Yesterday we moved on from over a third of the dYdX team. I wrote about those leaving here. In this post I share the motivations behind this change and what it means for dYdX.
tldr; we’re going back to startup mode
There have been two distinct phases of dYdX: startup mode, and company mode. Like all successful companies we started in startup mode, but eventually found ourselves in company mode. Unlike most companies, we’ve made the difficult but bold decision to go back.
For the first couple years dYdX flew. The early team and I iterated on so many products, and innovated freely. We invented: dex aggregators, flash loans, leveraged tokens, defi margin trading, defi perps, and more. We were one of the first major projects on L1, then the first major one on L2. There were massive swings up and down, but overall we grew exponentially.
Now, we still innovate, but more slowly. We’ve stagnated. We still have great people, but something seems off. The sum has become less than the value of its parts.
Why? What changed?
We (I) went from thinking of each moment at work as an opportunity to a job. From creating something new to protecting what we (I) had. From embracing uncertainty to craving safety. From having no idea what to do, to doing what we “should”. We (I) became scared.
We learned how to “operate a company”. We hired execs, put in processes, formed committees to coordinate between teams. I went from managing the whole team to 5 layers of hierarchy between the builders and me. I resisted all of this, but it seemed inevitable.
No more.
No more execs, no more middle management, no more company processes, no more fucking anything except the builders and me. This is what we need, and I finally feel the passion to lead it. We are going back, but this time with the wisdom and peace found along the way.
I am absolutely uninterested in the status quo. I will, and am, continue to risk everything for the next big shot at true creation.
I don’t know what we’ll build, who will join on the journey, or where we’ll go.But I know we’re in the right place, with the best people, and the perfect passion.
It feels like the beginning, again.
What an opportunity.