Underbaked: Cake Group’s recipe for success turns bittersweet

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Hi readers,

Being cut from a company stinks. The people affected are often angry and anxious about the future, and they would like nothing less than to talk to some nosy journalist about what happened. I know this firsthand, from both sides of the conversation.

So when Tech in Asia heard that up to 60 people had been cut from Bake, the retail arm of crypto investment firm Cake Group, I approached the company first. But management really didn’t want to talk about it, which meant I had to try to reach out to former employees.

Usually, when I send out emails asking people why they were let go, I get ignored. Sometimes people don’t want to talk out of sheer embarrassment, but there is a more practical reason. Nothing can kill a future employee’s prospects like having a reputation as a tattletale or a whistleblower.

So I was amazed when four ex-Bake employees got back to me and said: “Sure, I can talk.” All of them, however, asked that we not use their names.

While anonymous sources are not great, sometimes they’re the only way to discover what happened. So we talked to the former staff, and they had quite a bit to say. You can read about it here: Cake Group lets go staff amid revenue decline, denies cost-cut.

— Scott Shuey, journalist at Tech in Asia

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