Wiki Company Wants New CEO

Some CEOs are forced out.  Some CEOs quit.  But I’ve never seen a CEO do quite what Ross Mayfield, the CEO and co-founder of Socialtext, is doing; Mayfield is advertising for his successor.  Chalk the odd move up to Socialtext’s position as “the leading enterprise wiki.”

“We’ve grown to 3,000 customers, 50 people, the leading brand in the space, an innovative product, solid revenue growth and are targeting profitability,” writes Socialtext’s CEO (doing his PR duties to the very end).  “It is time for Socialtext to be taken to the next level, and for that, I want to openly recruit the CEO 2.0 for Socialtext.”

The person who gets that job should be able to benefit from Mayfield’s experience – he’ll stick around as chairman and president (in what is almost certainly a voluntary move).  Meanwhile, it appears that a lot of onlookers are jumping at the opportunity to head up his company.

“Well, half a day later, Socialtext still has the same old CEO (so much for ‘Internet speed.’),” Martin LaMonica notes on CNET, marking the time from Mayfield’s initial announcement.  “But if Mayfield’s current Twitter is any indication, his ploy seems to be working: ‘Boy, suddenly I’ve got a lot of email.’”

Socialtext is located in Palo Alto, California.  And no, I have no idea how much the position pays.