Bret Taylor Leaves Facebook For Unknown Start-Up
Though it was previously hypothesized that Bret Taylor could replace Mark Zuckerberg as the face of Facebook, recent developments prove dramatically otherwise. The top Facebook executive is “unfriending” the company to work on his own start-up.
Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, supervisor of platform and mobile products, announced that he will be leaving the social media giant this summer to pursue his own as-yet-unrevealed start-up. This news comes as a bit of a blow to Facebook; the newly-public company is already in trouble with the media and investors over its mediocre IPO last month. Taylor’s departure could cause some to infer that Facebook has trouble hanging onto its entrepreneurial leaders.
Oh, and here’s a fun detail – Taylor announced his departure on his Facebook page. Yup.
Taylor admitted in an interview with Allthingsd today that his departure might look bad for Facebook, but assured the media that the company still had a great and talented team, and that Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership is beyond scrutiny. “I had always been upfront with Mark that I eventually wanted to do another start-up,” he said. “And we felt now is the best time after the IPO and the launch of some recent things for me to do that.”
Taylor continued that his time with Facebook “has been the among the most fulfilling times of my career,” and that his leaving is business-as-usual in the Silicon Valley. “Cross-pollination among companies is what drives so much of innovation, so I would not project a lot onto this event,” he said. “I am really confident that the mobile and platform leaders at Facebook can deliver what needs to be done.”
When asked if he had any personal worries about Facebook, he admitted the challenges of taking a company public. “We are dealing with the cultural change of increasing attention, from going from a private company with a lot of scrutiny to a public company with a lot more scrutiny,” he said.
As for the future? Taylor is looking for an opportunity to break into a part of the market he doesn’t understand very well as consumer, much like when he worked with Google’s mapping effort. “People said we had no sense of direction, so making maps better made sense,” he joked. “That turned out pretty well.”
