Skillz has undergone tremendous change in the past few months as we gear up toward profitable growth. We have streamlined our workforce, restructured our organization, and made tough decisions for the health of our company. At times like these, I remind myself that adversity can be a powerful force for positive change.

Our business is based on competition for a reason. Competition holds the power to ignite what’s possible in all of us. This competitive spirit is an inseparable part of Skillz, and what has been the guiding light behind our incredible growth and recognition to date. This is not the first time Skillz has faced uphill challenges, but through focus, grit, and leadership, we have always won against all odds. But winning comes at a cost, and achieving excellence is an iterative process. We are fully focused on winning with excellence, which requires us to make these tough decisions along the way.

Despite this time of change, we remain dedicated to our mission. We exist to bring out the best in everyone through competition. That includes bringing out the best of Skillz for our shareholders, developers, players, and employees. We acknowledge our role in unlocking economic opportunity for those who depend on us. We take this responsibility very seriously as we stride toward fixing our present and building our future. When we went public, we had enviable payback periods of six months lifetime value (LTV) over customer acquisition cost (CAC) — an incredible number for any company. We are not delivering on that metric today and we are working to change that. There is no reason we can’t get there again and investors will be thrilled when we do.

As you may know, I have come back to lead the product organization in order to correct some of the missteps we have made. With a great team behind me, I am energized by our roadmap and the progress we are already making on our platform. Along with my renewed engagement with the product, we have brought in Jason Roswig as our President and CFO. Jason brings years of performance-driven success to Skillz, and his focus will be on right-sizing our organization to ensure we capitalize on the incredible platform that we have built over the last ten years. Jason is overseeing the entire Skillz workforce to ensure we have the right people to get us to the next level of maturity. Together, we are making hard decisions at every level of the organization, including our Board of Directors.

Recently, we parted ways with a number of Board members. We are grateful for their contributions and for supporting our journey. To ignite the next chapter of Skillz, we are excited to welcome our new Board members who come with a different perspective on our potential and the path forward. These include Seth Schorr, who brings extensive experience in interactive gaming and entertainment, as well as Henry Hoffman, who will apply his deep financial services expertise to Skillz.

Despite these challenging times, I believe we will come out stronger. We’ve learned some hard lessons, but remain convinced in the power and potential of our platform. We are humbled, committed, and eager to return shareholder value and hopeful for the same level of commitment from all of you. 

Game on!

Andrew Paradise

CEO