Thank you, SurveyMonkey
Hi everyone,
I have told many of you, SurveyMonkey is absolutely the best place in the world to work. And as I’ve also told many of you, only one thing could be better: when you have an idea, a great co-founder, and you’re ready to pour your heart into building a company of your own. When that opportunity strikes, you’ve got to go do it. Today, I’m taking my own advice.
After 6.5 years, I am off to start a company again. I’m reuniting with my Evite co-founder and we’ve got a few ideas that we’re passionate about. I’m sure we’ll be running surveys. My last day in the office is April 6th, and after that I’ll be staying on as an advisor to Zander and the leadership team for a few more months.
My decision to leave doesn’t mean I believe any less in the mission of SurveyMonkey: we help people make better decisions. It’s powerful and important. From doctors listening to their patients, to companies listening to their customers, from schools hearing from parents, people hearing from their friends, and researchers gathering data, everyday we make a huge positive financial and societal impact that extends across the globe.
When I started in 2009, SurveyMonkey already had a great foundation. Ryan Finley built a business from scratch — without taking a dime of funding — on the premise of democratizing access to feedback. Our former CEO, Dave Goldberg took over the company in 2009 and set a truly amazing vision to democratize access globally, not just to feedback, but also insights and data from that feedback. The 5.5 years I worked for Dave were some of the best years of my life so far: I had both my children, we built a world class team, we rebuilt our entire platform and product, we went global, we ran thousands of tests, and we created new businesses.
I am confident that I’m leaving you in strong hands with Zander, your leadership team, and each other.
My one request is keep making Dave proud. Be transparent, take risks (but make sure you measure them), and keep the customer’s voice central to our decisions. Keep building a culture where the first question you ask of each other is, “how can I help?”
Thank you for all the laughter we’ve shared, all that I learned from you, and for the great business we built together.
Selina
#makedaveproud
P.S. For those of you who never had the honor of working with Dave, here’s his view on how to build a special company:
