For months, Jeremy Wright, one of the founders of b5 Media, and I spent a ton of time looking for somebody to take the helm of b5. This person would, alongside the management A Team (Chad, Joe, and Rachel), continue to grow and expand the property. b5 is a great investment by JLA and Brightspark Ventures. The content is excellent with page views, uniques and revenue all going in the right direction.
As Jeremy announced on his blog, b5 scored a bit hit with the ability to get Elaine Kunda onboard as the new CEO. Elaine has a pile of experience in the content space, knows how to sell, and is an amazingly smart, aggressive, and totally plugged in executive. She and the team will kick it up more than ‘a notch’, of that you can be sure.
From JLA:
"Elaine is exactly the right leader for b5media, with her strong leadership and proven ability to lead top performing teams,” said John Albright, managing partner of JLA Ventures. “We look forward to continuing our investment in b5media as they continue to build on their position as a leading online media company."
Uh huh, what he said.
But the real hero in all of this: the management team including Jeremy. No behind the scenes nonsense, no rumors, no leaks, no boardroom drama, nope. Just a bunch of professionals recognizing that great companies combined with great talent means success. It was a true pleasure to have open and transparent conversations where the good of the company, the protection of the bloggers, and what’s best for the team were in front of egos.
If you are a founder, speak with Jeremy about all these trials and tribulations. The advice you get will be from real experience. It is worth the call, tweet, skype, IM.
It was an honor to be a small part of this company. Rock on, gang.
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