Word is leaking out, so I may as well set the record straight…
After four years and three months, I’m leaving Yahoo! for another opportunity. I’ll be joining founders Peter Gotcher and Shamal Ranasinghe as the CEO at a still-mostly-stealth company called Topspin Media. Our mission is to help artists earn a living through software. There’s obviously a lot more to it, but if I dropped it all here the company wouldn’t be so stealth anymore, would it? See this prescient, THIRTEEN YEAR-OLD Wired article for some (way) back-story.
Having started my “career” fourteen years ago working with artists and artist managers, it feels as if this is the opportunity I’ve been careening toward. I couldn’t be more excited. To say you should expect to hear a lot more from us very soon would be an understatement. As I always say, anything worth doing is worth over-doing.
I had a great run at Yahoo! and have nothing but love for my peoples there. I wasn’t looking to leave. On my team in 2008 we released the very cool Yahoo! Media Player, purchased and are integrating the incredible FoxyTunes, released a great new version of Yahoo! Video, and were working on an insanely cool stealth product (I will cry when I lose VPN access because I’ll lose access to my primary music listening vehicle) which I hope still sees the light of day. Scott Moore is a righteous dude and is pulling the Yahoo! Media Division into a cohesive unit. I expect big things. Bring it, yo.
There are *way* too many of you to mention by name, but to all my Yahoo! peoples: I love ya. Like Sly said, “Miss me, see ya soon.” I wouldn’t be surprised to find our companies working together in the not-too-distant future.
Thanks to everyone for their interest in what I’m up to, advice, kind words, criticism, etc. It’s been a hectic couple months of soul-searching and I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have so many smart and caring people around me (Julie, Zoe, Jason, Jonathan, Rob, Dad, and a few others who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty…THANK YOU). Appreciated (even though I know I ignored most of the advice — have to follow my heart and instincts).
Peace,
ian
ps – Now you know why I’ve been light on the blogging front. Been a little pre-occupied lately, not to mention taking a little “vacation” to my hometown in Indiana in the middle. But I have a backlog of silly blog posts I hope to trickle out in the weeks ahead, please subscribe so you don’t miss any of ’em.