Chris Alden just took over as Chairman and CEO of blogging infrastructure startup Six Apart. Barak Berkowitz, CEO since 2004, steps down. Berkowitz will remain with the company as an advisor.
Alden joined Six Apart a year ago as part of the acquisition of Rojo, a company he founded.
Six Apart was founded in 2002 by husband and wife team Ben Trott and Mena G. Trott. Mena was the original CEO.
Six apart has some really good products and very loyal following. I won’t be surprised if the whole company gets bought out pretty soon.
Google has blogger.
Yahoo has …
Yahoo has 360!
Ben and Mena were born 6 days a part from each other if anyone cares.
uh.. who else is there? Microsoft has…um, live spaces?
Can Six Apart still be considered a “startup” really?
http://www.oakr...vc/vcterms.html (Always a stickler for terminology, I.)
6A has made so many strategic missteps in the past few years that they may not be able to recover. Good luck to Alden, he’ll need it.
Rojo once was a great online feed reader. Then they completely wrecked it and never were able to fix the problems. This IMHO isn’t a great reference…
The change is needed, however, I don’t think it will make that much difference; except to prepare for ” the sale”
They have a good product but it seems like they are always headed in different directions… MovableType, Typepad, Vox, Live Journal… I suppose a user forum is up next?
It seems strange that they have MT and then launch an Enterprise version that they swear by, only to drop it a year later to combine the two products again and offer an “Enterprise Pack”. They are in need of some direction. Maybe this is the move that gives it to them…
This company put me through a shitload of interviewage, then left me hanging without even a “thanks for your time.”
Nice to see Chris Alden back in the spotlight after his days at the Red Herring Magazine.
$20 million a year in revenue isnt going to get them to break even this year…so they miss their numbers yet again and barak is out … the place is a revolving door with employees — not a great sign. be hard pressed to turn this around with an idea man. must be for sale.
Chris is a smart guy, and a quality guy. I wish him all the best.
6A is like a seniorhome maintaining outdated legacy sites – LJ+typepad are loosing users to wordpress/facebook+myspace with each day that passes.
Does this announcement pass the “So What” test? This plagued company has been unable to sell itself under its past leadership. The company is six years old and has failed in recent past to be an innovator or to grow in ways that are necessary to attract buyers. I understand that there is no significant growth with any of their four product lines.