Ok, Ok… I’m Leaving Layered Tech – But Not Completely!
This morning I woke up to several emails from people who read Philbert’s, from Tier 1 Research, report that I was leaving LT. I must say, that was some sharp reporting! I have no idea how he found out about that so quickly. We didn’t really even announce it publicly yet. But he was very kind to me in his writeup (below) and I’m thankful for anything I was able to contribute while at Layered Tech.
Layered Tech chief marketing officer John Pozadzides departs
by Philbert Shih
Chief marketing officer John Pozadzides is leaving Layered Technologies to take the CEO position at iFusion Labs, owners of Woopra, a startup Web analytics and tracking platform. Woopra also happens to be a customer of Layered Tech’s private grid offering, buying a 100-server grid deployment for its ability to handle traffic fluctuations as it moved into a public launch (early in 2008).
Pozadzides came to Layered Tech in Q3 2007 as part of the new management team put in place by CEO Jack Finlayson that included some familiar faces from the older Savvis days. While he was not in the job for long, Pozadzides played a role in raising the company’s profile. Layered Tech had long been somewhat of a secret and that has quickly changed. Pozadzides can also be credited for helping position the company as a leader in virtualized and cloud-type infrastructure – an area that the company has made great strides in over the last few years. Through product development and the acquisition of FastServers, Layered Tech has quickly moved beyond dedicated hosting and built an identity as a total infrastructure solutions provider for the developer, reseller, SMB and mid-market enterprise space. Pozadzides deserves some of the credit for making that happen.
Pozadzides departs at a busy time, as another major initiative – implementation of the Astro automation platform – is well underway. The technology and platform have been built and the next step is to integrate the on-demand benefits into the overall marketing message. This will be high on the next marketing executive’s list of priorities. T1R sees Astro as a critical piece to Layered Tech’s potential success. If the messaging is right, Layered Tech will have a nice differentiator – a truly on-demand infrastructure provider with multiple hosting flavors – that will resonate in the marketplace.
Layered Tech founder, COO and president Todd Abrams will assume most of Pozadzides’ sales and marketing roles on an interim basis as the company searches for a successor.
Philbert got most of the facts correct, but I’ll just expand on of a few of the points a bit:
- As most of you know, being a partner in the venture, I’ve always held the CEO position at iFusion Labs, even while working as CMO at Layered Tech. It was OK for a while but the stress and time constraints of two “C-level” jobs took its tole on me physically. In addition, Woopra has grown so big and so fast that I really need to be spending all my time nurturing it. So, this was a very difficult decision for me, but at the end of the day it was absolutely necessary.
- I still have a vested interest in Layered Tech. Although I am stepping down, I am friends with basically everyone over there and will be available to them whenever they need advice and assistance. In addition, all of Woopra’s infrastructure is hosted at Layered Tech, so we remain a very signifigant – and growing – client.
- Just to be 100% crystal clear, I would not be leaving LT if it weren’t for Woopra. I love the company, the people, and the challenge. It is the best place to get highly personalized and absolutely top notch hosting at fantastic prices.
So, going forward I’ll be concentrating on three things:
- Woopra. This is my full time job, and I absolutely LOVE it. My partners, our team, and our clients are all absolutely fantastic! I mean I truly, truly love everything about it. I am really looking forward to spending ALL my time on this project.
- Wealth Nation. This is a new radio style podcast that I’m producing along with my close friends Cali Lewis and Neal Campbell. We are going to talk about all sorts of things that cumulatively equal wealth: personal finances, business topics, health, and more. You can download our very first episode now, and subscribe on iTunes if you want.
- One Man’s Blog. I always enjoy sharing things with my loyal readers. I think that everyone in the world realizes that I’ve got some fiercely loyal fans (which I appreciate more than you can ever know) and no matter what else I have going on in life, I intend to keep up with this blog forever.
So, thanks for all the concern from everyone, and I hope this kind of clears things up for you guys!
One email per post. Twenty years of this, still going. Unsubscribe whenever.
That’s what moving up in life is about at times you may just want to try different things. Hope things are going well so far.
Heard the news in the Tier 1 newsfeed. Wanted to drop by and say congratulations. Best of luck!
John, you are an inspiration, and I wish you all the very best with your significant career move. It does make sense to focus the bulk of your energy on that which you are passionate about, rather than diluting your efforts and not doing justice to all of your commitments.
I am looking forward to hearing and seeing much more of Woopra in future. Wishing you good luck would seem a bit cliche’d, seeing that you’re doing pretty well at creating your own.
That’s amazing news! good luck with all the new stuff
Wow – so excited for you and Woopra, John! and the new podcast is super groovy, too! I do have to admit, as one of your fiercely-loyal OMB fans, that I was selfishly super-excited when I read that you were leaving LT. God bless LT, but, they took you ‘away’ from us, darnit! Hehe!
It’s going to be exciting to see the kick butt progress that can really happen now at Woopra, with more of your attention focused there.
Congrats, John!! Here’s to an exciting new chapter! :D
Congrats John :) For getting promoted to a better project. Would love to hear more from you :)
It sounds like Woopra is really taking off. Congrats Jon. :)
Personally, I’ve always wondered how you’ve kept up with so much stuff going on all the time. I know that you are a “type A”, but you deserve a little rest now and again. To quote Zap Branigan (Futurama): “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised.”