Hacker News Reader

FTA: "I’m excited to hand the CEO reins over to Kerry to allow me to fully focus on the role of the Chairman and the long-term."

View on HN

Sure but what does that actually mean, in practical terms? What does a "chairman" do? I can't recall any start up that had a full time "chairman."

I believe the CEO and COO's job description's very much include looking after the "long-term" goals of the company.

Let me direct you to this Slate piece[1] that explains the whole stepping-aside-as-ceo-to-just-be-a-chairman thing, the mentions when Bill Gates did the same thing at Microsoft and Steve Case at AOL. Obviously some of the specifics are going to be a bit different for Soundcloud, but it still explains the general concept a bit.

[1] http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20...

>"Obviously some of the specifics are going to be a bit different for Soundcloud, but it still explains the general concept a bit."

However both Bill Gates and Steve Case moved into into an exclusive chairman role after steering their respective companies to great heights and giving investors good returns.

This individual is doing so as part of an agreement that's necessary in order keep the company alive. I don't think the specifics could be more different.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com