I have decided that I will step aside as CEO of Easygenerator. Starting January 1, 2022, I will become the company’s Co-founder and Chief Learning Strategist instead. Let me explain.
This past December first marks 11 years since I became the CEO of Easygenerator. In these 11 years, I have played my role in bringing the organization to where it is today. In this period we switched the tool from an instructional design tool to a tool for employees based on our Employee-generated learning approach. We moved to a pure SaaS model: a 100% cloud-based and a 100% subscription-based. We switched from selling via a network of partners to a direct selling approach. We changed everything except the name Easygenerator.
And this paid off. We are now a fantastic organization of more than 100 people, with customers from over 50 countries. Our revenue is over 9.000.000, and it is still snowballing. We have offices in Rotterdam, Zhytomyr, Dubai, and Medellín, and even more, people scattered around the globe. We’ve become an amazing place to work, with a unique team that is incredibly diverse and has an amazing culture. We have a product that delivers great value to our customers, and we have unprecedented customer support.
I’m so proud of what we have achieved. The next step in Easygenerator’s ambition is to grow to a revenue of 100 million, which means we’d need around 1000 people. While I’m excited about where we are heading, I’m unsure if I’m the right person to lead the company in this next phase. On top of that, I’m sure that I would not enjoy leading this process. It is not where my heart is; it is not where my strength is.
When I look at the work I’ve done, there are some activities I like more than others. I love working on the company’s vision and translating that into the product’s direction. I love thought-leader activities like writing, presenting, hosting the podcast, and leading webinars. I love the conversations I have with our customers: challenging them, helping them, informing them.
These are the things that I want to spend more time on, and that is precisely what I will be doing. I’m focusing on the things where I can bring the most value, and those things happen to be the things that I like most — the things that give me energy.
We decided that Jan-Kees de Jager will become the new CEO of Easygenerator. He has been a shareholder at Easygenerator for 17 years now. In the last two years, he was more closely involved as the president of our board. He and I are 100% aligned on the goals and direction of Easygenerator. He is the perfect person to lead the company into its next phase of growth.
I’m looking forward to focusing on those elements of my work that allow me to bring my unique value to the company, the employees, the product, and our customers. It also means I do plan on writing more often on this blog next year, so you will be hearing more from me.
Kasper Spiro stepping aside as CEO of Easygenerator
The Learning 2019 conference
I have been to a ton of learning conferences but this will be my first time at #learning2019. I’m looking forward to it and I’m planning to report on all interesting sessions via this blog.
