> Interest rates matter if a company financed expansion using debt.
I haven't personally seen companies taking out operating loans using adjustable rates. Have you? If rates are fixed, then a company's expansion plans may need to slow or stop, but that's not the same as the company contracting.
> Cost of capital matters if your plan is to grow through VC and you're not yet profitable.
Which does apply in Gitlab's case, I think, but does not apply in most of the cases we have been seeing of 6-8% layoffs made at profitable companies, many of which are concurrently doing expensive stock buybacks or issuing dividends.
If your business model depends entirely on 0% interest rates, then a 7% layoff is probably not enough, you have a dead company walking. But 6-8% is what's popular, so that's what we get.
This is clearly not true, although it is probably the most important thing.
Interest rates matter if a company financed expansion using debt. Cost of capital matters if your plan is to grow through VC and you're not yet profitable. Changes in these areas can change a company whose books add up to one that doesn't.