Linden looks outside the company for new CEO
By Eric Reuters
SECOND LIFE, March 20 (Reuters) - Philip Rosedale, the founder of Linden Lab who is stepping down as chief executive, told Reuters on Thursday he was looking to bring in someone from outside the company rather than promote from within.
He also said the new CEO would have the freedom to change elements of Linden’s quirky culture.
“Companies always talk about the fear of losing their culture because parts of their culture are lame,” he said. “It would be inconsistent of me to bring someone in and say ‘Listen, buddy, you have to use the love machine.’”
Rosedale spoke at length in a Second Life interview about what Linden Lab was looking for in a new chief executive. He is leading the search and will become chairman of Linden’s board once a replacement is found.
The most important criteria, he said, was to find someone who’s had experience growing a small company into a global player. No one at Linden Lab brings the right résumé to the job.
“We need someone who’s done this stuff on a organizational scale we haven’t,” Rosedale said. “We’re all relatively junior.”
In describing the skills he was looking for in his replacement, Rosedale said the new chief should already be a passionate user of Second Life. They also have to be “a great coach” who will work well with Linden’s staff.
“And they have to have complementary skill sets to mine,” he said. “Because I’m staying and will still be involved.”
Experience operating in a global information technology market is necessary. Rosedale pointed to Second Life’s large non-American resident population and the company’s confusion last year as it began to charge VAT to European Second Life users.
“Me, I’m a California guy, all the way,” he said.
Looking forward to the year ahead, Rosedale expressed optimism about the new “HTML-on-a-prim” feature in development, but said his company’s top priorities remain making Second Life easier to use, and improving the stability of the software.
He said Second Life is currently able to turn between three and five percent of new registrants into committed users, compared with ten to fifteen percent for sites like Facebook or LinkedIn.
“I want my new role to be about getting that retention up,” he said. “I don’t want the community thinking I’m reducing my hours.”
Well, I’ll be damned. You could knock me over with a feather.
Of course, looking outside the company could mean…looking inside the world to the lifers going to all the Linden office hours and Metanomics and whatnot, and that still speaks to the need for comfort level, and getting the culture.
For Philip to give up the Love Machine, wow, just…wow!
Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:03pm PDTGood for them! One of the factors than can stifle the growth on any company is becoming hostage to its own “culture.” Growth requires change, and change requires new perspectives. That’s what an outside CEO can offer. Clearly Linden Labs are wanting to switch into a more aggressive growth mode and the task needs someone with a proven record of enabling this.
This is a good way for Rosedale to handle that “founder’s dilemma” and something that takes a bit of business courage to do. Admitting your own limitations is a hard thing to do and Rosedale appears to have done that.
Changing CEO doesn’t necessarily mean the wholesale sloughing of a corporate culture. There will still be a place for “Love Machines” and pizza parties. But that culture still depends on sales and growth, for without these you’re faced with the simple option to “close up shop” and go beach-combing.
The new CEO has no simple task ahead. With the current growth rate in terms of SL residents seemingly leveling out, and dissatisfied people leaving, restoring confidence is a priority. Then comes the task of addressing the consumer issues of network stability, in-world copyright protection, land fees, and a host of other factors that can make the SP experience less than stellar.
I won’t be applying.
Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:03am PDTKnowing Philip, not only does he want someone outside the company, but also wants someone that has never used Second Life before, nor is even aware it exists…. ….he wants a fresh set of eyes.
Sun Mar 23, 2008 12:03pm PDTGood for Philip. This is a smart decision on his part. SecondLife is facing a lot of challenges: the threat of OpenSim, technical limitations, regulatory changes, and a large churn rate. At the same time, there is great deal of opportunity, but unfortunately I can see how it would be difficult for the current team to seize it when it is distorted by a shroud of hype.
Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:03pm PDTDoubledown, I agree that a fresh set of eyes might help… but your theory doesn’t jive with this from above: “Rosedale said the new chief should already be a passionate user of Second Life.”
Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:03pm PDTYou know… he says that, but… wait and see. I’ll say this much, the culture thing doesn’t extend just to within SL but within SL itself, there are allot of users hostile to anything new, that hate any commercial aps…which Hellllllo pays for it all to exist and offer work opportunities. In a nutshell, allot of the users drive newbies away, are talented, smart and… alienating, this is a bit different then the web, it’s harder top use for a nub.. and while some people are great, others act like they own the place, I mean in a way they do, but it doesn’t mean being a jerk or making rules, frankly if there is anything from RL that SL doesn’t need, it’s control freaks… I think he is making a wise decision in stepping down and bringing in someone who could bring change overall and definitely someone who knows business and finance and law is a must. For whatever reason some people are scared by the tech, others want it to remain a game, but the vision of a new Web is shared only by a few and those people are the priority.
Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:03pm PDTSl is far more than just a game anymore, it has created its own economy int the Real world, it has created its own groups from within SL that relate to the Real world, its strategic platform for raising noobs is awesome in the fact that if you watch any NCIS at all your gonna want to play, and I think the Philip stepping down without giving the new guy a tour of all that he is responsible for could be a misstake, all though each president gets one day with the old president before the assent to the presidency is taken, maybe offering a “tour” of what is required of the new CEO would be a wise decision, instead of here’s your soup now you make the recipe.
Sat Apr 5, 2008 8:04am PDT@Frank
Just to clarify, Philip isn’t stepping down until a successor is found. So I don’t think “Philip stepping down without giving the new guy a tour of all that he is responsible for” is an issue.
Sat Apr 5, 2008 10:04am PDT