41-year-old Michael Grubb left for “personal reasons,” according to an SEC form provided by Greg Sterling.  If Grubb was a skinny Hollywood socialite, that would probably signal an addiction or breakdown of one sort or another.  But Grubb’s got a lot of skills and knowledge, and it’s much more likely that he’s gone off to work for another company or start his own.

Care to see some evidence?  A second LookSmart/SEC document, also provided by Sterling, states, “Michael Grubb has served as our Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer since April 2005 and as our Vice President, Technical Operations since September 2002.”

It then continues, “Prior to that time, Mr. Grubb served in various positions at Akamai Technologies, a web content delivery service company, most recently as Vice President, Operations and Chief Systems Architect, from March 1999 to September 2002.  Mr. Grubb holds an A.B. in Philosophy from Duke University and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina.”

Obviously, the document’s a little outdated – LookSmart didn’t seem to know that Grubb was leaving at the time of the write-up – but you get the idea.

This development won’t make the job of Ted West, LookSmart’s interim president and CEO, any easier.  As a lowly tech writer, I can’t offer much advice, but I would warn him to look out for further signs of an avalanche.