Today we announced a variety of changes here at ClearSlide to help accelerate our market leading position.

The first is that Dustin Grosse has been named ClearSlide’s new CEO to lead our next phase of growth. Dustin has held senior leadership positions at Microsoft, DocuSign, PlaceWare, and most recently served as ClearSlide’s COO for the past year. After seven years of leading the company, Al Lieb and Jim Benton have decided now is the right time to step away from day-to-day company operation, but will remain active in supporting ClearSlide. Here’s the link to the press release: ClearSlide Names Dustin Grosse as CEO for Next Phase of Growth.

The second is that we announced some internal changes to serve our customers more effectively, focus on our most attractive market opportunities, and continue to deliver product innovation that help Sales and Marketing Leaders more successfully engage with insight to achieve better business results.

To read further about these changes, below is the note from Al to the company.

Sliders –

After almost 7 years of leading our company, I know now is the right time to make a change and step away from the CEO role.   I’m excited to name our COO, Dustin Grosse, as our new CEO effective today.

The main reason for this change is that I really want to empower Dustin, and our next generation of leaders, to help scale and evolve the company through our next phase of growth. Dustin is passionate about the success of our customers and helping to accelerate the scaling of our business, and I know he’ll do a great job representing ClearSlide as our new captain.

I’m very proud of what we’ve built to date – today we serve thousands of companies, including some of the largest enterprises in the world.   We’ve innovated how sales and marketing teams interact with their customers and we’ve redefined how to use insights to improve customer conversations.  And, I’m just as excited about what’s ahead of us – new value for sales reps, sales leaders and marketing leaders (“Above-the-Line”!) and all the product innovations and customer prospects in the pipeline.

I will continue to represent ClearSlide as an active board member, and along with Jim, as our largest shareholders.   Jim is moving to a strategic advisor and board observer role.  We will help anytime needed with customers, product ideas or anything else the team needs and remain the most adamant supporters of the Slider Universe.

I have full confidence in our next generation of leaders – including Dustin, Jeff, Lawrence, Raj, Michele and Schultz – as well as our full leadership team.    I can trust our company’s future in the hands of so many experienced leaders and staff that I’ve enjoyed working closely with over the years.

It has been great working day-to-day with you and I’m proud that so many of you have been able to advance your careers here at ClearSlide.  If you want to chat 1:1, just drop me, Jim or Dustin a line.   This is not a goodbye – I’ll see you for board meetings and in-between whenever anyone needs help on anything.   Thank you all,

al

You can also read below Dustin’s note to all ClearSlide employees about his immediate priorities.

Sliders –

I’m honored by the opportunity to work with you as CEO in the next phase of ClearSlide’s success.  I’m committed to collaborating closely with each of you to serve our customers, to scale our business, and to drive improvements that will further accelerate our market leadership.

I want to thank Al Lieb and Jim Benton for their confidence in me, for founding this innovative company, and helping ClearSlide build success with so many valued customers.

As every Slider knows, we are committed to providing our customers with the most powerful communication platform and the most valuable real-time insights.  We do this to help every ClearSlide user successfully engage people important to their business and to help leaders improve how they market, sell, and offer support.  We will continue to measure our impact by the success we generate with our customers and users.

We have many assets that equip us to extend ClearSlide’s position of market leadership. These include all of our loyal users – who rave about ClearSlide’s impact in achieving their goals.  We’ve built a digital engagement platform with rich, expanding capabilities and links to partners that competitors can only dream of replicating.  Our passionate employees and leaders are committed to serving our customers, users, and each other to further accelerate our success.

Aligning our strategy with world-class execution is imperative to scaling our business in this next phase of growth.  We will narrow our focus to a few key priorities.  First, we will invest in most attractive market opportunities including stronger above-the-line benefits for more senior above-the-line leaders.  Second, we will make ClearSlide easier for everyone to try, buy, and use.  Third, we will align our operations and further build a culture of excellence that prioritizes growth, efficiency, and profitability.

Great companies never rest on their laurels, don’t accept complacency, and embrace improvements that disrupt the status-quo within their own organizations. To thrive, we must commit to being agile, to go the extra mile, and to make the most of the opportunity before us.  As in any worthwhile endeavor, the road ahead will not be easy or without challenge.  While we can’t completely control the future, we will align as one team committed to exceeding our customers’ expectations.

It is my expectation that we all hold ourselves to the highest standards of excellence. You can trust that I will lead by example and demonstrate as much commitment as I ask of you. Business excellence requires a team effort and I ask each of you to be empowered to analyze our challenges, generate improvement ideas, and make them happen with urgency.  We must experiment more and learn faster to create an inspiring pace of innovation – not just in our product, but also in every part of our business.  I welcome and expect many improvements will come from each of you.

Thank you for your passionate support to each other in the next phase of our journey. Together we will delight customers and make ClearSlide a great place to work in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, and beyond!

Cheers, Dustin

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Written by: Michael Schultz, VP Marketing