Matt Galligan

Today, with a sense of excitement laced with bittersweet, I’m announcing that I’m stepping down from my day-to-day responsibilities with the company I helped found, SimpleGeo. It’s been an incredible ride over the last few years, but I’m happy to close this chapter of my life and explore what’s next for me.

Last fall, I wrote about seeking out a new CEO for SimpleGeo and eventually finding one in Jay Adelson. He’s done a hell of a job creating an even stronger company and one hell of a culture there. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with him as we moved through to the next phases of the company. But my passion is in founding and building companies. So I knew there would come a day where I felt like I would need to pursue new ideas. Today is that day.

We’ve spent the last few years hard at work building one of the most powerful platform companies, leveraging arguably one of the most crucial layers of the mobile world. What started as a mobile gaming company dedicated to bringing games layered on top of the real world, turned into a developer-focused company where we created some kick-ass developer tools and services.

At SimpleGeo, we assembled one of the most talented engineering teams in the business, period. We’ve got hustlers on the business and product side and it’s been an honor working with all of them. I’ve learned more than I could have imagined from every single person in the company. Each and every day was a new experience - from how geocoding works, to the mathematics behind calculating the curvature of the Earth, to building accurate models for how to predict revenue streams (though I must admit that last one might have been a tad bit more in my wheel house).

SimpleGeo’s APIs now see activity from all over the world, spread across over 15,000 customers. We’ve seen implementations from Fortune 500 companies, influential interactive agencies, brilliant hackers in their garages and just about everything in between. Apps using our services have been downloaded millions of times, touching millions of people. Simply put, I couldn’t be more proud of the team, the product, and the development community that has built incredible products on top of our platform.

It’s been a ride, that’s for sure. We’ve had ups, we’ve had downs, but most importantly, we’ve done something significant: built one of the most powerful mobile platform companies around. And the best part is that it will only get better from here.

But Jay’s got this one on solid ground, and it’s time for me to step aside. I’m excited to take what I’ve learned with my time at SimpleGeo, and my previous tenures with AOL and Socialthing and apply it to something entirely new. What that is, I’m not entirely sure yet. I’m exploring lots of options and putting some serious thought into what my next chapter looks like. At my core, I’m a product guy, a designer, and a hustler. I just want to build stuff that matters…things that make a difference.

In the interim, I’ve started to be quite a bit more involved with an organization that’s near and dear to my heart: TechStars. I was part of the inaugural class in 2007, when my first company started up in Boulder, CO. Ever since the day I stepped foot into the program, I was in love. TechStars does so much for an entrepreneur as they’re getting their feet wet in the startup world. It’s a masters class in startups, and it’s only been getting better over the last few years. So it makes sense that I come full circle to see where I might be able to help with the next companies to come through the program. I’ll be doing Business Development for the program, working to identify great founders that should go through the program, as well as act on behalf of the TechStars companies, representing them in business deals with companies they may yet be unfamiliar with. More details on this to come…

Additionally, I’ll be spending some time on setting up a non-profit foundation with fellow entrepreneur, Shervin Pishevar. This organization is called 1% of Nothing (props to [Michael Birch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Birch_(businessman) for coming up with the clever name) and it’s designed to get startup people and entrepreneurs more connected with the world of philanthropy. Many new companies are built on any given day, but rarely does early-stage corporate philanthropy come into the mix. Our mission is to get startups to donate 1% of their equity, and then possibly 1% of their time and profits to non-profits of their choice, or our recommendation. Then, when that company exits, it can be a massive windfall for whatever non-profit they might be partnered with. It’s our belief that when teamed up, startups will be able to add a lot of power behind the philanthropic organizations that need it. My first company, Socialthing, donated 1% of our equity to the Community Foundation in Boulder, CO and subsequently became their largest donation in 2008, when we were acquired by AOL. It was an incredible opportunity, and the money eventually lead to a significant investment in the Boulder County school system. We want to bring those kinds of opportunities to more entrepreneurs that might not know the options exist. You can follow our progress on Twitter (@1percentof).

Needless to say, I won’t be just sitting back doing nothing for the next few months. Sure I’ll take a little bit of time and explore my new home of San Francisco. Maybe I’ll do a little bit of traveling. Maybe working harder on the relationships that are in my life. But one thing’s for sure - I’m stoked for the future. If there’s anyone that would like to chat about ideas they may have for me, or opportunities they’d like to explore, I’m reachable at matt.galligan [at] gmail [dot] com or @mg on Twitter. And now, onto the next chapter…