It’s time for new adventures

Four years ago, Matt Marshall and Alicia Saribalis hired me to lead VentureBeat’s news team, which at that time comprised about five people. One of them immediately left. (Thanks for the vote of confidence, Anthony.) Most of us sat in a small office in San Francisco, arrayed around a collection of mismatched second-hand desks. There was one salesperson and one tech person. I think the entire staff was under twelve. We reached about 1.5 million people a month.

Fast-forward to today, and we have a newsroom with 16 staffers, spread out between San Francisco, New York, Toronto, London, and Toulouse, France, among other locations. VentureBeat’s sales, tech, and events teams have all grown, and the company numbers almost 50. We have matching Ikea desks like any other startup. We reach 6.5 million people monthly. The company produces an excellent set of events every year, and we’re building a data-driven research business that holds huge potential.

At the core of it, though, is the news site. I’m proud of everything the news team has done here in the past four years, and I’m proud of the talent we’ve been able to attract during that time.

As we pause and ready ourselves for our next big growth spurt, the time seemed right for me to step back and take stock. One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about being here at VB is the opportunity I have to talk with investors and startups, learn about their technologies, talk with their founders, and then tell their stories. Yet I’ve had frustratingly little time to do that in recent months.

So Matt and I easily came to agreement this week about a new role for me at VB.

Starting this week, I’ll step down from the editor-in-chief role and become VentureBeat’s editor at large. I’ll continue writing my column, producing our podcast, and contributing to our news coverage and news analysis as needed. And I will advise VB as it moves forward into its next chapter.

In the meantime, Harrison Weber, who has been doing a kick-ass job as our news editor for the past year, will act as our executive editor. Jennifer Tsao will continue keeping the trains running on time as our managing editor for VB, while Jason Wilson will continue overseeing GamesBeat.

In short, little will change. Our dedication to principled journalism and our passion for technology continues. And I’ll still be here, telling those tech stories and looking for the next big thing.