REBOUNDER FOUNDERS

EX-EMPLOYEES FROM GOOGLE, TWITTER, META, AND OTHER BIG TECH COMPANIES ARE BOUNCING BACK FROM MASS LAYOFFS BY BUILDING STARTUPS, EMBRACING RISK-AND SAVORING THEIR FREEDOM.

- ISSIE LAPOWSKY

AIphonzo Terrell had just returned home from Twitter's Los Angeles office in November 2022 when he found himself suddenly locked out of Slack-the first sign that he and about half of Twitter's 7,500 employees had been laid off. "It was like the scene in Avengers: Infinity War when Thanos goes like this," Terrell says, snapping his fingers, "and people start evaporating into dust."

Not that the layoffs came as any big surprise. For the better part of a year, Terrell and his colleagues had followed every twist of the will-he-won't-he drama surrounding billionaire Elon Musk's attempts to take over the company. They watched as Musk made a play for Twitter, tried to back out, and then had his hand forced by the board. They learned more than they ever wanted to know about the Delaware Court of Chancery and held their breath as Musk marched into Twitter's San Francisco headquarters just before Halloween with a goofy grin on his face and a bathroom sink in his arms, tweeting forebodingly, "Entering Twitter HQ-let that sink in!" The next day, Musk fired four of the company's top executives.

When Terrell realized that he, too, had gotten the ax, he was done with worrying. Instead, he says, "I got incredibly clear."

At 41 years old, Terrell, who goes by Phonz, still looks like the music producer and performer he once was. Bald with a prominent beard, he wears studs in both earlobes, a hoop through his left nostril, and a disarming smile, which he flashes generously. A practicing Buddhist since the age of 16, he is the kind of guy who describes his personality by way of his astrological sign ("sun sign Sagittarius") and who somehow doesn't sound false when he says he loves "building the good vibes."