Insider Pages founder Stu MacFarlane has been replaced as CEO by Mitch Galbraith, a veteran of Yahoo’s small business division who was recently brought in as VP of Advertising. The change at the top appears to have been initiated by Insider’s investors, which include IdeaLab, Sequoia Capital and Softbank.
The turn of events is a surprise. In a conversation at SES Local just two weeks ago, MacFarlane expressed strong confidence in the local review/IYP site’s prospects. He told me he had just sold his house in Manhattan Beach, near LA — the house whose remodelling was the inspiration for InsiderPages. He also said he was relocating his family to new digs in the Bay Area, where the company moved last year. Now the company is officially saying that MacFarlane didn’t really want to move. Whatever. (Explanations for executive departures are kind of a joke in the PR community, right?)
While Insider Pages has been an early leader among the IYP-driven social networks, and may still be, it appears to have recently lost ground to Yelp. Judy’s Book is another contender. Is it possible that the company, like others in the space, has unnerved its investors with a high burn rate? It is. Insider has had a number of expensive initiatives, such as its print “best of” guide, and the introduction of Pay-Per-Call models at the local level. But this is just speculation on my part.
In an (unposted) release announcing the change, Sequoia’s Roelof Botha said: “Mitch brings just the right mix of business, advertising and online community-building acumen to help drive the next stage of growth at Insider Pages. We’re thrilled to have him taking the helm at this juncture.” In the release, Galbraith is given credit for Insider’s recent redesign, which “features a simpler, cleaner look & feel aimed at making the member experience quick and easy.”
Nov. 17 Update: Insider is said to be down to 10 employees, from a high of 50.
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[...] Interesting adjunct to Andy, Stu MacFarlane, founder of InsiderPages has ‘resigned’ from his post as CEO and Mitch Galbraith, formerly the VP of advertising is taking over, Peter Krasilovsky reports. While it may seem scandalous, to Andy’s point in his post, the sales component of the business has been the toughest to crack, and at some point in time it makes sense for a sales person to lead the ship. Verizon Superpages, for instance, is simply a large sales organization and not much else. [...]
[...] Founded in 2004 at around the same time as Insider’s Pages, which just changed CEOs, Judy’s Book claims one million unique visitors; a national footprint; and content distribution deals with Google, Yahoo, Local.com, Yellowpages.com and InfoSpace. [...]
[...] First, let’s talk about InsiderPages, whose ranks have fallen from roughly 30 employees to 10 since the departure of founder and CEO Stu McFarlane. Shotland’s departure, and others down the line, suggests a dramatic overhaul/downsizing is in the works under new CEO Mitch Galbraith. [...]
[...] Related: Peter Krasilovsky tells us on the Kelsey Group’s blog that ” Insider Pages, whose ranks have fallen from roughly 30 employees to 10 since the departure of founder and CEO Stu McFarlane. (Andrew) Shotland’s departure, and others down the line, suggests a dramatic overhaul/downsizing is in the works under new CEO Mitch Galbraith” [...]