I love the fact that people are prepared to be so open about this. Wish it would happen more. I don't know anything in detail about these people and their work, and so won't name names, but there are certainly people there that I recognise as quite impressive and I don't read this as desperation, just a neat response to an unexpected situation.
(edit: well, I wouldn't name names even if I did know more about their work. That would be uncouth)
The startup souffle might be deflating for sure, but I think the intent here is to say:
"We just had to layoff 40% of our staff yesterday. Through no fault of their own, our folks are now jobless. Can the community help?"