Well, it’s with a heavy heart that I announce that Ben Metcalfe is leaving Citizen Agency. I’m sure you are wondering, “What happened?”
There are really no sordid details.
We were really excited when Ben joined us in the fall and he and Sofia (his wife) have fit into the SF scene incredibly well (where they plan to stay…and I hope they do). Over the past couple of months, though, it became more and more apparent that we had different ideas about the direction of the company, neither of them ‘better’ or ‘worse’, just different. And, as my readers know, I’m pretty focused on my direction and Chris happens to be focused on that same direction. I think this frustrated Ben a little and though we tried to talk about how we would fit this together into a cohesive goal, we just couldn’t find a compromise that left any of us satisfied.
So, making the decision to break earlier than later in the game so that we can maintain the relationship and so everyone has the chance to go in their intended directions sooner than later, we sat down a couple of days ago and discussed “The Break Up”. It was a sad conversation and we will miss his scrappy British crazy coloured hair self at CA. Ben made his announcement over here.
Still, we think that doors closing mean that new ones open and we know that Ben will do well in whatever he pursues. Chris and I will continue the work we are doing and remain committed to ‘Thinking Small‘ and working towards being remarkable instead of big.
I think all of us will be better for it. 
January 11th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Guys, I know none of you sufficiently well to imagine how hard a decision it must have been to split. I know having started my own business up and 18 months later having to leave it that it is difficult to look for the positives but I hope that it leads to a positive future for you all.
January 11th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
“being remarkable”? you’re starting to sound like my friend Erik, err Buster…
January 11th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
more than once you’ve mentioned “changing the world” in reference to what your clients do.
things like ma.gnolia don’t change the world. they can make things more convenient.
cheap commodity computing changed the world, http and netscape changed the world, cheap broadband is changing the world, the mac changed the industry and changed a lot of people’s lives. the big things where those words apply are rare.
magnolia won’t change many people’s lives because they won’t be able to remember the url. (“mag.nol.ia? m.ag.nol.ia? oh, fuck it.”) too bad an oil company already has magnolia.com.
please don’t take what i said the wrong way, i wish programmers had 1/1000th of the amount of culture you bring to your work.
January 12th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
@ eh … I don’t think I have the dillusion that ma.gnolia is going to change the world with the technology. Nope. But what Larry and Todd are part of is giving another example of a business that is about people first and technology second.
I don’t know if commodities changed the world. They made the technology more accessible for sure, which spread the word. But without the combination of the experience with that accessibility, it would be a Chia pet.
January 13th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
I didn’t know what ‘Citizen Agency’ was – so I followed the link and ended up reading way back into the archives.
I’m sorry Ben had to go – I can imagine this was a very hard step to take.