Joining WHERE

I recently decided to join WHERE, Inc. as the new Chief Innovation Officer.  There (again) is the why and the what.

Why did I decide to join WHERE?  For many reasons.  First, I always want to work with top-notch people.  I was fortunate to do that with EveryScape, and again I’m fortunate to be able to join such a gracious and amazing team at WHERE.  I’ve known Walt (CEO) for years now, and am privileged and honored to work for and with him and his team.

Second, success is infectious.  WHERE has been profitable for the last 6+ quarters; amazing coverage of the mobile, local, social markets; ad network handles over 2 billion requests and 50 million consumer reach; 4+ million consumer app users; great relationship with the carriers; amazing vision and reach with the merchants and SMBs; and much more.  Fuck, need I say more?

Third, growth.  By “growth,” I mean both for the company and personally. WHERE will kick some ass this year.  And I certainly hope to kick some ass and learn/grow at the same time.  Life without learning is death.

Now for the what.  What will I be doing at WHERE as Chief Innovation Officer?  Lots!  It’s an opportunity of a lifetime to be able to straddle both business and tech sides of a coin.

A bit more philosophically, I think innovation happens in two general categories — something very new or something that is a combination of the existing to create a new.  I’m not sure if anything in life really falls into the first category.  I mostly believe in the second category, where innovation manifests itself when people come together to share and build synergistically (BTW, I hate that word — synergy — cuz it’s sooooo over-/mis-used).  I believe WHERE already has all the right ingredients to create many innovative products and services, which makes my job easier (ha!).

Ok, it’s a fuzzy answer but what I hope to do is to nurture and help the growth of WHERE to the next level.  If I can add an ounce to that goal, I am successful.