Industry Moves: Former Yahoo Music GM Goldberg To Lead SurveyMonkey
This story was written by Joseph Tartakoff.
Dave Goldberg, the former Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Music GM, is joining SurveyMonkey as CEO. Goldberg is being brought in by Spectrum Equity Investors and Bain Capital Ventures, which announced Monday they had acquired a majority stake in the online survey company. Goldberg will also hold a minority interest in the firm, while SurveyMonkey co-founders Ryan Finley and Chris Finley will stay with the company and keep minority stakes. Financial terms were not disclosed.
SurveyMonkey, which was founded in 1999, continues to grow rapidly. Over the last year, unique visitors have almost doubled, according to Compete.com. SurveyMonkey users can set up basic online surveys for free or pay a monthly subscription fee to create more complex ones. In a statement, Victor Parker, a managing director at Spectrum, said, "We believe SurveyMonkey is poised for significant growth and are pleased that Dave, who brings 15 years of experience in consumer content and subscription businesses and a successful leadership track record, will assist us and the company's existing team as we scale the business."
Goldberg will be based in Menlo Park, where SurveyMonkey is opening a new office. (Goldberg's wife Sheryl Sandberg is COO of Facebook.) The company is also holding on to its Portland headquarters, where Ryan and Chris Finley will work. He joined Yahoo in 2001, after the company purchased the music company he cofounded, Launch Media. Since leaving Yahoo in 2007, Goldberg joined Benchmark Capital where he served as entrepreneur in residence. Goldberg's hiring was first reported by AllThingsD's Kara Swisher.
By Joseph Tartakoff