Update: See our interview with Matt here.
Facebook’s Matt Cohler, the 31-year old VP of Product Management for Facebook, will leave the company this fall and become a General Partner at Benchmark Capital. He will remain a special advisor to Facebook, whatever that means (likely that his stock will continue to vest).
Cohler joined Facebook in 2005. Prior to Facebook, he was a very early employee and the vice president and general manager of LinkedIn. Before LinkedIn and Facebook, Cohler was a consultant in the Silicon Valley office of McKinsey & Company and worked in Beijing at AsiaInfo Holdings, a telecom solutions provider that built China’s Internet infrastructure.
Facebook continues to clean house - Chief Revenue Officer and VP Operations Owen Van Natta left Facebook earlier this year amid rumors of a power struggle (although the official reason was that Van Natta wanted a CEO role at a different startup). And CTO Adam D’Angelo left the company in May. Meanwhile, Facebook as been picking up ex-Google execs left and right to fill out additional roles at the company.
As a personal aside, this is a big loss for Facebook. Cohler is (well, was) a popular exec at Facebook, and a good spokesperson to the press and community. It’s also not a good sign that so many senior execs are leaving such a hot startup. The power struggles need to settle down, and soon, so this company can grow and fulfill whatever destiny is in store for them.
jesus. that’s a huge loss.
Matt’s a good guy. I hope he left on his own terms (sounds like he did). Congrats on the new gig!
Tuyen
Another exec that realizes social networks do not monetize…
Who can blame him? They are seriously the biggest group of children I have ever done business with.
That’s a big loss. He is a damn smart guy. Look at his resume, ridiculous.
http://www.readtheanswer.com/index.php?rta=blog
dot com bubble has arrived
I have seen him at the German Next08 conference - I was more than disappointed - a really poor boring presentation with the conclusion: facebook is a social network!!! weak-weak-weak!
Hope he does a better job presenting next time!!!
dude….kids are running (or is it, ruining) that company
OK, so FB is “cleaning house” and Yahoo is disintegrating. Tomato, tomahto.
This sort of political garbage is a result of poor leadership. The investors need to step in and play “parent”.
Oh no, more silly Facebook coverage. A bunch of arrogant, over paid, over funded children, with VC sugar daddies. Facebook’s destiny…are you serious? Its an over glorified, press hyped, flirt system for people who are simply too afraid to go out and find a real, living, breathing human being to talk to. Let’s write about serious technology, not bubble jobs!
Well hope his new jobs as good as his old. As a fan of facebook I wish him the best of luck.
This is a huge loss for FB. Matt is a brilliant dude and more importantly, hugely likeable, trustworthy and honest. I know how fond he is Mark, Cheryl, and the rest of the FB team. It just must have been the right time with and offer he couldn’t refuse. I’m sure he’ll remain the biggest FB supporter out there. And he’s going to make a hell of a VC…..
Congrats.
Yeah that is def a huge loss for fb. But FB seems pretty damn lame anyways. I know it has a huge circuit of users but come on. I almost guarantee almost all facebook users have a myspace as well, but i bet there is a large number of myspace users that dont have facebook accounts. It seems destined to go down the tubes eventually
@paul
i agree!
muah ha ha ha - matt is not joining Benchmark - he is coming to hatebook for world domination - muah ha ha ha ha
as someone who knows facebook intimately, my guess is that sheryl pushed matt out. while matt’s a smart and nice guy, he never really had a defined operating role at the company - his title changed with every month - and while he was articulate, i never experienced him actually having an operating role. he always struck me as a great analyst, b-school guy….but one that might have trouble building. in that sense, i think benchmark might be a better home for his skills.
i don’t see this as a problem for facebook - more of a transition as sheryl puts her stamp on the organization.
just me .02.
Executive?!! He’s 31. Does he even shave yet? No one that age, named Matt could ever pass for an “executive”…
Looks like new executives like to come in and clean house. I wonder how often they wind up destroying an organization by putting their stamp on the organization.
Sounds like Facebook is not at all what it use to be in the early days.
It’s just funny that all these guys are realizing that Facebook is never going to make it big. Social media is cool but it’s not money.
Yet another person-x-leaves-company-y-oh-no-the-sky-is-falling post.
People leave companies for any number of reasons. It doesn’t mean the company is dying. It is usually a matter of personality fit, other opportunities, or just personal reasons (baby, yacht, burned out, etc)
The silicon valley culture is that nobody is a lifer at company (except perhaps a rare founder or two). 3-4 years is a long stretch in one job. It is one of the things that makes silicon valley great. Nothing spurs innovation more than leaving a company you felt comfortable at and joining a new one where you have to prove yourself yet again. Plus, it leaves a pool of talented people that are available for startups.
I hope he knows that VC’s have to wash their hair more than once a week.
Facebook needs a new CEO…and fast.
wow, that is a big move.
Matt was at LinkedIn for a few years, now also a few years at Facebook. i doubt it was a power struggle as much as him deciding to take on some new projects & challenges (& according to Kara, seems like that was the case… )
When he left LinkedIn it was also on very good terms & with Reid’s blessing & support. tough loss for Facebook i agree, but my guess he’ll still be involved there albeit on a less regular basis.
Matt is super intelligent, yet also very down to earth & quite personable. Great guy, and i’m sure he’ll do well wherever he goes… but i doubt he’s burned any bridges at Facebook. just an awesome individual all-around.
good luck & congrats to him.
The “staying on as an advisor” part is complete BS. They are saying that to make Matt’s departure look less bad. It doesn’t mean anything, anyone can be an advisor to any company.
Translating Matt’s statements: “Facebook is great. Everything is perfect. That’s why I’m leaving.” Huh?
The reality: Facebook is going to crash and burn - they missed selling out at the top and the execs know it. Facebook Apps was a flop, and people are tired of the social networking hype.
Shoulda sold in early 2007, hate to break it to ya.
I think too many people are reading this as somehow indicating trouble at Facebook. On the contrary, speaking as a former VC at a top-tier firm, a partnership at Benchmark is absolutely the brass ring in the VC world. Remember that the partners at Benchmark are *equal* partners, which means being a new partner there is much more meaningful (in terms of economics and likely in terms of say-so) than being a new junior partner anywhere else.
Even if Facebook turns out to be a bigger success than the hype would have you believe, the opportunity to be a partner at Benchmark is a once in a lifetime opportunity. (And he’s probably already vested on a quite a sizable chunk of Facebook–and LinkedIn–shares.)
Benchmark ain’t no Sequoia
for someone so likeable, smart and humble, why did he decide to join benchmark? its got to be the $$$ because it sure isnt because he wants to associate himself with a humble group of people. gurley in particular, is the most arrogant piece of work on the face of this earth! and thats an understatement. hope gurley is not representative for the rest of the firm. good luck my friend.
“Sounds like Facebook is not at all what it use to be in the early days.”
Early days? It’s only 4 years old.
I can’t even point to where there were enough days to put together to call them early.
I’m not picking a fight, but surely Facebook has a lot of room to grow before the early days stigma can be realized.
As for “Social Media can’t be monetized” I still think the jury is out on that one folks. No one has yet cracked it to be like search, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t enough cake to make it worth pursuing. Seems like every new medium on the web is being compared to how search is monetized.