VSCO just cut 24 employees as the once-popular photo editing app grapples with a shrinking consumer base. CEO Eric Wittman's internal memo, obtained by TechCrunch, reveals the company's consumer business declined more than expected while new growth initiatives failed to deliver. The layoffs signal VSCO's strategic pivot from mainstream social photo editing toward professional photography tools and AI-powered features.
The photo editing world just got smaller. VSCO, the app that once defined Instagram's aesthetic with its dreamy filters, confirmed it's cutting 24 jobs as it wrestles with a consumer business that's bleeding users faster than expected.
CEO Eric Wittman's internal memo, seen by TechCrunch, doesn't sugarcoat the situation. The company's consumer-facing initiatives simply aren't working, and some of those big growth bets they placed? They're not paying off. It's a stark admission for an app that helped birth the filtered selfie era.
But here's where it gets interesting - Wittman claims VSCO still has more U.S. device installations than Reddit. That's either impressive staying power or creative accounting, depending on how you count active versus dormant installs. The company has been EBITDA-positive for three of the past four years, so they're not exactly broke.
The cuts hit marketing, tech, and program management teams - the exact departments you'd expect when a company is rethinking its entire go-to-market strategy. "Every person leaving has contributed meaningfully to VSCO and our mission," Wittman said in a statement, but the restructuring message is clear: they're betting everything on professional photographers.
This pivot makes sense when you look at the competition. Canva is eating everyone's lunch in consumer design tools, while Google Photos keeps getting smarter with AI magic. Adobe Lightroom dominates the pro space but leaves room for a more accessible alternative. VSCO seems to think that's their opening.
"To succeed over the next 5 years, we need to operate as an AI-native company," Wittman wrote in the memo. That means a completely revamped editor built around AI, plus an AI assistant that can help photographers complete tasks across VSCO's entire toolkit. They're also redesigning their Photo Galleries feature - essentially a portfolio showcase that lets photographers curate and display their work.
