My name is Jake Wobbrock and until recently, I was the founding CEO of AnswerDash. I have two children, a boy nearly eight and a girl nearly five. The cliche is true: They grow up so fast. I remember the day I left my son, then five, at his first kindergarten class. Walking away across the playground I let a single tear escape my eye, and although it was only one tear, it contained within it a mixture of pride and sorrow. On the one hand, I was proud of my little boy reaching his first day of school. On the other, I was sad because memories were already being made, and that meant certain stages were now behind us. He never again would take his first step or say his first word... or have his first day of kindergarten.
Life is that way, and so are startups. They begin as infants unable to talk or walk, and if all goes well, they grow and take on a life and personality of their own. Of course this is a good thing, and every founder wants his or her startup to grow and mature and thrive. Any nostalgia for the earliest days is quickly replaced by the excitement of each new stage and the days ahead.
Bill Colleran, CEO
It is with that same excitement that I'm thrilled to announce AnswerDash's new CEO, my successor, William Colleran, J.D., Ph.D. With all those letters after his name you'd hardly expect Bill, as I know him, to be so down to earth, but that's exactly what he is. Bill is the former CEO of Impinj and Innovent Systems. He has a J.D. from Harvard Law and a Ph.D. from UCLA in Electrical Engineering. He's incredibly bright, personable, visionary, and capable, and I feel like the luckiest co-founder in the world to be handing the reins (the reign?) to Bill. I also feel very lucky to be AnswerDash's new Chief Scientist, and I'll get to work closely with Bill and the exectuvie team to bring more of AnswerDash's remarkable benefits in support ticket reduction and sales uplift to more companies. With more evidence piling up that AnswerDash repeatedly cuts support tickets in half and increases sales conversion rates by 10-30%, it feels like our future is limitless.
Andy Ko, AnswerDash's Co-founder & CTO, says of Bill's hire: "Being scrappy is fun... From building our first alpha to working closely with a small team, I've found the freedom and flexibility of an early startup to be hugely rewarding. But true impact comes when all of those great ideas gel together into a great business, channeling unbridled creativity and passion into real growth. Bill represents our future, and I can't wait to watch him mature our business into something as transformative as it is exciting."
With a CEO of Bill's caliber taking the helm at AnswerDash, people are noticing. GeekWire covered the news first. AnswerDash also had its own press release.
Welcome aboard, Bill!