This $6.6 Billion AI CEO Has a Surprising Offer for Laid-Off Tech Workers

Big Tech’s loss is a startup’s gain. 

Lovable, a $6.6 billion AI startup, is betting that Big Tech’s layoffs can be its breakthrough. The company wants to turn laid-off employees from Meta, Microsoft and Google into its next key hires. 

In a LinkedIn post earlier this week, Lovable cofounder and CEO Anton Osika told laid-off workers that “the era of American big tech as the safe, prestigious choice is over.” Osika wanted disillusioned tech workers to rethink where “safe” really is. 

“If you are on the job market this month or tired of wondering if you are next, consider Lovable,” Osika wrote in the post. “We’re looking for people who want to do the best work of their career in an extremely fast-paced environment.”

Osika’s recruiting pitch arrives as Silicon Valley faces waves of job cuts while its biggest players ramp up spending on AI projects and infrastructure. Over the past several years, companies like Meta, Amazon, Google and Microsoft have collectively shed tens of thousands of jobs, even as they commit hundreds of billions of dollars to AI-related expenditures and product development. 

Meanwhile, Lovable plans to add hundreds of people to its global workforce this year, per CNBC. It is hiring in most of its departments, including sales, product and engineering. The company is wagering that turmoil inside tech giants will push top-tier talent to consider faster-moving startups instead. 

Lovable is making pay raises a company policy

Earlier this month, Lovable’s head of growth, Elena Verna, promised every worker a 10% salary increase on their annual work anniversaries. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual raise percentage for U.S. employees is 3.6%, placing Lovable’s raises well above the norm. 

“Because we don’t take retention for granted,” Verna explained in a LinkedIn post. “It’s treated as compounding value that is actively recognized and rewarded. You don’t have to re-prove your worth every cycle.”

A Lovable spokesperson told Entrepreneur that the 10% figure represents the standard equity grant for employees who are meeting expectations, and that staff who significantly outperform their goals can earn more.

In the U.S., loyalty rarely pays off in the form of bigger raises; workers who stay at their jobs typically see smaller pay increases than job-hoppers. According to data from payroll processor ADP, from April 2025 to April 2026, people who stayed in their roles saw pay rise about 4.4%, while those who switched jobs saw pay jump around 6.6%. 

Lovable is a “vibe coding” startup that lets users generate software using plain English prompts instead of traditional programming. Since debuting its product in late 2024, the company has grown rapidly, closing a $330 million Series B round in December at a $6.6 billion valuation and, by March, reporting more than $400 million in annual recurring revenue.

Osika told Business Insider last year that AI removes the need for deep technical skills and years of training. People can now turn ideas into real products by prompting AI to code for them, removing the need for a formal computer science education. 

“Curiosity, adaptability and shipping high-quality products quickly can matter more than credentials,” Osika told the outlet.