Ava Labs, the team responsible for the Avalanche Blockchain, has confirmed a recent staff reduction, which resulted in a 12% decrease in their workforce. The reason behind this decision is the need to reallocate their resources.
The company’s founder and CEO, Emin Gün Sirer, made this announcement on November 7, after several former Ava Labs employees shared on social media that they had been laid off.
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Emin Gün Sirer mentioned that this reduction in force affected 12% of Ava Labs and was made to enable them to redirect resources and focus on the growth of their company and the Avalanche ecosystem. He acknowledged that bear markets can be challenging to navigate but emphasized that Ava Labs is well-positioned with significant runway and available resources.
According to LinkedIn, Ava Labs has a total of 335 employees, which suggests that approximately 40 people were impacted by the layoffs. Garrison Yang, Ava Labs’ vice president of growth and strategy, hinted that many of the layoffs came from the marketing team.
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Zach Manafort, a former member of the game growth marketing team, revealed in an October 6 post on social media that he was among those laid off, despite his active involvement in the Avalanche community since 2020.
Similarly, Brandon Suzuki, who previously worked in Ava Labs’ marketing unit, confirmed that he was laid off on October 6.
These layoffs came as a surprise to some employees who believed that things were just starting to progress positively.
Notably, these layoffs occurred shortly after the nonfungible token marketplace OpenSea announced a 50% reduction in its workforce on November 3.
Neil Dundon, the founder of CryptoRecruit, explained that job openings in the crypto industry are still scarce, despite recent increases in the crypto market cap. He mentioned that the industry typically requires more indicators of a bull market before a meaningful uptick in hiring can be expected.
However, Kevin Gibson and Daniel Adler, founders of Proof of Search and Cryptocurrency Jobs, noted a slight increase in hiring over the past few weeks. They attributed this trend to cryptocurrency firms wanting to secure talent before market conditions potentially improve in 2024.
They advised companies to take advantage of the current employer’s market to continue building their teams. Some of these positions are part-time, lasting only 2-3 days per week, rather than full-time roles.