Why this story can be told

Almost everyone at Evernote was laid off, and severance came with a non-disparagement clause. The author quit on his own terms, so he is one of the few free to describe the takeover.

“Severance packages come with a non-disparagement clause.”

Not a hit piece

The writer managed Evernote's notification system, which pushed 110M messages in 2022. His verdict on the new owners: a business playbook that was equal parts brilliant and ruthless.

“What I saw was a business playbook that was equal parts brilliant and ruthless.”

Two hundred million raised

Founded in 2004, pivoted by Phil Libin in 2007, then funded past $200M by DoCoMo, Sequoia and others chasing the business market. Eleven million users by 2011.

The long decline

Libin out in 2015 with 18% of staff cut and three offices closed. In 2018 the CTO, CFO, CPO and HR head all left, plus another 15% cut. Then the sale.

Sold, with no promises

In November 2022 CEO Ian Small told an all-hands that Bending Spoons had been chosen to carry the torch. Their CEO Luca Ferrari was charismatic and careful to promise employees nothing.

“was very careful not to promise anything to existing employees”

A party nobody understood

The deal closed in January 2023 and an Italian delegation threw a welcome party in Redwood City. With no commitment to keep anyone employed, staff found the celebration strange.

“the event seemed out of place”

Buy apps, do not build them

Four Italian engineers met at a Danish university. Their startup Evertale failed, so they bought an iPhone keyboard app for about $10,000 instead, fixed it, and bought the next one.

“arrogant to think we knew what the market would want”

The pattern, repeated

Splice from GoPro in 2018, Remini in 2021, then $340M raised in 2022 with Ryan Reynolds among the backers. Buy loyal users, cut costs, raise prices, repeat.

“buy apps with loyal users, cut costs, raise prices”

Where it ended up

After Evernote came Meetup, WeTransfer, Vimeo, AOL, Eventbrite and Airtable. The company IPO'd on Nasdaq in July 2026 at $18.4 billion, on 2025 revenue of $1.31 billion.

Decided behind glass

The delegation took the biggest conference room, the one with floor-to-ceiling glass walls. For weeks staff watched them plan and joke while their fates were settled in plain view.

“our fates were being decided live, in front of our own eyes”

Sign the document

Before any layoffs, everyone was asked to sign a statement that work-life balance was their own responsibility, with no special accommodations. Refusers got a voluntary exit package.

“you are responsible for your own work-life balance”

Half a team walks

The author told his six developers plainly that their long-term odds were poor. Three took the three months' salary, COBRA and laptop, and landed elsewhere fast.

Every dollar questioned

Zoom gone overnight for Google Meet. The interview platform, the marketing platform and the push vendor all cut. The office closed. Evernote turned profitable in months, before any revenue moves.

“They stopped the bleeding and made Evernote profitable in a span of a few months”

Prices nearly doubled

Personal went from about $69.99 a year to $129.99. The bet: years of notes and workflows make migration painful, so locked-in users absorb the hike instead of leaving.

“Find locked-in users, raise prices.”

February, 129 gone

Layoffs hit product design, engineering, HR, sales and support. Marketing was erased entirely. Veterans who had survived 2015 and 2018 casually debated lunch plans that day.

“a group of managers who'd been there for many years were casually discussing what to have for lunch”

The math never worked

Investors who put in over $200M at a unicorn valuation needed a billion-dollar exit. No cost-cutting turns a $100M ARR notes app into that. They took the tax write-off.

“the best thing an investor can get is a tax write-off. They got one.”

The switch flips

One evening a remark from the embedded Bending Spoons lead landed wrong. He called two contacts he had saved for last, and started a new job as an Engineering Manager in May 2023.

“it was time to stop "slowly" looking and go all-in”

The product lived, the company did not

By July 5, 2023 everyone in the US and Chile was gone and the work moved to Italy. Evernote still ships features from Milan, at roughly double the 2022 price.

“The product survived. The company that built it didn't.”