SLENTRE.COM

By Sigmund Leominster

On Tuesday 22nd April, 2008, Linden Lab chairman, Philip Rosedale, announced that beginning May 15th, Mark Kingdon will be acting CEO of the company. According to Rosedale, “He is a person with the rare and unusual combination of business leadership, creativity, and passion for Second Life® that we were looking for.”

Kingdon has been the CEO of Organic (http://www.organic.com/) Inc. since 2001. Organic is a digital communications agency, and has earned a reputation as an original creator of user-centered design. Prior to this, he worked with Idealab (http://www.idealab.com/), a firm that helps create new companies and develop growth strategies. Kingdon was also a partner with the consulting division of PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC – http://www.pwc.com/), where he held a variety of senior roles throughout his twelve-year tenure. He received a BA in Economics from UCLA, an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, and he has written a number of articles (http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3622871), some on the value of social networking as a marketing tool.

Rosedale outlined the skills he thought Kingdon brought to Linden Lab: “He will have an intense focus on improving the in-world experience and stability and reliability of Second Life. He has extensive hands-on experience with user experience design, which will be critical in making Second Life an easier and better experience for more people. Finally, he has a ton of experience leading companies and products with global reach, which is now essential given that the great majority of Second Life usage is international and Linden Lab will continue to grow as an international company with offices in many locations.”
Kingdon himself is looking forward to the challenge. “Joining Linden Lab at this moment in its evolution, with so much growth and opportunity on the horizon, is incredibly exciting and I look forward to working with Philip and the Linden Lab team to help Second Life realize its limitless potential. To me, the CEO role at Linden Lab combines perfectly my passions for art and design, business and technology. Until Second Life, we experienced the digital world passively in two dimensions. By enabling users to create a rich and immersive virtual world, Second Life is transforming the way we connect, collaborate, learn and transact online. I am thrilled to be part of this epic transformation.”
Is the phrase “so much growth and opportunity on the horizon” code for “we’re moving closer to an IPO?” Considering Kingdon’s background it seems that he is a good candidate for the job of preparing the way for floating the company. His years at Idealab certainly involved many opportunities to finance and sell companies and his PWC experience is likely to prove valuable.

It’s worth remembering that Linden Lab have venture capital backing from Benchmark Capital, an international financing company that includes such notables as AOL, eBay, and E-Loan in its portfolio.  This means that they will be looking for a return on their investment relatively quickly–and one notable way of doing this is to groom an acquisition for IPO.

Of course, Linden Lab will have to work steadily – and quickly – on improving the day-to-day stability and usability of the Second Life software and hardware. This in itself is no mean task. Kingdon has a challenge on his hands but if his experience is any measure of future performance, we could be seeing some positive changes in the next six months.