You probably used or at least heard of Whereby, a video communication platform that’s simpler and friendlier than Google Meet, Teams, or anything else. In 2020, when the world went into lockdown, Whereby went from a relatively niche product to a global player, next to Zoom and all the “big boys.”
To Øyvind Reed, the CEO at the time, it felt like the moment the team had been waiting for: hockey stick growth. The team grew 5x. The revenue grew 10x. And then, soon enough, came the moment of reckoning:
Let's be real, competing against the likes of Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, when it's embedded or included in a subscription that you have to host your GSuite product or your Microsoft Teams product is borderline impossible.
In 2023, Øyvind realised that after a decade of running the business, he didn’t have the energy to take the company forward:
So I had started thinking that maybe I'm not the right person to take this into the next stage because I, I really believe in the energy that a founder needs to have.
In our conversation today, Øyvind and I discuss what it was like for him to decide to step down as a CEO, how he chose his successor and approached the conversation with the board, and what he would have done differently.
When Øyvind was still the CEO of Whereby, we had a coaching relationship. As is often the case, our agenda didn’t include anything fatigue when we started working together, but that was one of the things that our work helped Øyvind to realise:
So I started to accept internally that, and through conversations with you, actually, right, that I needed also to be able to understand that there's no wonder that I was starting to feel a bit fatigued, right?
Recently, I wrote about how I think about coaching outcomes. The things we aim for when we start working together are rarely the takeaways that stay with us as impactful or meaningful afterwards.
Enjoy the conversation!
Timestamps
(Clickable on YouTube)
00:00 Introduction
01:43 The Founding Story of Whereby
03:35 Growth During the Pandemic
09:53 The Decision to Step Down as CEO
14:55 Transitioning the Leadership
20:43 Involving the Board
30:00 Internal vs External Candidates
32:28 Executing the CEO Transition Plan
33:51 The Emotional Impact of Stepping Down
35:10 Transition Timeline
37:52 Becoming the Executive Chair
38:59 Balancing Family and Professional Life
43:28 Finding the Next Professional Step
45:54 Being a Founder CEO vs. Hired CEO
47:34 Impact on the Family
49:47 Post-Transition Reflections
56:36 Advice for Founders and Investors
01:00:51 Closing Thoughts
Share this post