Adam Sachs, the company’s CEO, is stepping down. Sachs has been the CEO of Midroll since June 2014, taking over from Jeff Ulrich, one of the company’s original founders. He shepherded the company through its acquisition by Scripps in late 2015. (The sum for that deal was undisclosed. So mysterious!) Previously, Sachs was the co-founder of Stepout, a dating app that was acquired by IAC in September 2013.
Sachs first announced his departure to the company in an email sent out last Tuesday. “The truth is that I've been running a startup (Stepout and then Midroll) for nearly a decade and that's exhausting!”, he wrote. “Still, at my core, I'm an entrepreneur. I still have the fire in my belly to build companies.”
According to the note, he will remain at the company for another week, after which he will spend another month on a consulting basis to aid with the transition. There is no clear successor or succession plan in place, though Diehn and Friedman are expected to take up the brunt of Sach’s managerial responsibilities. Sachs told me that a replacement might not take place any time soon, but added that he believes the company has a strong enough management team to handle the interim.
He has no idea what his next move will be, or so he tells me.
As for The Wolf Den, the company’s podcast about the podcast industry, there is also no clear successor in line. Though, from what I hear, Friedman and Chief Content Officer Chris Bannon are campaigning hard for the role.
It compares very unfavorably to something like Burning Love which I found hilarious.