News is out today that Chad Dickerson is leaving Yahoo! to become the CTO of Etsy in New York. That's fantasic news and I wish him the best of luck. Having made a similar decision myself, I know it's not easy.
How time flies. I still remember interviewing Chad on the phone a few years back and talking about some experiences we had in common: using Perl to wrangle news and content feeds from varous partners and so on. It didn't take long to realize he'd be a great addition to Yahoo. That turned out to be quite the understatement. :-)
Chad and I worked together in various capacities for a few years at Yahoo! and he truly made a mark there, kicking off Hack Days, helping put the Yahoo! Developer Network on the right track, and generally kicking ass. Seriously. Ask anyone who worked with Chad.
I know this will be a big loss for Yahoo! and Brickhouse but it will be an even bigger gain for Chad and Etsy.
My only regret is that we didn't get to work together longer.
Good luck, Chad! And welcome to the ex-Yahoo! club.
Posted by jzawodn at July 22, 2008 12:30 PM
As Yahoo! Shareholder I am growing more and more concerned, and especially not sure what to vote on my Gold card.
Any tips?
As ex-Yahoo is this something you can finally talk about, or not yet?
Adi R, it seems fairly clear that a large shareholder who has one seat on the board and can nominate two others is placing his interests in the short term recovery of some of the money he paid to buy Y shares ahead of that of other shareholders. In the process it seems clear that he's harming the long-term value of the company by prolonging the uncertainty.
If this was a plan by two outside parties to damage Y it could hardly have been better executed.
I suggest that if you want to get out quickly you support that shareholder. If you'd prefer long term, I suggest that you act to ensure that it is that shareholder who takes the loss of his share speculation, instead of transferring the loss to all of the other shareholders.
I am totally with you on that view, and I side with the longterm prospects, as with all my other investments.
I was just worried whether Y can properly recover from all that Talent exodus.