Optimizely lays off 40 employees — around 10% of its workforce

Optimizely, a startup known for its cloud-based A/B testing service for web and mobile apps, announced today that it’s laying off 40 people, which equates to 10 percent of its approximately 400 employees. The cuts are hitting all departments of the startup.

“While it is sad to see fellow Optinauts move on, it is the right thing to do for Optimizely in order for us to accelerate our journey to Controlling Our Own Destiny,” Optimizely cofounder and CEO Dan Siroker today told the startup’s employees in an email, which he shared in a blog post. The concept he refers to is shorthand for becoming profitable even without taking on more outside funding.

The startup has picked up more than $146 million in investments — including last year’s $58 million round — from top-tier venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz and Benchmark Capital.

This is just the most recent startup to lay off employees. Others that have recently reduced staff include Instacart, Mixpanel, and Zenefits. This week Sonos said it was laying off employees, as well.

Optimizely started in 2009 and is based in San Francisco. Competitors include Leanplum, Unbounce, and Visual Website Optimizer.

The startup has recently become more thrifty.

“Over the last six months we have collectively saved over $1.4M by more wisely investing our resources and we have also become more productive as measured by the revenue per Optinaut, which has grown 26 percent,” Siroker told employees in his email today.