Gherman

This man paid $250,000 in 1987 for an unlimited first class pass with American Airlines. He flew over 10,000 times, reportedly costing them $21 million… so in 2008 they terminated his pass for “misuse.”

I just sent this message to the Matter Labs team: === Today, I’m sharing the hardest change we had to make in the 6-year history of Matter Labs. We are restructuring the organization and parting ways with many amazing team members (~16% of the team). We’ve already reached out 1-to-1 to each individual impacted. As founder and CEO, I bear full responsibility for this decision and the ones that have led up to it. For those of you leaving: I’m sorry we had to take this step. It hurts to say goodbye to talented employees for reasons unrelated to their performance. I will explain why we made this decision, how we're going to take care of departing team members, and what this means for Matter Labs going forward. Why we made this decision From day 1, Matter Labs embraced the philosophy of being a lean and focused team committed to a singular mission — accelerating the mass adoption of crypto for personal sovereignty. Staying small and focused enabled us to keep a steady pace of impactful innovation, continuously adapting to changes. Our market environment and business needs have changed significantly over the course of this year. We see that many teams building on ZKsync Era now require a different type of technology and support than they had previously. At the same time, we see a big increase in demand for ZK Chains. The role of Matter Labs in the decentralized ZKsync ecosystem has evolved, too. The launch of the Elastic Chain and ZK Nation was the right moment to re-evaluate our strategy, goals, and team composition. We went through a large org planning exercise, and it became clear that the talent and roles we have today do not perfectly match our needs. We then reviewed every single role in the company to make sure that we have the right roles and people in the right place, to remain agile and effective. How we’re handling departures We've structured a comprehensive exit package for everyone leaving us today, including: Base Pay: ensuring 3 months of base salary. Healthcare & Mental Health Support: 4 months of continued coverage. Vesting: Full vesting through the effective termination date, with the cliff waived for those who have been with the company for at least 6 months. Career Support: 1) Inclusion in a list of impacted employees shared with investors (on an opt-in basis). 2) Personalized career support meetings with members of the Leadership Team to assist in navigating the next steps. 3) CV and LinkedIn profile assistance. Equipment: Keep company-issued laptop as well as any other equipment purchased with company-provided stipends. Immigration: Assistance with immigration will be provided for the next 4 months. Moving forward As CEO, it’s my duty to keep the organizational complexity constantly in check. To avoid painful corrections like this in the future, I will ensure that all new functions and roles we hire for are aligned with our long-term strategy while maintaining the highest performance standards. While today's change hurts, I feel extremely optimistic about our future. The demand for our technology is growing, with around a dozen chains launching on the Elastic Chain this year alone, and many more teams building on ZKsync Era. We are also fortunate to have the financial resources to thrive even in a multi-year bear market. We'll continue to build and hire the right talent crucial for the next phase of Matter Labs. I want to end by expressing my deep gratitude to every team member, both those moving on and continuing with us, for your invaluable contributions to our journey. Your efforts have shaped Matter Labs into what it is today: a transformative force advancing freedom for everyone in the world. I will provide more details about today’s decision to the team so you can hear directly from me. Also, your team leads will be holding team-specific forums and meetings throughout this week. Alex