Mena steps down as CEO of Six Apart
Mena steps down as CEO of Six Apart. A good move…6A is a fundamentally different company than when it started and it needs different leadership.
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Reader comments
IzzyJul 14, 2004 at 1:55PM
Great post with honesty/sincerity rarely shown by CEO's. Further proof that the passion that Mena and Ben have for their company and their products always comes through. I know it must have been tough for her to hand over the reins.
JerimaticJul 14, 2004 at 3:09PM
"It's a long post, but is incredibly thorough and frank and I hope visitors to this page will read through it in its entirety."
"In re-reading this post, I'm almost embarrassed by my sincerity."
Barf. Get over yourself.
StewartJul 14, 2004 at 3:15PM
Whatever - this shit is hard and those are real people. She is being sincere and that is a rare and good thing.
MichaelJul 14, 2004 at 3:42PM
Yeah. I think they're doing a great job at learning what they MUST learn to make this work. It was clear
that they simply didn't have the personnel required to build the company or even just to manage
the products just two months ago, let alone a clear idea of what, specifically, to do - and in that
short time they have gone a long way and made the hard decisions required to make a go of it.
jakeJul 14, 2004 at 6:20PM
i like mena, and i agree w/ jason, i think it's a smart move. software companies are notoriously hard to manage- especially one that is growing at this rate, with this kind of diverse customer base, etc etc. A professional manager is definitely required. but i also tend to think that brevity is the soul of wit in these announcements- especially if things become acrimonious later on.
djJul 14, 2004 at 6:54PM
I love how Mena wears her heart on her sleeve.
I definitely prefer fewer posts with more substance to a series of short, pithy posts. I wish Mena, Anil, Ev, Ben Trott, etc. posted more often because I'm curious what they're thinking. But the fact that they don't have a lot of time to post makes me think they're working hard on building good software. And when they do post, they don't waste my time.
EliotJul 15, 2004 at 1:11AM
Is it totally unreasonable to find this a little sad?
Stewart ButterfieldJul 15, 2004 at 2:19AM
Totally unreasonable Eliot!
But no, yes. Of course. I actually saw Mena today - she is pretty happy with it. And as a young president, I absolutely sympathize: there are times when I would much rather leave hiring and firing and negotiating and lawyer-dealing-with and worrying and finance and hard decision making to someone else, because I really love making stuff. Stepping aside and letting someone else manage is a good move if you are clear about what you want to do, what your capabilities are, etc.
But I think you meant from the outside. End of an era? Probably not :)
KimberlyJul 15, 2004 at 10:14AM
As a wise man posted on June 19, 2004,
"You can roughly determine the emotional health of a company by how often their internal weblog is updated."
I'm pretty sure you were referring to 6A in your post. Less than a month later, Mena steps down. Any tips on tonight's lottery numbers?
jkottkeJul 15, 2004 at 10:24AM
I wish Mena, Anil, Ev, Ben Trott, etc. posted more often because I'm curious what they're thinking. But the fact that they don't have a lot of time to post makes me think they're working hard on building good software.
I wish they did too. And while the working hard is part of it, I also think there's fear involved as well. That talking about the future of your product to the public will tip your hand to competitors. Or that an employee might say something that's not "official company policy". Or an employee will say something complementary about a competitor or something negative about a potential business partner. I've talked to Anil and Mena about these issues and they're definitely a factor. That and Ev can't really say anything right now because of the IPO quiet period.
Is it totally unreasonable to find this a little sad?
Why do you find it sad? Just curious, because I do as well. 6A seems to be on its way to becoming a big corporation. Not thousands of employees, but hundreds certainly. And there's nothing bad about that, but I guess I had different hopes for 6A. That it would remain smaller and more focused on building a company as opposed to a business (to define the terminology here, a company primarily "serves" its employees and customers while a business serves itself and its shareholders). Not sure if I'm making any sense here, but that's the feeling I've gotten from 6A over the past few months.
EliotJul 15, 2004 at 12:07PM
I don't know anyone at 6A (other than Mr. Dash, socially), and I wouldn't presume to say that the Trotts are not making the choices they want to make. Based on my impression that they are clearly smart and quite ambitious, I suspect they are doing right by themselves, and that's to be applauded.
But still - to me there's something bittersweet about it. They've come so far in a year and a half - Neoteny's money, TypePad, a hiring spree, some shaky moments with the pricing policy, and now bringing on board these two Professional Executives. One of whom (Anker) Mena more or less apologizes for right out of the gate, and the other who's been the VC's buddy from day one.
There's just an air of "pragmatism" to the moves that is a little alienating. Yes, their pricing thing was a debacle (though amplified inside the blogospheric echo chamber), but in a way it would have been nice to see them fight through it on their own.
But as you say, it's business. I wish 6A and the Trotts well.
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.