Quick take:
- Tech recruiters are seeing senior executives and developers jumping ship to decentralised tech ventures.
- Some of these executives came from web 2 companies like Airbnb, YouTube, Uber and more.
- This is due to people wanting to get in early on technology’s next big thing.
It appears the Silicon Valley giants are out and Web 3 startups are in as tech workers leave established Big Tech firms to join decentralised tech ventures. Speaking to Business Insider, eight tech recruiters said that they’re seeing a rising trend in senior executives and developers moving over to crypto and Web 3.
Despite Meta having invested $10 million into the development of its metaverse, it seems that it wasn’t enough to retain some of its high-level staff.
Scott Fletcher – whose firm Intersection Growth Partners has pulled several “very senior folks” out from Amazon, Meta, and Google – told Insider that the firm is “unquestionably seeing some of the best and brightest of Silicon Valley, or tech, move over to crypto.”
As Web 3 is still nascent and vaguely defined as the new iteration of the Internet based on blockchain, one recruiter thinks that this new trend “means everything and nothing”. However, the appeal of Web 3 is irresistible to top talents in Big Tech.
The former CMO of Meta’s digital wallet project, Novi, left the company to take the same position in blockchain-focused payments company Circle. The former GM of Amazon’s AWS Edge Services is now CTO of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini while Lyft’s former CFO is now CFO of Opensea. Uber’s former director has also joined OpenSea as Head of Business Development.
In addition to that, top Airbnb exec and former Clinton administration official has joined the leadership team of a crypto VC firm while YouTube’s former head of gaming is now CEO of Polygon Studios.
Alex Zakupowsky, managing partner at Artisanal Talent, told Insider: “Coinbase, in my view, was really the first one to get some very big hires from places like Google and LinkedIn and Lyft,” Zakupowsky said. “And now you’re seeing some very former senior people at the Ubers and Amazons and Pinterests and Atlassians and SpaceXs that have jumped into this, and they’re going to be recruiting from their networks.”
This is due to the fact that people want to get in early on technology’s next big thing, which is currently crypto and Web 3.
Even though Web 3 ventures are sprouting up worldwide, Silicon Valley is still a breeding ground for blockchain-based startups and talents. Some of the biggest Web 3 and blockchain platforms including OpenSea and Alchemy as well as prominent VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) are located in Silicon Valley.
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