Just heard over the twitterwire: Dave Sifry has stepped down as CEO of Technorati, though he'll remain chairman of the company's board of directors. Dave lives and breathes from the green fuse of the startup, and I don't think that many would argue that Techorati is that any more. His post on this passion - and why it can make sense for a founder to move on once growth has taken hold - sets the tone just right:
"I've been doing startups for almost all of my adult life. And I LOVE startups. I love the teams. I love the sense of mission, and the fast innovation. I love building something from an idea - a whiff of air over vocal cords - into a real, concrete business with real customers and a deep and real sense of corporate mission. I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten the opportunity to do that with so many diverse teams and businesses - SecuRemote, Linuxcare, Sputnik, and Technorati. One of the joys is also being a part of becoming a "revenue-stage" company - a company with lots of real customers, where the demands on teams shift away from fundamental blue-sky innovation and focus much more into building great things for customers, reducing expenses, and making the business into much more of a revenue machine. It always strikes me with a bit of sadness as well."
Yes, there's other cuts going on Technorati as well, but that's to be expected if you're tightening things up to focus on revenue and profits. But still: that's a real entrepreneur for you. Dave, when's lunch?
