TL; DR
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Here’s a good idea to start with on Monday: It’s easier for a web2 company to move to web3 than it is for a web3-native company to be successful.
We’ve written about this before when we saw companies like Nike move to web3, or when Gucci started accepting ApeCoin.
And today we are here with another example (this time it’s disappointing news, but there may be light at the end of the tunnel).
ICYMI about a year ago, Yuga Labs (the team behind some of the most important NFT projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club) hired Harvard-educated, ex-CEO of Activision Blizzard, Daniel Alegre.
Six months later, a series of layoffs followed at Yuga.
Then, co-founder Greg Solano took over as CEO in February of this year.
Now Solano has announced a new round of layoffs, stating: “To put it simply, Yuga has lost his way. Centering ourselves and putting ourselves on the right path means being a smaller, more agile and cryptonative team,” noting that Yuga’s original, creative spirit has been partially stifled by “labyrinthine business processes.”
(A subtle nod to the management style of the previous CEO).
Here’s the good news in all of this:
If one Web3-native company can figure out how to succeed in a Web2-dominated world, it’s Yuga Labs.
While the value of their NFTs and their own crypto token (ApeCoin) has fallen, the remaining team is full from people who understand unique possibilities in space.
The possibilities that the web3 space has made possible that have never existed before.
Although we hate to see companies in the sector lay off people, it does happen always for web2 companies this is not a rare occurrence.
I hope this results in more structure, more direction and more innovation from the Yuga team.
Fingers crossed 🤞