Substack is laying off 14% of its staff.

Substack laid off 13 of its 90 employees on Wednesday in order to conserve cash amid an industrywide funding crunch for start-ups.

According to a person familiar with the discussion, Chris Best told employees that some staff members were affected by the cuts.

The cuts are a blow to a company that has said it was opening up a new era of media, in which people writing stories and making videos would be more empowering, getting direct payments from readers for what they produce instead of being paid by the publications or sites where their work appears

According to a person with knowledge of the discussion, Mr. Best told employees at Substack that the company was going to cut jobs because it couldn't raise more money in a difficult market. If the company decided to raise again, he wanted it to look for funding from a strong position.

Mr. Best told employees that the company was making more money. The person said that Substack had money in the bank and was still hiring. The company would be able to focus on product and engineering as a result of the cuts.

After the market for venture investments cooled, Substack scrapped a plan to raise more funding. Some of the fund-raising discussions valued the company between $750 million and $1 billion.

The New York Times reported that Substack made $9 million in revenue last year. The funding discussions valued the company at a hefty premium. The company closed a $65 million funding round and was valued at $650 million.

As the economy shows signs of strain, many media companies are bracing for a downturn. If consumers have less money to spend on news and entertainment, advertising revenue will dry up.