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Earlier today, Dapper Labs Founder and CEO Roham Gharegozlou sent this letter to team members.
Hi everyone,
As we continue to grow and adapt, I have promised that I’ll always be transparent with you. Today, I unfortunately have very sad news to share. As part of a broader refocus of our strategy and reorganization of our teams to better serve our communities, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our team size by 22%.
All notification emails have already been sent, and all conversations with departing team members will happen within the next 2 hours wherever possible given regional dynamics. If you have not received a notification, you are not impacted.
I want to share with all of you how we’ve come to today’s decisions, the impacts of those decisions and where the business will be focused as we look forward.
These reductions are the last thing we want to do, but they are necessary for the long-term health of our business and communities. We know web3 and crypto is the future across a multitude of industries –– with 1000x potential from here in terms of mainstream adoption and impact ––– but today’s macroeconomic environment means we aren’t in full control of the timing.
In addition, our company grew incredibly fast –– from 100 to over 600 employees in less than two years –– introducing operational challenges which prevented us from being as aligned, nimble and community-driven as we need to be. I take responsibility for that, as well as for the difficult decision to do this layoff and restructure our business to better serve our communities.
How reduction decisions were made
Because this decision impacts our people, we took a very deliberate approach in looking at our business today and our future business needs to assess how each team is mapped to our strategy, where we are focusing our energy and the critical skills we need on the team to succeed.
Across every business line, we went back to basics and asked ourselves 1/ does this serve the global priority of mainstream web3 adoption? and 2/ are we leaning into what we do best and what our technology is made for?
Based on this, we streamlined and focused our product strategy around a more sustainable cost structure. We then mapped the product strategy and cost structure to individual teams and team members, making difficult decisions based on the skills and capabilities we will need for our business ahead.
Across Dapper Labs, we are doubling down on what will move the needle and get the whole industry to its next inflection point –– and pulling back on everything that doesn’t fit that focus. While we are ourselves taking big swings to 10x the market size, we also need to become a focused, streamlined organization that lets us get to profitability, control our own destiny, and sustainably build toward achieving our mission, no matter the economic conditions over the next few years.
To team members leaving
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you’ve done for our mission. I’m deeply sorry we have to part ways. You have been colleagues and partners, many of you are shareholders, and you will always be friends of the company. I value and am incredibly grateful for each of your contributions to Dapper Labs and the part you’ve played in getting us to where we are today. I want to be clear that today’s decisions are in no way a reflection of your work. Your next team will be lucky to have you.
To support departing team members, we have worked to create a package of benefits so you can receive compensation, health and other benefits from Dapper Labs while you seek your next opportunity:
- Generous compensation: this includes three months severance for full-time employees
- Health continuation benefits: six months of COBRA for US team members and comparable benefits for international full-time employees
- Resume and career coaching: We have engaged an external professional services provider that has already been ramped up and is ready to support outgoing team members at every step of their next search.
- Talent directory: We will be creating a public website (opt-in) to help support departing employees in finding new roles
- Alumni support: We will engage as a team to help and use our networks and executives’ networks to connect dots wherever possible
- Mental health benefits: This will vary by health provider, but at minimum every outgoing employee will have access to four months of digital counseling.
To team members staying
Today is an incredibly difficult day and it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to people we’ve worked closely with –– it’s OK to take time to be there for our colleagues who are leaving. Your team leaders will be hosting Office Hours in the afternoon so we can come together as teams. Tomorrow at our regularly-scheduled All Hands 11am PT you’ll hear from our leaders about the path ahead. We will also host Q&A, so you can submit questions live or in advance.
We are builders with a mission that is more important than ever. Putting a web3 wallet in every pocket is how we empower the next billion communities and the creators who serve them to control their own digital worlds. Our full-stack product strategy is how we do things the market can’t: we start from the user and work our way back to whatever technology is needed to enable a great experience. The refocusing of our organization will let us achieve every milestone sustainably: web3-native, mobile-first, and community-driven.
With gratitude
Roham
Earlier today, Dapper Labs Founder and CEO Roham Gharegozlou sent this letter to team members.
Hi everyone,
As we continue to grow and adapt, I have promised that I’ll always be transparent with you. Today, I unfortunately have very sad news to share. As part of a broader refocus of our strategy and reorganization of our teams to better serve our communities, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our team size by 22%.
All notification emails have already been sent, and all conversations with departing team members will happen within the next 2 hours wherever possible given regional dynamics. If you have not received a notification, you are not impacted.
I want to share with all of you how we’ve come to today’s decisions, the impacts of those decisions and where the business will be focused as we look forward.
These reductions are the last thing we want to do, but they are necessary for the long-term health of our business and communities. We know web3 and crypto is the future across a multitude of industries –– with 1000x potential from here in terms of mainstream adoption and impact ––– but today’s macroeconomic environment means we aren’t in full control of the timing.
In addition, our company grew incredibly fast –– from 100 to over 600 employees in less than two years –– introducing operational challenges which prevented us from being as aligned, nimble and community-driven as we need to be. I take responsibility for that, as well as for the difficult decision to do this layoff and restructure our business to better serve our communities.
How reduction decisions were made
Because this decision impacts our people, we took a very deliberate approach in looking at our business today and our future business needs to assess how each team is mapped to our strategy, where we are focusing our energy and the critical skills we need on the team to succeed.
Across every business line, we went back to basics and asked ourselves 1/ does this serve the global priority of mainstream web3 adoption? and 2/ are we leaning into what we do best and what our technology is made for?
Based on this, we streamlined and focused our product strategy around a more sustainable cost structure. We then mapped the product strategy and cost structure to individual teams and team members, making difficult decisions based on the skills and capabilities we will need for our business ahead.
Across Dapper Labs, we are doubling down on what will move the needle and get the whole industry to its next inflection point –– and pulling back on everything that doesn’t fit that focus. While we are ourselves taking big swings to 10x the market size, we also need to become a focused, streamlined organization that lets us get to profitability, control our own destiny, and sustainably build toward achieving our mission, no matter the economic conditions over the next few years.
To team members leaving
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you’ve done for our mission. I’m deeply sorry we have to part ways. You have been colleagues and partners, many of you are shareholders, and you will always be friends of the company. I value and am incredibly grateful for each of your contributions to Dapper Labs and the part you’ve played in getting us to where we are today. I want to be clear that today’s decisions are in no way a reflection of your work. Your next team will be lucky to have you.
To support departing team members, we have worked to create a package of benefits so you can receive compensation, health and other benefits from Dapper Labs while you seek your next opportunity:
- Generous compensation: this includes three months severance for full-time employees
- Health continuation benefits: six months of COBRA for US team members and comparable benefits for international full-time employees
- Resume and career coaching: We have engaged an external professional services provider that has already been ramped up and is ready to support outgoing team members at every step of their next search.
- Talent directory: We will be creating a public website (opt-in) to help support departing employees in finding new roles
- Alumni support: We will engage as a team to help and use our networks and executives’ networks to connect dots wherever possible
- Mental health benefits: This will vary by health provider, but at minimum every outgoing employee will have access to four months of digital counseling.
To team members staying
Today is an incredibly difficult day and it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to people we’ve worked closely with –– it’s OK to take time to be there for our colleagues who are leaving. Your team leaders will be hosting Office Hours in the afternoon so we can come together as teams. Tomorrow at our regularly-scheduled All Hands 11am PT you’ll hear from our leaders about the path ahead. We will also host Q&A, so you can submit questions live or in advance.
We are builders with a mission that is more important than ever. Putting a web3 wallet in every pocket is how we empower the next billion communities and the creators who serve them to control their own digital worlds. Our full-stack product strategy is how we do things the market can’t: we start from the user and work our way back to whatever technology is needed to enable a great experience. The refocusing of our organization will let us achieve every milestone sustainably: web3-native, mobile-first, and community-driven.
With gratitude
Roham