Zero-knowledge rollup developer StarkWare is undergoing a significant restructuring, involving staff reductions and the creation of two new business units, as the company shifts its focus towards generating "meaningful revenue." The changes were announced by co-founder and CEO Eli Ben-Sasson during an all-hands meeting on Monday.
Ben-Sasson did not specify the exact number of employees affected or provide a timeline for the layoffs, but stated that downsizing was necessary to return to a "startup mode" mindset and accelerate product-market fit. Affected staff were informed they would receive emails shortly after the meeting to schedule one-on-one conversations with their managers. The CEO noted that in many jurisdictions, StarkWare will provide severance packages that exceed legal and contractual requirements.
The CEO emphasized a need to "move fast" and argued that a smaller headcount would make the company more flexible. A core part of the new strategy involves StarkWare taking "full ownership" of its entire blockchain proving stack, which includes the Cairo programming language, Sierra, and quantum-secure STARK cryptography. This move is intended to reduce dependencies on external Layer 1 blockchains and external application teams.
"We're going to shift from doing many things well to doing fewer things excellently," Ben-Sasson said. "We're going to have emphasis on things that have immense potential and immense potential revenue, immense potential value, and which can be built only on our stack. We want to focus on things that can be done by no other team, in no other way."
The restructuring will see StarkWare split into two distinct units:
A revenue-focused applications unit, led by current Chief Product Officer (CPO) Avihu Levy as General Manager. Levy, a StarkWare researcher known for recently proposing a method for enabling quantum-resistant Bitcoin transactions, will oversee the development of applications designed to generate revenue on the company's technology stack.
A revamped Starknet development unit, led by current Head of Product Tom Brand as General Manager.
Ben-Sasson also outlined additional leadership changes: CFO Ran Grinshtein will now oversee finance, human resources, security, and IT. Current Head of Core Engineering Gideon Kaempfer will assume the role of Chief Architect, reporting directly to Ben-Sasson. General Counsel Katherine Kirkpatrick Bos will continue to lead the legal department. COO Oren Katz has requested to leave the company but will remain through the end of April.
