Bluesky CEO Jay Graber steps down

Bluesky announced Monday that chief executive Jay Graber is stepping down from the top leadership position and transitioning to chief innovation officer. Toni Schneider, former chief executive of Automattic and partner at True Ventures, will serve as interim chief executive. Both Automattic and True Ventures are investors in the company. Graber said in a blog post that a more mature company needs a seasoned operator focused on scaling and execution. She said she feels better suited to building the technology itself. Graber added that she is most energized by exploring new ideas, bringing a vision to life, and helping people discover their strengths. The company said its board will search for a permanent chief executive. Schneider's experience with Automattic, which commercialized WordPress open source technology through WordPress.com, positions him to understand the challenges of balancing open source technology with the need to generate profit. Graber helped grow Bluesky to 43 million users and furthered development of its AT Protocol. Schneider said the company has grown to more than 40 million users with an ecosystem of over 500 active apps. He said the focus now would be on the next phase of growth, which includes allowing third-party builders to thrive. During the transition Schneider will remain active in his role at True Ventures.