This chapter in my life began March of 2011. I was invited to join the team by Dre and Daniel. Coincidently, it ended on the month that I officially hit 6 years with the company. The idea was never mine, it belongs to Daniel; it was his vision, his idea. It was something I found fascinating and challenging, it was something I felt I could execute against.
We often joke that it’s about the experience, and what an experience it has been.
A Chapter Ends
I genuinely thought we would never sell. Alas, on March 22nd, 2017, we made the hardest announcement of our professional lives. We had entered into an agreement to sell our company – Sucuri – to GoDaddy. On April 4th, at 6 pm PST, the deal closed. Inside, my heart was half broken and half elated.
Fortunately, I had the good fortune of consulting with a number of people, but two stand out – Matt Mullenweg and Jason Cohen.
Matt challenged with me with the question of “Why” – it’s amazing how simple, and yet difficult a question that is. Jason helped me personally weigh the decision, helping me think of this as the end of a chapter, not the end of a book.
A New Chapter Begins
With the end of a chapter though, comes the start of a new one.
The past six years I have had the luxury to operate in almost complete autonomy. If I didn’t like something, I didn’t do it. I built the environment around me that I felt most comfortable in, the one I felt I could best execute in (not necessarily the best one for us as an organization). The feeling of a false self importance was growing. Complacency was setting in. The emboldened confidence, that comes with perceived success, was creating blinders. This new chapter will challenge the status quo. It will make me better.
I will stay on with GoDaddy / Sucuri. We will continue to build the brand independently and lead our teams to Sucuri 2.0, while simultaneously working with GoDaddy to bolster their own digital security for their millions of customers. We have a strong sense of responsibility to our people; employees and customers alike.
How hard can it be? Stay tuned…
