Sonos Canned CEO Patrick Spence, Who Spearheaded Disastrous App Launch
Chris Welch, The Verge:
Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is resigning from the job today,
effective immediately, with board member Tom Conrad filling the
role of interim CEO. It’s the most dramatic development yet in an
eight-month saga that has proven to be the most challenging time
in Sonos’ history.
The company’s decision to prematurely release a buggy, completely
overhauled new app back in May — with crucial features
missing at launch — outraged customers and kicked off a
monthslong domino effect that included layoffs, a sharp
decline in employee morale, and a public apology tour. The Sonos
Ace headphones, rumored to be the whole reason behind the
hurried app, were immediately overshadowed by the controversy, and
my sources tell me that sales numbers remain dismal. Sonos’
community forums and subreddit have been dominated by complaints
and an overwhelmingly negative sentiment since the spring. […]
But three months later, Sonos’ board of directors and Spence
have concluded that those steps weren’t enough: the app debacle
has officially cost Spence his job. No other changes are being
made today, however. So for now, chief product officer Maxime
Bouvat-Merlin, who some employees have privately told me
deserves a fair share of the blame for recent missteps, will
remain in his role.
If they don’t fire that rube too, Sonos is likely continuing down the path to irrelevance and bankruptcy that Spence started them down. The problem wasn’t a bad or ill-considered app rewrite. The bad app rewrite was a symptom of leadership with no appreciation for product and experience design, when Sonos’s entire raison d’être is to deliver a superior product and acoustic experience. Their customer demographic is people with great taste and high standards. Sonos is basically Apple, but just for audio, but in a market where Apple itself is a major player. Yet somehow the company wound up being run by a leadership team with no taste.
Here’s a surprise tidbit that gives me hope Conrad might be the right man for the job:
Conrad’s career includes a 10-year tenure as chief technology
officer at Pandora and two years as VP of product at Snapchat. He
worked on Apple’s Finder software during the ’90s. Most recently,
Conrad served as chief product officer for the ill-fated Quibi
streaming service.
(To be clear, I’m talking about the ’90s Finder part, not the Quibi part. The classic Finder was one of the all-time best apps ever made.)
★
Chris Welch, The Verge:
Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is resigning from the job today,
effective immediately, with board member Tom Conrad filling the
role of interim CEO. It’s the most dramatic development yet in an
eight-month saga that has proven to be the most challenging time
in Sonos’ history.
The company’s decision to prematurely release a buggy, completely
overhauled new app back in May — with crucial features
missing at launch — outraged customers and kicked off a
monthslong domino effect that included layoffs, a sharp
decline in employee morale, and a public apology tour. The Sonos
Ace headphones, rumored to be the whole reason behind the
hurried app, were immediately overshadowed by the controversy, and
my sources tell me that sales numbers remain dismal. Sonos’
community forums and subreddit have been dominated by complaints
and an overwhelmingly negative sentiment since the spring. […]
But three months later, Sonos’ board of directors and Spence
have concluded that those steps weren’t enough: the app debacle
has officially cost Spence his job. No other changes are being
made today, however. So for now, chief product officer Maxime
Bouvat-Merlin, who some employees have privately told me
deserves a fair share of the blame for recent missteps, will
remain in his role.
If they don’t fire that rube too, Sonos is likely continuing down the path to irrelevance and bankruptcy that Spence started them down. The problem wasn’t a bad or ill-considered app rewrite. The bad app rewrite was a symptom of leadership with no appreciation for product and experience design, when Sonos’s entire raison d’être is to deliver a superior product and acoustic experience. Their customer demographic is people with great taste and high standards. Sonos is basically Apple, but just for audio, but in a market where Apple itself is a major player. Yet somehow the company wound up being run by a leadership team with no taste.
Here’s a surprise tidbit that gives me hope Conrad might be the right man for the job:
Conrad’s career includes a 10-year tenure as chief technology
officer at Pandora and two years as VP of product at Snapchat. He
worked on Apple’s Finder software during the ’90s. Most recently,
Conrad served as chief product officer for the ill-fated Quibi
streaming service.
(To be clear, I’m talking about the ’90s Finder part, not the Quibi part. The classic Finder was one of the all-time best apps ever made.)