Issuu announced earlier this week that they have appointed a new CEO and that they will move their HQ to Silicon Valley. With 65 million current users and 14 million publications since 2007, Issuu claims itself to be “the fastest-growing digital publishing and discovery platform”. Joe Hyrkin, the new American CEO, says that Issuu has experienced a dramatic growth in publication since June and he is looking forward to be part of the new Issuu in Silicon Valley and expand partnerships with leading brands and publishers.
“The company has experienced a tremendous amount of traction just in the past few months, growing from 11.5 to over 14 million publications since June. I’m excited to join Issuu at this pivotal time and with our new presence in Silicon Valley, we can expand our partnerships with leading brands and publishers. As we’ve done throughout our history, we will continue to transform the digital content landscape with a focus on connecting great content with people who are most inspired by it.” said Joe in a company statement.
In addition to the new CEO, Issuu’s Board of Directors has also got a new face, Bradley Horowitz, Vice President of Product Management, Social Products Division at Google. Bradley Horowitz previously led product management of Google’s consumer application sector, in areas such as Gmail, Google Talk, Google Docs, Goodle Voice and Calendar. Horowitz says that he has known and worked with Hyrkin for two decades and Hyrkin has consistently had a unique vision of democratization of content, which makes him the ideal person to lead Issuu.
“Issuu plays an important role in the content discovery ecosystem. It’s exciting to discover a platform that effectively connects readers with the content they love, while enabling great publishers to thrive in the digital universe,” said Bradley Horowitz
Horowitz also mentions that he is excited to help Issuu with their continued growth and global expansion. You can find the entire official statement here.
This marks for us an end for Issuu as a startup based in the region, but we will still follow it closely. Issuu has had a tremendous journey, from when Michael Hansen, Ruben Bjerg Hansen, Mikkel Jensen, and Martin Ferro-Thomsen founded it in 2006, it in 2008 being a finalist at SXSW, in 2009 being nominated as one of the “top 50 websites” by Times, and now having surpassed 65 millions users. Even if most of the founders have moved on and are active in new startups and initiatives now, the experience they gained from Issuu has contributed a lot to the region already.
