A New Chapter
As of January 1st, I am beginning a new chapter in my professional life. I am leaving my day-to-day role as CEO of SmallBox, a creative agency I co-founded 12 years ago, to join Boardable, a board management software company I co-founded in 2016, as its full-time CEO.
In going through this transition, I’ve reflected on the experience of starting and running SmallBox. It was a leap into the unknown over the winter break of 2005/6, but one that has deeply enriched my life. I’m excited to remain involved as an owner and founder, advising and helping out when I can. And I also know, it’s time for another leap.
Over the last two years SmallBox has focused on brand experience design as its core service offering. We identified community-minded organizations, often nonprofits, as our target clients. We launched complementary design thinking workshops. This focus has lead to transformational work with community leaders like CICF, Lumina, Regenstrief, Evansville Public Library and many more. The company did its best work in 2017. I have to brag on the SmallBox team a little, they do amazing work.
Over these last 2 years I was also working on Boardable. Originally inspired by a SmallBox client, we knew early on that we had something special. Non-profit boards often struggle to get by using email and file sharing services. We knew there had to be a better way, so we built it. It helped that I had co-founded a couple local nonprofits along the way and knew the pain first hand of trying to wrangle a board of volunteers via my inbox and calendar. My co-founders brought similar experience. The startup team knew the problem space and had the skills to solve for it.
As 2017 went forward we saw Boardable grow and grow. First, it was friends and family signing up but soon we were serving customers across the country and around the world. We started raising money, a first for me since I had always “bootstrapped” my previous companies. It has been a really positive experience so far. We built the team and brought in advisors. By mid-2017 it was clear that Boardable needed a full-time CEO.
Without getting too mystical I will note that it seems providential that during the time that Boardable was naturally pulling me from SmallBox, Jenny Banner, my wife, was being pulled into SmallBox. Jenny joined SmallBox in April of 2017 and it quickly became clear that I was married to my successor.
Jenny brought years of leadership training and coaching experience with her. She is also an experienced consultant. She has also been with the company from day one, watching and advising as it grew. She was clearly the right person to lead the company as I exited. She had the skills and the fit. Being in the family was a nice bonus.
There have been challenging days during the transition. But, with plenty of support from our family and the SmallBox team, we made it through with only the expected bumps and Jenny is now the CEO of SmallBox. And I am not far away. In fact, I’m in the basement of the SmallBox building along with the Boardable team. We’re a startup and we need to earn the fancy office digs.
I will gush a little and say that watching the love of my life shine in this new role has been an incredibly meaningful experience. This has helped mitigate the emotional rollercoaster of leaving a company I have run for over a decade.
I’m excited to give my all to a new business. I know Boardable is needed by non-profits everywhere. Our customers are amazing and they are bringing us new ideas every day for where the product can go. We are doing our best to keep up. It feels great to be running another company that is helping so many great organizations amplify the good work they do in their respective communities.
This will be an intense year, I am sure, but I have no doubts about the decision to go all in on something new. I know this is the right thing at the right time.
Thank you for reading this and supporting both SmallBox and Boardable.
I wish you a wonderful 2018!
