Clearspring - Your Content. Everywhere.

Today, we’re taking Clearspring to the next level.  I am excited to welcome Ramsey McGrory on as our new CEO. Ramsey joins us from Yahoo! where he led Right Media, the pioneer in the online ad exchange business. From 2004 to 2011 he was with them from start-up what is now a $1 billion annual revenue business. His deep understanding of advertising and data, coupled with a demonstrated ability to deliver value to publishers, advertisers and consumers make him an invaluable addition.  Together with our already impressive team, board and investors, we’re confident that this move will help us continue our fantastic growth by better serving our customers.

We have experienced phenomenal growth since our first investor came on in 2006.. AddThis is the now web’s largest sharing platform used by over 9 million publishers, reaching more than 1 billion people worldwide.  We process as much data in one week as the Library of Congress.  Launched just last year, our Audience Platform leverages data from AddThis to enable hundreds of brands like AT&T and Sony to connect with hundreds of millions of socially-connected users via real-time advertising.  And this growth has been recognized.  Last week we were named to Business Insider’s Digital 100 Most Valuable Start-ups on the heels of making the Inc500 and AlwaysOn Global 250 Top Private Companies.

We’re at an inflection point.  If we continue this growth, we will open up opportunities to serve our customers at a scale we never imagined.  To date, we’ve been lucky to bring on amazing people and partners to support our scaling efforts.  Our leadership has helped grown the team over 100% in the first half of this year.  We are proud to have Springers in McLean, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, Lancaster, New Jersey, Atlanta and even India.  This spring, IVP joined our already-impressive investor team by leading our $20 million Series D financing.  With Ramsey on board, we believe that we can now not only keep this pace, but have the ability to go even faster.

As for me, I will now be Executive Chairman and work closely with Ramsey and team.  In this new role, I will steer the board and product and marketing operations.  AddThis was viewed approximately 2.86 billion times last Monday.  If each user viewed the page they visited for at least a second, that’s over 90 collective years of human attention that we saw that day alone.  I’m looking forward to figuring out ways to unlock this data to make a better web for us all.

As always, we welcome your feedback on how we’re doing and what else you’d like to see from us. We hope that you’re as excited about these changes as we are at Clearspring.  Welcome, Ramsey!

They say things come in three’s! Today, we’re proud to be named to Business Insider’s Digital 100, placing us among the world’s top 100 startups on the web. In great company, we proudly join the ranks of some our sister companies like GroupOn, LivingSocial, MediaBank and BuddyMedia. Having recently been listed in the AlwaysOn Global 250 and Inc500, this rounds out a hat trick we couldn’t be happier to complete. We’re so appreciative of the amazing growth we’ve experienced. It’s icing on the cake to have it acknowledged! A huge thank you to all of our publishers and advertisers for helping us get here. As always, we’re humbled to be at your service. Here’s to you – It’s back to work for us!

Last week was my first week here at Clearspring and already I feel like a part of the family.  Maybe it’s the daily catered lunches or the Wii Tennis Tournament we had on Friday (Jeff and I clinched 2nd place!) or perhaps it’s because my desk is right next to the snack table (don’t worry, I don’t judge!) — but whatever the reason, everyone’s made a genuine effort to introduce themselves and make me feel at home.

As with most new jobs, the first week consists of trying to learn new names with faces to match, who does what, where you need to be when, and the ins and outs of how to get this or that done.  Lucky for me, my coworkers made that (typically overwhelming) experience an absolute joy  — I don’t know that I’ve ever walked into a new job and felt so welcomed!

What I love is there’s a clear “work-hard, play-hard” aura in the office and it’s evident how much Clearspring employees enjoy their jobs.  Knowing that I’ll be working with people who exude such positive energy combined with seasoned skills, talents, knowledge, experience and passion is both refreshing and motivating.

I’m extremely happy with this opportunity to work with such an excellent team, and I look forward to learning from them and sharing that knowledge with you!

Cheers,
Elizabeth

Elizabeth@clearspring.com

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