Ego’s, Titles, and Time, Oh My.

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Back in 2017 when I was hacking on a Chrome extension to help people copy data from one website to another, I had no real idea where it would lead me, or who it would bring me to. It wasn’t a “company”, and frankly it wasn’t even a “product”, it was just a project. 5 years later, my co-founder Will and I have a team of over 50 amazing people, a network of over 2,000 incredible freelancers, a trusted group of great investors, and many supportive customers, from startups to large household names.

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I distinctly remember early on in our journey when we were required to formalize titles for the two of us to apply to Y Combinator (although we didn’t get accepted. Their loss!). From the outside, it was “obvious” that I should be the CEO, for the sake of the story. To be honest, I didn’t totally agree at the time, but I went along with it as it was clearly the consensus of everyone I consulted with (including Will). So I became the CEO, Will became the COO, and we were off to the races!

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Recently, a core goal of Will and mine is to better align everyone within our organization on immediate and long term goals to ensure everyone is working towards the same north star, and not taking any unnecessary detours. This exercise has brought up some important questions and realizations for the two of us, most importantly around our titles.

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Over the last 5 years, we have built and led Woflow as equal co-founders. For long-term planning, setting direction, and strategy, this has always been the case. But more tactically, our separation of responsibilities is clear as day. I am in charge of product and technology, and Will handles the investor and board responsibilities, as well as the commercial and operations sides of the business. Anyone remotely close to technology businesses would consider my responsibilities more in line with a CTO role and Will’s moreso a CEO role. 

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Ego has never played a role for either of us at Woflow and never will. We make decisions based on what is best for the company and team. We both feel that solidifying our titles with what our true responsibilities are will better align the company both internally and externally. It also better represents what each of us are most passionate about. After spending half a decade building this business it is clear to both of us where we find the most joy within the business. With that said, I am excited to announce Will Bewley is officially becoming the new CEO of Woflow, and I will be assuming the role of CTO. 

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By doing this, our day-to-day roles within the company will become clearer to those we work with every day, as well as to our advisors and investors. It will better align both Will and myself on our responsibilities, and help move us forward to our ultimate goals. 

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Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted to build a company. To me, that’s always meant being a founder, not necessarily a CEO. The decision we’ve made here will move us ahead in a positive direction, and will ultimately make that childhood dream company of mine a much bigger success.

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Cheers to the next chapter of Woflow!

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