I know that many of you have been waiting with much anticipation about my next job after the BBC.
Well, I am pleased to announce that I have decided to join San Francisco based Citizen Agency – which was founded two weeks ago by Chris Messina (previously of Flock) and Tara Hunt (previously of Riya).
The agency is primarily a consultancy business that currently specialises in advising clients in strategies and approaches that harness the power of their grassroots userbase for the purposes of design, product development, marketing and innovation.
I am absolutely delighted to be working with Chris and Tara – two of the most talented and dynamic individuals I know in the industry.
My official title (which I got to pick, yay!) is Grassroots Architect & CTO. I will also be an equal partner in the business, which is self funded.
Tara is renowned for her pioneering “Pinko Marketing” strategies, and Chris for his product development and design skills, and of course his interest in Open Source. I bring to the table a new dimension for the Citizen Agency with my technical and software engineering background, and my experience creating innovation platforms.
The Agency will now also be able to advise its clients on the execution of developer networks and similar strategies as grassroots channels for innovation, technical development and specialist marketing. I also will also be bolstering the Agency’s product development foundation and also advising on the technical implementation of our work.
Each of us have a proven track record at previous employers of harnessing the power of the community to mutual benefit of both the company and it’s userbase. I’m really excited at the opportunity to be combining our skills to offer a complete consultancy solution to innovative start-ups and existing leading players.
I believe the our new approach and ideas on an already established philosophy offers something unique and distinctive that will create successful outcomes for our clients.
There is also already a strong demand for our services – in the two weeks I was out in the Bay Area we signed 4 deals with three companies. Three are paying consultancy gigs and one is a co-collaboration on a startup idea with a pioneering development house. And that’s in addition to the existing work Tara and Chris already have.
And finally, the announcement that many of you who know me personally have been waiting for… Yes, I will be relocating to San Francisco – hopefully by the end of the summer. Sofia will also be coming too! In the mean time I’ll be sorting out a London-based division of the Citizen Agency.
It’s going to be sad to say goodbye to London but I’m pretty sure I’ll be back regularly to stay in touch with everyone on the London alpha geek scene!
I’ve just got back from my West Coast tour of San Francisco and Seattle (and home via LA) so I’m pretty jet lagged – but I’ll write more about the background behind my decision later today.