Ryan Breslow, chief executive of US payment company Bolt, has eliminated the firm's entire HR department, claiming it was "creating problems that didn't exist". Breslow, who founded Bolt in 2014 and returned as CEO last March, said the move combats a "sense of entitlement" across the company. Bolt dismissed 30% of staff last month as it attempts a turnaround after its valuation plummeted 97% from $11 billion in 2022 to around $300 million. Breslow previously rebranded HR to "people ops", saying traditional HR had the "wrong energy, format, and approach". The decision reflects growing criticism of HR departments for slowing businesses and creating unnecessary bureaucracy. The HR industry in Britain employs over 500,000 people, having grown 83% since 2011.

Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow defended eliminating the company's entire HR team, claiming they "created problems that didn't exist" and that those issues vanished after their departure. Speaking at Fortune's Workforce Innovation Summit, he called the move necessary to revive the struggling fintech company. Bolt's valuation plummeted from $11 billion in 2022 to roughly $300 million by 2024, a 97% decline. Breslow, who returned as CEO in 2025, implemented sweeping cuts affecting 30% of staff and replaced most leadership. He said employees had developed a sense of entitlement during boom years, with 99% unable to adapt to leaner operations. Bolt now operates with approximately 100 employees—a quarter of its previous size—and has replaced HR with a smaller people operations team. Breslow eliminated perks like four-day workweeks and unlimited leave.

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn't exist: 'Those problems disappeared when I let them go' Preston Fore "We got rid of our HR team." For most executives, that's a sentence likely to provoke intense anxiety. But for Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow, it was unavoidable. Speaking at Fortune's Workforce Innovation Summit on Tuesday, the 31-year-old defended sweeping workforce cuts at Bolt - including a recent layoff affecting roughly 30% of employees - as well as his decision to eliminate the company's HR team. "We had an HR team, and that HR team was creating problems that didn't exist," Breslow told Fortune editorial director Kristin Stoller. "Those problems disappeared when I let them go." The move may sound drastic, but Breslow said it was a necessary step to resurrect the struggling fintech company he first cofounded in 2014 in his Stanford dorm room. After soaring to an $11 billion valuation in 2022, employing thousands of workers, Bolt's fortunes reversed sharply. Breslow stepped down as CEO the same year, and by 2024, the company's valuation had reportedly fallen to roughly $300 million - a decline of nearly 97% - while multiple rounds of layoffs dramatically reduced its headcount. Breslow attributed the downturn to poor decision-making and overspending. Breslow returned as CEO in 2025, operating in what he calls "wartime." "We're back in startup mode again, and those HR professionals have really important insights when you're in a peacetime and when you're at a larger company," he said, adding that Bolt has since brought on a smaller people operations team to oversee required training and serve as a resource for employees. While Breslow didn't get into the specifics of the exact differences, he wrote on LinkedIn last year that, "HR is the wrong energy, format, and approach. People ops empowers managers, streamlines decision making, and keeps the company moving at lightning speed." "We need a group of people who are very oriented around getting things done, and there is just a culture of not getting things done and complaining a lot," he added at the Fortune conference. In recent months, Bolt has been plagued by rumors that it was taking back employees' paychecks and that some contractors went unpaid. In his conversation with Fortune on Tuesday, Breslow denied that Bolt withheld funds from the staff. Bolt employees developed a sense of 'entitlement' and weren't working hard - so he let most of them go. Beyond HR, Breslow said Bolt had fallen into a broader productivity slump, with employees growing too comfortable during the company's boom years. "There's a sense of entitlement that had festered across the company, and people who felt empowered, felt entitled - but weren't actually working hard. And this is the number one thing that I had to battle," Breslo said. "Ultimately, most of those people just had to be let go."