On the 2nd of October, Roham Gharegozlou, the founder and CEO of Dapper Labs, announced that their Web3 studio had reduced its team size by 22%. In a letter to employees posted publicly online, Roham said that these reductions are the last thing they want to do, but they are necessary for the long-term health of their business and communities.
Roham said they know web3 and crypto are the future across many industries, but today’s macroeconomic environment means they aren’t in control of the timing. Roham also showed that the company grew too fast, from 100 to over 600 employees in less than two years. This number of staff prevented Dapper Labs from being as aligned, agile, and community-driven as they needed. He took responsibility for that, Roham said.
Dave Feldman, the senior vice president of marketing at Dapper Labs, tweeted that today is a difficult day at Dapper Labs as they said goodbye to some incredibly talented, thoughtful, and selfless teammates. This sad news came hours after reports that Dapper Labs’ NFT marketplace, NBA Top Shot, hit a two-year low for monthly sales.
In the letter to employees, Roham explained how the Dapper Labs leadership approached the layoffs. They reviewed each business line to determine whether each initiative helped advance the mainstream global adoption of Web3. Roham said that based on this, they streamlined and focused their product strategy around a more sustainable cost structure.
About how they slashed their staff, Roham said they then mapped the product strategy and cost structure to individual team members, making difficult decisions based on the skills and capabilities they will need for their business.
It’s not the first time Dapper Labs slashed its staff, as four months ago, it did the same job, which was confirmed through sporadic reports by former employees on LinkedIn. Although now, the company has slashed its capable staff, they are also finding ways to help those who lost their jobs.
About those who lost their jobs, Roham said that to support departing team members, they have worked to create a package of benefits so, from Dapper Labs, you can receive compensation, health, and other benefits while you seek your next opportunity.
They also gave three months’ severance, a resume, career coaching, alum support, and a public talent directory to support departing team members.
