All change at Linden Lab

Well it is all over the blogs, so it has to be here too but Philip Rosedale is stepping down as Linden’s CEO to become Chairman of the Board. I got to hear this on twitter first and it seemed worth a bit of perspective from where I am sitting as we have been part of this journey in some way or other.
Second Life is growing, the business and social side of virtual worlds and metaverses is growing, for a visionary and creator to have cope with day to day operations is quite unsuprisingly not something that someone in that position should plan to do.
The CEO runs/leads the day to day organization in some form, even in a libertarian organization like Linden Labs. Philip states in his personal announcement “I am not going anywhere! I will focus on product strategy and vision, continuing to design the right kind of company, and being an effective communicator and evangelist about Second Life.” Props to New World Notes for pointing this link out
I can see the problem. Having a passion to get things going is very very different from ongoing projects. It seems a very sensible move to let give him the space to do what he does, very much in touch with the company. Chairman of the board is not exactly standing down is it?
I also twittered that this helps to get around founders syndrome, which as the Reuters article indicates tends to be avoided by most passionately led startups with this sort of move.
So I really dont think this is something for people to get worried about, if anything it shows a maturing of the general metaverse business and the success that it needs this sort of move to happen.
So good luck Philip and good luck to any successor as CEO.
Ren Reynolds and I just agreed over twitter to had a Spud(potato) gun duel at dawn to win the right to make the decision for Linden Lab.

2 thoughts on “All change at Linden Lab

  1. Pingback: Kzero » Blog Archive » Rosedale moves and they say………

  2. In fact it’s just about the job description I would say – a CEO deals with many aspects of the business that ends in: profit. R. Lindens Job is the vision and development. Now that he is ahead of the CEO position it just shows that the CEO became a usual job at Linden.

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