210. 9 Thoughts About Matterport Layoffs of 170 Employees (30% of Company) | #mttr

Commentary and analysis by

Dan Smigrod

Founder and Managing Editor

We Get Around Network Forum and WGAN-TV Podcast

 

Here are nine thoughts on the Matterport layoffs announced on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 – around 170 employees … 30 percent of the company – by the end of 2023.

 

1. Matterport Service Providers – Matterport Service Providers (MSPs) are unlikely to notice a difference, including Matterport Support requests.
2. Matterport Partners – Matterport Partners are unlikely to notice a difference (except fewer Matterport Partners recruited as a result of fewer Matterport Partner business development sales people.) Unfortunately, Matterport is likely focused on “How do we generate revenue from Matterport Partners?” rather than “How do we create value for the Matterport ecosystem to raise all boats?”
3. Matterport Employees – Remaining Matterport employees are likely wondering why management took so long to reduce or eliminate redundancies created by the acquisition of VHT Studios [though VHT Studios employees are likely those that stay (since they have subject matter expertise in residential real estate]; and by international expansion in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with separate fiefdoms. (My heart goes out to those let go. If you are one of those affected, keep in mind that when one door closes, other doors open and as a Matterport former employee, you will likely end up with a position that takes advantage of your expertise and you will likely be paid more.) Letting go 30 percent of its workforce may make Matterport recruiting challenging going forward.
4. Matterport Competitors – Matterport competitors for residential real estate will continue to make inroads where “good enough” is good enough. For clarification, as I have previously discussed, Matterport’s sweet spot is spatial data at scale for enterprise. For many real estate agents, spatial data may not matter: they just want a 360 virtual tour to make that point with potential listing clients. Three-Sixty virtual tours can often be shot faster than a Matterport digital twin and thus cost less from a MSP. In the AEC space, Matterport also faces competition: either capture that can be done 20 times faster such as “walking” a construction site weekly with a 360 camera (using photogrammetry or videogrammetry to construct a 3D model); or the Level of Detail (LOD) needed exceeds what the Matterport Pro3 Camera or Leica BLK360 scanner are capable of providing.
5. Matterport Technology – About Matterport technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) meets spatial data continues to be THE story for Matterport. Matterport AI recent “coming soon” announcements – such as Matterport Genesis announced on June 14, 2023 and Property Intelligence (anything with counting assets) announced on April 7, 2023 and Intelligent Digital Twins – are so significant, they are reasons why enterprises considering digital twin options should seriously consider Matterport (for what is coming, rather than what is).
6. Matterport Investors – For Matterport investors, while Matterport’s stock received an initial “sucker rally” bump when it announced the layoffs on Tuesday, July 11, 2023,  I have concern about the Matterport executive team selling stock, as indicated by recent SEC filings. More than 50 percent of Matterport stockholders are individual investors according to Simply Wall Street in a post today (Monday, July 17, 2023).
7. Matterport Headwind – I have always thought – and written about – Matterport trying to do too much at one time. It’s super-hard to innovate when you are expanding in multiple verticals, multiple countries, multiple SDK/Reseller Partners, multiple languages and adding government sales channels.  Each initiative requires tech sources. Setting priorities can be challenging. In 2019, Jotform Founder and CEO Aytekin Tank succinctly summarized this as, “When a company tries to do too much too soon, they spread themselves too thin, muddling their purpose and overextending resources. They end up with a handful of okay products or features instead of one done really well.” Matterport competitors are often focused on one vertical such as residential real estate or construction of commercial spaces. As a result, Matterport competitors are often innovating at a much faster pace. Just two examples are: 1) Matterport floor plan view that should be the Matterport schematic floor plan; and 2) a mini-map view should show where the viewer is within the model. (These should be core features of Matterport: not relying on third-party platforms to offer these solutions.)
8. Matterport Competes with Its Customers – Matterport competes with its customers - such as Matterport Service Providers with its Capture Services On Demand business and VHT Studios and with its Matterport Partner distributors (by selling direct and via Amazon). It’s unlikely the layoffs will affect Matterport continuing to compete with its customers. (Matterport is also likely using its customers’ models to train its AI, which may give some potential clients angst.)
9. Matterport Capture Gaps – While Matterport added capture solutions at the high-end (Matterport Pro3 Camera) and low-end (Matterport AXIS smartphone rotator), Matterport is missing capture solutions, including: 1) capture while walking a space at a fast pace (high and low end capture) and 2) autonomous drone capture of indoor spaces. When Matterport announced the layoffs, it also announced its priority of reaching profitability in 2024 which is likely to compete with hardware R&D. Today (Monday, July 17, 2023), Matterport has just five job openings: none involving R&D or hardware. 

For additional commentary on Matterport layoffs, see the following videos posted to the We Get Around Network Forum:

 

1. Matterport Layoffs do they MTTR? Commentary from Hopscotch Interactive CEO and Chief Media Officer Emily Olman

2.  BIG Changes Affecting Real Estate Photography, July 2023 Commentary by Real Estate Photography Books and Courses Author Nathan Cool

Disclosure: I own 100+ shares of Matterport stock (MTTR).

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