The company behind productivity app Evernote will lay off 54 people, around 15 per cent of total staff, in a bid to preserve profitability.

Earlier this month it was reported several senior executives, engineers and designers had left, with a source even telling TechCrunch the company was “in a death spiral” due to stagnation in user numbers.

Now, the publication reports CEO Chris O’Neill informed employees of the layoffs in an email, but sought to reassure the remaining staff the company is in good shape by noting its finances are stable. It recorded growth of more than 20 per cent in H1 2018 and is putting in a solid performance so far in the current quarter, he said.

“Our Q3 revenue numbers remain strong and we expect to end the quarter north of $27 million. We have over $30 million in cash on our balance sheet and will exit 2018 generating more cash than we spend,” the executive stated.

In a blog post, O’Neill explained recent changes reflect the fact that the company “invested too far ahead of that growth. To remain a healthy and profitable business, we must adjust quickly when part of our strategy is not meeting our expectations.”

“We’ve made some changes over the past few weeks that will keep us self-sufficient while we invest directly in the areas that will improve our products and your [users] experiences with them,” he added.

In the coming months the app maker wants to intrdouce “long-requested” features including templates and tasks, as it looks to accelerate investment in technical infrastructure.