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MongoDB CEO resigns to join Meta

366 points · 306 comments · diek

  1. everfrustrated · · focus · HN ↗
    "effective immediately" means either... he doesn't have a contract with a notice period, or he does and is willing to forfeit any benefit from it like share options, etc.

    One reason might be the share price has collapsed and he has no confidence in it coming back (pretty scandalous if he's the CEO!), or Meta has offered him inducements > what he's walking away from.

    Good way to burn a lot of bridges. He's never going to be hired as CEO by anybody for the rest of his career.

    1. ChicagoDave · · focus · HN ↗
      Yeah there’s a recruiting firm that literally hires ex-CEOs, puts them on the bench, then searches for their next “assignment”. They pay these people to golf until they place them.

      <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.heidrick.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.heidrick.com&#x2F;

      1. apocalyptic0n3 · · focus · HN ↗
        There&#x27;s multiple of these for executives. We tried using one at my last company to find a Sales exec (I think they would have been c-level). I was part of the interviewing process and what we found out was that we absolutely needed the ideas and practices these candidates had and simultaneously couldn&#x27;t afford them at even half their asking price. It was a real conundrum and the company more or less failed 18 months later after management decided &quot;doing nothing&quot; was the right decision.
        1. jmalicki · · focus · HN ↗
          I worked at one company hire a part-time CFO. Apparently part time execs are thing - late in their career and established and successfully to think about retiring, but don&#x27;t want to get out of the game completely. Or to be e.g. a CFO for 3-4 startups at once. Not sure if that exists for sales, but I thought it was a neat idea.
          1. apocalyptic0n3 · · focus · HN ↗
            Yeah, Fractional C-levels are definitely a thing. I&#x27;ve served as a fractional CTO before. It can be really helpful for a small-to-mid size company trying to grow, but not nearly as effective as a full time exec doing the same tasks. Not having someone dedicating all of their time to understanding the company and the problems that need to be solved really limits how useful they can be.
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