Apps, Mobile & SMS

Topspin Pivots: Top Exec Leaves, SF Office Closes

image from www.google.com (UPDATED) Big changes are afoot at Topspin as the direct to fan platform closes it's San Francisco office and loses one of it's top executives. VP of Sales Andrew Mains is moving to Mobile Roadie as Chief Operating Officer. Mains, who had been head of new media at Interscope, was responsible for much of Topspin's outreach to labels, managers and other potential clients.

Topspin San Francisco Closes

The company also recently closed its San Francisco office leaving Bill Thompson, Topspin's former Director Of Business Operations looking for work. Many staffers were offered similar positions in LA. But according to an email Thompson sent to collegues, the move left "those of us who didn't with to relocate to Los Angeles (all of us save 2) back on the job market".

In his new position as COO of Mobile Roadie, Mains will be overseeing business development, managing day-to-day operations, and helping expand the company's international business, according to Billboard.

UPDATE: Read CEO Ian Rogers reaction to this story here.

Bruce Houghton on 09/12/2011 in Apps, Mobile & SMS | Permalink | Comments (16)
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16 Comments

  5. What exactly is the pivot here? Is that word being misused or is there an actual new direction for Topspin that is alluded to somewhere and not expanded on here?

  6. Hey all,
    Yes, I’m in Hawaii on a long-planned family vacation. If I’d have planned it later I’d have come home a day sooner to be at SF MusicTech today! Seeing all the tweets fly by and I’m bummed I’m missing it.
    We made the decision to close our SF office in June and made the change at the beginning of July. We’ve been hiring like mad in our Santa Monica office ever since. We have hired 7 people in the past 60 days and have at least 4 open positions currently. Andrew’s move is unrelated but adds one more role I need to hire. If you know good people please send them my way (via LinkedIn is probably the best way at the moment). We’re on the hunt.
    We’ve had a San Francisco office since before I started at the company in April 2008 (the company was founded by Shamal and Peter in 2007). Our engineering, finance, business development and customer support teams were all SF-based. The reason to be there was for the access to the bay area engineering talent pool, but the downside of being there was having the team using the Topspin app (our industry-facing Creative Services team) in Santa Monica and the team building the app in San Francisco made for an inefficient product development process to say the least. As the years went on, it was clear the benefits of having an SF office weren’t outweighing the inefficiencies. It was a really difficult decision but I knew in my heart we’d build a better product if we had everyone under one roof. It’s already paying off in spades and you’ll see some serious differences in Topspin in the coming months as a result.
    No pivot in business model. We’re refining the product and our approach, but nothing worthy of “pivot” at the moment. Some very big things coming up but they’re on our same trajectory.
    Re: the This Week In Music comment — the real work there is done by This Week In Producer Will Thompson. He does all the hard work. I just show up for 45 minutes and talk! He also produces Pensado’s Place, which you should check out if you haven’t yet. Niche programming FTW!
    See everyone back in the office tomorrow morning.
    ian

  8. Two thoughts …
    1. Where’s my postcard from Maui? Sheesh …
    2. If this was o’er on Digital Music News, the headline would probably read “Topspin Head Flees Mainland as Company Crashes Southward”

  9. I gotta side with Steve here re: his first comment. The poor grammar on Hypebot is truly astounding for a news blog. This is not an isolated incident. Sorry, but as a trained journalist, I find the sloppiness annoying and something that detracts from the credibility of the story, even if the content if actually accurate.

  11. GaryZero, I’ve been a reader for years and feel the same way about the sloppiness of this blog. It’s sad. I guess you just get used to it. This blog is good at aggregating stories, but sometimes I wish they would just post the link to the original story and not write anything about it.

  12. Nice one Ian, great to see you chime in and nip the grapevine in the bud. Well before all the gossiping was to pick up speed… and even if you’re supposed to be on your hols. As Marko says, log off the grid man, we’ll be here when you get back.
    Looking forward to the new updates. If you only you were hiring in London…
    @Scott – very true, made me laugh (on both counts).
    @Grammar buffs – c’mon are you serious?
    Stevo

  13. @Stevo – you are probably too busy kissing Ian’s ass to notice, but the grammar and spelling errors on this blog aren’t isolated incidents, they are an epidemic, and detract from an otherwise informative blog.

  14. Please play nice ya’ll. It’s a blog, not world peace.
    Yes, my grammar and my spelling often suck. I turn out a lot of content in between running a booking agency, and I give it all away free. The budget (nor the clock) allow for an editor.
    You corrections and suggestions are always welcome.
    That said, I’ll try to be better.

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