The image is called "chorus image" and is on thecdn.vox-cdn.com.
Parag Agrawal is a person.
Alex Castro drew the photo illustration.
The new CEO of the social network, Parag Agrawal, has a clear message: expect the social network to move a lot faster than it has in the past.
In his first public appearance since taking the reins of the micro-messaging service from co-founder Jack Dorsey, he said his top priority was improving our execution and streamlining how we operate. His comments came after activist investor Elliott Management pressured him to step down from his part-time CEO role. Block is formally called Square.
I think we have set them up so they can move fast.
Changes to its upper ranks have already been made by the new CEO. The company was reorganized last Friday under the key pillars of Consumer, Revenue, and Core Tech with a general manager running each division. He now says that they have set them up so they can move fast. The head of design and research, Dantley Davis, and the engineering lead, Michael Montano, will leave at the end of the year.
The company used to be in a functional structure where there was a single engineering organization, a single design research organization, and product teams. Lindsey Iannucci was named VP of Operations along with the three new general managers. She is going to help us improve our operational rigor in this new structure to really get us to faster decision making, clearer ownership, increased accountability, improved operations, which will result in faster execution overall and better results.
His focus on speed was a recurring theme. He explained that in his previous role as chief technology officer, he focused on rebuilding the company's aged technical stack so that products could be shipped faster. He admitted that there has been a slow decision making because of the coordination between teams. He acknowledged that the company has been slow to address shifts in user behavior over the years, and that it hasn't met expectations from investors since it went public.
The opportunity around the DMs is important.
When asked about the acquisition of the messaging app Quill, he called it a key product bet, a refreshing sentiment given that direct messages have been woefully underdeveloped for a long time. He said that the chance to connect with anyone in the world and expect to hear back from them is key.
