Dear Labbers,

I’m saddened to share that today we must part ways with a number of valued friends and colleagues at PL.

Winter. As you know, this has been an extremely challenging economic downturn, world-wide and especially in crypto. High inflation leading to high interest rates, low investment, and tougher markets have rocked companies and industries globally. The macro winter worsened crypto winter, making it more extreme and potentially longer than our industry expected. Millions of companies around the world have had to adapt to this dynamic landscape, and prepare for a longer downturn. No company is unaffected.

Cost Reductions. To weather the macro and crypto winter, PL teams have significantly cut costs over the last quarters, reducing team budgets, infra spend, investments, grant programs, and much more. These have been tough times and our teams have succeeded greatly in reducing costs while maintaining services and growing projects. Thank you to everyone who contributed to these efforts, you have made a big difference.

PLGO Layoffs. To ensure teams are well positioned to weather this extended winter, we have to reduce costs further. Although we worked extremely hard to avoid this, we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by 89 roles (approximately 21%). This impacts individuals across PLGO teams (PL Corp, PL Member Services, Network Goods, PL Outercore, and PL Starfleet). We’ve had to focus our headcount against the most impactful and business critical efforts.

Process. We announced this at an All Hands this morning. We’ve sent an email and calendar invite to impacted individuals to discuss this transition face-to-face and offer our support. Here, departing labbers, can have their specific questions answered regarding their departure, and walk through an enhanced version of our standard severance package. The PL Talent team will offer placement services to help find opportunities. We aim to be as thorough and supportive as we possibly can.

PL Network Opportunities. There are many other teams hiring across the PL Network and adjacent communities. We will do everything we can to connect those affected with new roles & opportunities in our network and beyond. Our Talent team will also offer office hours to help polish resumes, surface relevant roles, and provide recommendations.

Extraordinary People. The teams we’ve built over the past few years are full of tremendously talented, hard working, and passionate people who have been integral to all our breakthroughs and accomplishments. We’ve achieved a tremendous amount in the past several years - from Filecoin launch; to scaling IPFS to millions of users; building one of the fastest growing developer ecosystems; supporting 300+ companies across the network; growing movements like SBS and FTC; launching testnets for FVM, Saturn, SpaceNet, and Bacalhau just last quarter; and much more. We are immensely proud of everyone’s impact, and wish we could continue working with each and every one of you. It is a huge loss to part with some of our teammates today. We will always be grateful for your effort and impact on our mission. Thank you. You will achieve great things wherever you go, and our network is here to support you in your next endeavors.

Focus on the Mission. We know these changes will be tough for all Labbers, so we’ll be organizing a PLGO All Hands on Monday to answer any remaining questions, and to look ahead. PL exists to drive breakthroughs in computing to push humanity forward (opens new window). We are a network of optimistic teams, organizations, and people, who believe the largest problems ailing humanity can and must be solved. Our work is improving critical internet infrastructure, creating open networks that put the power in people’s hands, and developing a prolific innovation ecosystem. We already empower tens of millions of people world-wide with more resilient networks, and we’re on a path to reach billions. We have been tremendously successful and fortunate over the years. Sometimes we face tough setbacks, but we forge ahead because our work matters.

Thank you,

Juan Benet