeking stronger workplace protections and flexibility. For Bolt, the changes represent one of Silicon Valley’s more radical attempts to rebuild a once highly valued startup after a steep collapse in market confidence. For further insights into the evolving workplace paradigm, visit
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