Ava Labs Cuts Staff by 12% to Reallocate Resources for ‘Growth’ – Here’s the Latest

1699354063-adobestock-freshidea-1-me___media_library_original_1311_906-1-1024x708-2 — Source: AdobeStock / freshidea

Ava Labs, the team behind the Avalanche ( AVAX) blockchain, has confirmed a 12% reduction in its workforce citing the need to reallocate resources as the driving force behind the staff cuts.

Emin Gün Sirer, founder and CEO of Ava Labs, announced the news in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter) after several former employees revealed their layoffs on the social media platform.

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

Gün Sirer explained that the reduction in force affected approximately 12% of Ava Labs’ staff and emphasized that this decision would allow the company to redirect its resources toward accelerating the growth of both the firm and the Avalanche ecosystem.

“Bear markets are difficult to navigate,” he wrote.

“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.”

According to LinkedIn data, Ava Labs currently has 335 employees, suggesting that around 40 individuals were impacted by the recent layoffs.

Ava Labs Lays Off Members of the Marketing Team

In a separate post on X, Garrison Yang, Vice President of Growth and Strategy at Ava Labs, hinted that a significant portion of the layoffs originated from the company’s marketing team.

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

A number of former Ava Labs employees also took to X to announce their departure.

For one, a former member of the game growth marketing team, Zach Manafort, shared that he was laid off, expressing surprise as he believed that things were just getting started.

Another former member of Ava Labs’ marketing unit, Brandon Suzuki, also confirmed his layoff on the same day.

The workforce reduction at Ava Labs comes shortly after non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea’s recent announcement of a 50% staff cut on November 3.

The current job market within the crypto industry remains challenging, with limited job openings despite a recent upswing in crypto market capitalization.

Neil Dundon, founder of CryptoRecruit, noted that the crypto market is currently tight and funding from venture capitalists has become scarce.

Dundon explained that signs of a bull market will need to emerge before a meaningful increase in hiring occurs, stating that this pattern has been observed in previous market cycles.

Notably, several major crypto firms have downsized their workforce in recent times, following a string of high-profile collapses and bankruptcies within the sector.

Coinbase, for one, has been among the many crypto companies that have been hit hard by the recent crypto meltdown, announcing three rounds of layoffs since the FTX fallout.

Earlier this year, New York-based cryptocurrency exchange Gemini also revealed that it is letting go of 10% of its workforce.

More recently, crypto infrastructure provider Qredo announced plans to reduce staff and expenses as it navigates the challenges posed by the ongoing bear market.