Announcing my next move; Yahoo! to Ribbit

Life is a game of chess. You have to make your moves carefully, consciously and without emotion. When you decide to leave a company and team you really care about, the emotion factor just can’t be ignored.

After 17 very successful months at Yahoo!, I have decided to leave for an exciting startup company in Mountain View called Ribbit. Before I tell you about Ribbit, I want to reflect a bit on the significance Yahoo! has played in my career. It’s been a true partnership here, and I honeslty believe we’ve drawn the very best from each other and gotten just about the same.

Making the decision to move out to the west coast, leaving family, friends and the Boston Red Sox behind, still ranks as the hardest decision I’ve ever made. But the exciting and rewarding opportunity to work on Yahoo! Maps and its APIs, working on the world’s most visible and used Flex application, seemed enough of a distraction. (Well, that and being able to golf in January.)

And then last November I was given the opportunity to join Yahoo!’s elite (and one-of-a-kind) Flash Platform Team. Never a dull moment with this team, having the chance to instill best practices throughout the company and most recently, advise on future usage of certain Adobe technologies at the executive level.

Whoever says having a baby doesn’t affect your line of thinking, well, you’ve probably never had a baby. You begin thinking about settling down, which in the Bay area is as easy and common for a young-ish newcomer as it is finding Green Monster seats on the sidewalk. (That is to say, it ain’t that easy.)  So, upon bringing Chase home, I decided it was time to either solidify a future with Yahoo! or find a promising and exciting opportunity that would justify my west coast existence (in addition to golfing in January).

I am happy to announce that effective April 30, I will take on the role of Director User Experience, Flash Platform at Ribbit. For so many reasons, many of which I can’t post just yet, I am super-charged and excited for this opportunity. There is one reason I can proudly share and that is my perennial business partner, one of the greatest UI talents I’ve ever worked with, will be working alongside me.

Rob Abbott, of eBay/Apollo/San Dimas re-design fame, as well as a former co-employee of mine way back at Fidelity, as well as the man who got me my blockbuster contract work with eBay, as well as the guy mostly responsible for paving my way to Yahoo!, has joined Ribbit as Principal User Experience. Together we intend to do nothing short of AMAZING THINGS and I can’t wait to share those with you as they happen and as I’m permitted.

In Rob’s own words: “…three companies (Fidelity, Yahoo and eBay) had the chance to snag us both over the years. Finally our valuable combination was realized by a great company. Ribbit”

As the Ribbit site says: “Stay tuned, Ribbit is coming”. And I’d like to add, I’m coming, and Rob’s coming with me!