Since I was Hootsuite employee #8—started in 2009—people are asking how I feel about them working with ICE.

First off, I should mention that I left there in 2015. I also sold all my stock in 2021. So I now have zero connection to Hootsuite whatsoever.

The company has changed a lot over the years. In 2010, a US government agency offered to invest in Hootsuite. The CEO of Hootsuite, Ryan Holmes, declined.

And during the early 2010s, Hootsuite was a B Corporation—executives believed the company should do social good.

What changed? Well, the company decided to scale fast. And with that scale, there was pressure to reach targets.

Which makes sense because investors, who by that point had put in $160M+ into Hootsuite, wanted their ROI. And that ROI has never been fully realized, which is why Hootsuite keeps chasing short term gains over long term wins.

Then there’s the fact that Hootsuite chose Enterprise over SMBs. They want big contracts worth $1M instead of monthly subscriptions of $10.

And who’s a bigger enterprise than the US government?

Hootsuite isn’t what I want them to be. Perhaps they never could be, but at one time, I convinced myself they could be something different—perhaps because I drank the Kool-Aid.

As for me now? I have the great privilege of building what I believe in. One of them is a federated video co-op that I’m in the process of forming.

Unlike a start-up, a co-op does not try to build 100x ROI for investors. Instead it exists to serve its members.

@atomicpoet Hootsuite was one of my first event clients at SXSW. This all makes me extremely sad.