I found Bonforte's "explanation" annoying. It smacked of the same condescending attitude that some (note I didn't say all) MBA types have towards hackers that says "you're a good programmer but leave the business stuff to me."
FWIW, I don't have an MBA. I am an entrepreneur for 15 years. Nor am I a "marketing type". I am a classic geek and a product guy. I started coding when I was 11 on an Apple II+. I have spent every penny I have made on gadgets and computers since I was 13. I coded into college and then focused on product management. I have founded two startups, headed two and worked for one other. I have worked in the Valley for 12 years.
Nor do I think there is that attitude at Xobni of anything other than love and respect for engineering. We are an engineering and product focused startup. Our head of marketing is one of the founders who has a degree in engineering.
Gabor is an ambitious, super smart guy. He wants to do his own startup. We can look for more sinister motives, but it is just that simple.
As far as "the same condescending attitude", I think you are misreading my comment. Gabor wants to do his own startup. I don't blame him, and as an entrepreneur I admire his gumption, which in this case is even bigger, as he is leaving a startup that is doing well. He certainly passes the first test of being an entrepreneur...he is consciously and rationally adding risk into his life.
I do tell anyone that asks me about doing their own startup, "It is harder than it looks." I think most founders would agree that behind all the sexy stuff, startups are physically and emotionally draining, and for many they are financially taxing, too.
It is fun to think there is great drama happening behind close doors. In this case, it just isn't there. I consider Gabor a friend. I would work with him again. And I suspect there will always be a job for him at Xobni if he ever wants to come back (or not leave).
You might be right about that. My comments are a bit obsequious. I am a big fan of Gabor, and I don't have a bunch of bad stuff to say about him. But I can see how it might come across as fawning.
"... CEO Jeff Bonforte (who joined the company only five months ago) says that Cselle simply decided that he was no longer happy at Xobni, and wanted to try building his own startup. ..."
and
"... I’ve wanted to be a founder of a company that makes a difference. I’ve wanted to build a workplace where people can be creative, productive, and happy, and a product that delights users and improves their lives. I feel like the time is now ..."
Reading the comment makes it pretty clear why he left. The number of first person references and self-promotional statements there suggest underlying personnel conflict.
Whether the company is going up or down at this point will probably depend on whether it's a development play or a marketing play. Whenever core engineers bail you usually end up with worse people doing a more incompetent job. Sometimes OK if the value is all in the marketing, and technology is getting in the way.
I'm having flashbacks to reading High Stakes, No Prisoners when Ferguson starts to realize what a mistake he made with hiring his new CEO. If they had only sold the company to Microsoft a few months into his reign the parallel would been even more eerie.
Looking beyond the why - I think what Gabor did is smart, but it takes a lot of balls to leave something that you were instrumental in building, and all your stock options, and saying: "If I did it once, I can do it again"
