Substack is laying off 14% of its staff.

Substack, the e-newsletter start-up that has attracted outstanding writers together with George Saunders and Salman Rushdie, laid off 13 of its 90 staff on Wednesday, a part of an effort to preserve money amid an industrywide funding crunch for start-ups.

Substack’s chief government, Chris Finest, informed staff that the cuts affected workers members accountable for human sources and author assist capabilities, amongst others, in keeping with an individual conversant in the dialogue.

The cuts are a blow to an organization that has mentioned it was opening up a brand new period of media, during which individuals writing tales and making movies can be extra empowered, getting direct funds from readers for what they produce as an alternative of being paid by the publications or websites the place their work seems.

Mr. Finest informed staff on Wednesday that Substack had determined to chop jobs so it may fund its operations from its personal income with out elevating extra financing in a tough market, in keeping with the particular person with data of the dialogue. He mentioned he needed the corporate to hunt funding from a place of power if it determined to boost once more.

In his remarks to staff, Mr. Finest mentioned the corporate’s revenues had been growing. He famous that Substack nonetheless had cash within the financial institution and was persevering with to rent, albeit at a slower place, the particular person mentioned. Mr. Finest mentioned the cuts would permit the corporate to hone its give attention to product and engineering.

Months earlier, Substack scrapped a plan to boost extra funding after the marketplace for enterprise investments cooled. The corporate had discussions about elevating $75 million to $100 million to gas its development, and a few of the fund-raising discussions valued the corporate between $750 million and $1 billion.

Substack, which takes a lower of its writers’ subscription charges, generated about $9 million in income final 12 months, The New York Instances reported. Which means the funding discussions valued the corporate at a hefty premium relative to its monetary outcomes. Substack was mentioned to be valued at $650 million final 12 months after it closed a $65 million funding spherical.

Many media corporations are anticipating headwinds within the coming months because the broader economic system reveals indicators of pressure. Promoting income may dry up as corporations lower their advertising and marketing budgets to preserve money, and subscriber churn may improve if customers have fewer {dollars} to spend on information and leisure.