A few years back, Microsoft bought Yammer for more than $1 billion and now, both co-founders have left the Redmond based company for new adventures. Yammer was founded by Adam Pisoni and David Sacks, Sacks left the company not long after being bought and now Pisoni has left the company too.
Pisoni is being credited with being a huge influence inside Microsoft as the company worked to realign its business with the realities of the evolving marketplace. But, being an entrepreneur at heart, it was only a matter of time before Pisoni would leave the company for greener pastures. After-all, when your company gets bought out for a billion dollars, you have some financial flexibility.
Pisoni will continue to work with Responsive.org who is hoping to change how corporations are structured; instead of hierarchical structures, he wants organizations to use functional circles with no assigned titles that are focused on common goals. Companies like Zappos, Google and Facebook work in this type of environment and so far, is working out well for them. This will not be a full time role for him and he is currently trying to figure out his next steps.
For Microsoft, this will be a loss of talent and even though the Yammer execs are now gone, the structure of the team is still in place. More so, Pisoni is a fan of Nadella and said that he understands that Microsoft needs to change from its previous ways but at the same time, it takes more than the CEO to fundamentally change an organization.
Source: Business Insider