Throughout the decade of skratchworx and DJWORX, there have been only a few faces that have been around for the entire era. One such face (and it’s a distinctive one), is that of Serato’s CEO Sam Gribben. And it personally saddens me somewhat to announce that he’s leaving for that terribly hackneyed place of pastures new.
Because this is a pretty important milestone for Serato, they’ve issued a press release:
Serato announces the resignation of Sam Gribben, CEO.
“The year ahead is bright for Serato, the product roadmap looks amazing, and I’ve spent the last three years bringing together a strong executive team. Now feels like a great time to hand over the reigns.”
AJ Bertenshaw and Steve West co-founded Serato Audio Research in 1999. AJ will be returning to the company as CEO after serving as Chairman of the Board.
“Sam Gribben has been a huge asset to Serato for the last 10 years having joined the company when we were 5 years old and growing through to his current role as CEO. I’ve enjoyed partnering with him from the boardroom and am looking forward to the opportunity to return full time to the company. I want to thank Sam for his years of dedication and hard work to help grow Serato into the success that it is today.”
Sam will finish in his current position on March 31, 2014. “My dream was to be part of a company that made incredible DJ software, to change the way people thought about what could be possible with DJing and to make it easy for DJs to perform in new ways. I feel that I’ve accomplished what I set out to achieve.”
I’ve known Sam for 10 years now, and under his lofty leadership, I’ve sung Serato’s collective praises, been a harsh critic, and on occasion got into Sam’s face to express my abject displeasure (without the aid of a chair either). But in all that time, he’s been the perfect rudder with which to steer Serato from their initial toe-dipping in the DJ pool at NAMM 2004, through the rapid success of Scratch Live, and indeed some of the darker days where the route forward was less than clear.
But he was determined to see the realisation of 10 years of hard work come to fruition in Serato DJ. And having admirably done just that, he feels it’s time to go try something else, spend more time with his growing family, and hand the Serato rudder on to someone else.
Sam — we salute you sir. You wull be sorely mussed.
Nearly… nearly corrected what I thought was a typo at the end. Realised what you did there just in time. Anyway, with Serato DJ and numerous other things, it feels less like the end of an era than the start of a new one. Thanks and all the best to Mr G for the future. Top man.
damn…
This is….pretty sad.
I’ve got a inkling Pioneer are involved somewhere with this… Just a gut feeling… Maybe totally wrong though…
Can’t it just be for the stated reasons?
I wonder where’s he’s going now? Bless him if he’s loaded enough to never have to work again.
I wonder why and where he is gonna go?
It’s exactly as it says in the article – 10 years, job done, time for a new challenge and spent more time with family.
I was shocked when I saw this. Damn shame.
An excellent chap, even if he’s twice my height!
Changes Are To Go To The Next Level.
Good Luck In Your New Quest!
Actually if his plan all along was to go out on top, he picked a pretty good time to do it. SDJ 1.6 beta has shown that the new 1.6 will be a huge update, than Pioneer’s new DDJ-SZ flagship DJ controller offering set the table and the announcement of PNT was icing on the cake. Not to mention a vast stable of SDJ & Intro controller offerings. I salute you Sam and may your next endeavors be just as successful.
“Sam — we salute you sir. You wull be sorely mussed.” Spelling errors…come on guys. Lol.
Don’t know if being sarcastic, or…
NZ accent bro. Like suxty sux serves of fush and chups… Get it?
It’s the New Zealand accent, like Fush and Chups. Six Decks is hilarious, and is probably why Serato will only every do 4.
For the full NZ accent effect, speak at 1000 words per minute – and at such a high pitch that you might get confused for a wasp trapped in a jam jar…
Sweet as bro. I think that’s how you say it, right?
one good one
Won’t be the same without him. Although I found it much harder to take him seriously after I’d discovered Flight of the Conchords.
Maybe, but like I said just got a gut feeling mate… I do though wish him all the best.
Where is he going?