Ava Labs Founder & CEO Announces Layoff, Affecting 12% Of Workforce

• Ava Labs founder and CEO Emin Sirer announced that the company has laid off a number of its employees.
• The firm is downsizing from a 12-person start-up, affecting 12% of the workforce.
• OpenSea and Chainalysis have also laid off a significant part of their staff recently.

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Emin Gun Sirer, the founder and CEO of Ava Labs, stated in a post on X earlier today that the company let off 12% of its personnel. He went on to say that Ava Labs is no longer a 12-person start-up, but rather aspires to “capture the speed and energy of a small, nimble team.”

Today we parted ways with some of our Ava Labs team members. We are no longer a 12 person startup, but we strive to capture the speed and energy of a small, nimble team.

This reduction in force affected 12% of Ava Labs, and allows us to reallocate resources to double down on the…

— Emin Gün Sirer🔺 (@el33th4xor) November 7, 2023

Sirer also stated that the downsizing has allowed the company to “reallocate” resources to focus on building Ava Labs and the Avalanche ecosystem. He expressed his appreciation to “everyone who contributed” to the project and added,

“Bear markets are difficult to navigate. Ava Labs is fortunate to have significant runway and resources at our disposal, and we will be focusing those resources on advancing the Avalanche ecosystem for years to come.”

Read Also: OpenSea Shifts Focus to Foster OpenSea 2.0, Lays Off Employees

Garrison Yang, Ava Labs’ Vice President of Growth and Strategy, also stated on X on November 7 that the layoffs affected a large number of people in the company’s marketing department. Meanwhile, Ava Labs’ Gaming Growth Marketing Director announced their departure while being “open to explore opportunities in marketing or operations.”

Today was the last day at @AvaLabs for many people on this all star marketing team.

If your project or company is looking for some of the top talent in crypto, please let me know. These are the people who built @gamingonavax from zero in less than a year, the people who brought… https://t.co/ozcBOa78Q6

— hushky 🔺 (dim / sum) (@0xHushky) November 6, 2023

The crypto winter has forced many layoffs in 2023, including the recent downsizing of the crypto analytics business Chainalysis. On October 3, it was reported that almost 15% of its staff would be laid off. In reaction to current market conditions, a Chainalysis spokesperson stressed the need to minimize expenses. Furthermore, Bloomberg stated that prior layoffs in 2023 affected less than 5% of the company’s workforce, which was approximately 900 people at the time.

Similarly, according to insiders, top NFT marketplace OpenSea laid off nearly half of its personnel last week. Devin Finzer, one of OpenSea’s co-founders and CEO, posted a message on X “saying goodbye to a number of OpenSea teammates.” Finzer also stated that the company has rebuilt its personnel in preparation for the introduction of an enhanced iteration of the marketplace.

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We’re building a new foundation so we can innovate faster and we’ll have some experiences to share with you soon. We will change how we operate – shifting to a smaller team with a direct connection to users.

So today, we’re saying goodbye to a number of OpenSea teammates.

— Devin Finzer (dfinzer.eth) (@dfinzer) November 3, 2023