Dee Goens replaces Jacob Horne as CEO of Zora

Zora co-founder Dee Goens is now running the show. The former COO stepped into the CEO role on Wednesday after co-founder Jacob Horne announced his departure from the company he helped build over the past five-plus years.

Horne’s exit caps a period of dramatic transformation at Zora, which has slashed its team to fewer than 10 people, launched a token, and essentially rebuilt its entire product thesis from the ground up.

From NFT darling to skeleton crew

Zora launched around 2020 as a protocol for minting and trading NFTs. The company raised roughly $60 million in total funding, including a $50 million Series C in 2022 that valued it at approximately $600 million.

Zora reoriented around a concept it calls “creator coins” and “content coins.” The idea is straightforward: tokenize individual creator profiles and pieces of content into tradable on-chain assets.

The $ZORA token arrives on cue

Horne’s departure wasn’t the only thing that happened on April 23. The same day, Zora launched the $ZORA token with a total supply of 10 billion.

Zora reported trading volumes in the hundreds of millions shortly after certain product launches. The platform also saw user activity spike to millions of weekly users, a stark contrast to the hundreds of monthly users it counted back in its 2020 launch days.

A leaner company, a bigger bet

Running a crypto company with fewer than 10 employees isn’t unheard of, but it is unusual for one that has raised $60 million and once carried a $600 million valuation.

Zora’s creator coins and content coins fit into the emerging SocialFi category. Zora’s approach of tokenizing content itself, not just creator identities, is a relatively novel mechanic, as most SocialFi platforms have focused on person-level tokens.

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