One year after joining Porch to become its first chief product officer, Eric Doerr is leaving the company.
Porch confirmed with GeekWire that Doerr is leaving his role at the Seattle-based home improvement data startup after joining the company in November 2015.
“He was a great team member and will be missed,” Porch CEO Matt Ehrlichman said in a statement. “We are very much appreciative of his contributions and wish him the best.”
Doerr’s departure comes two weeks after Porch laid off 13 employees. Those layoffs, as GeekWire reported, are part of an ongoing shift at the company to focus more on profitability rather than just pure growth.
Founded in 2012, Porch at one point grew to nearly 500 employees after raising $100 million in a little more than two years. But last year, just as Doerr came on, the company cut 90 jobs and saw key executives depart as part of a larger reshuffling and strategy shift.
After the layoffs last year, Porch employed about 400 people. Now the employee count is less than 250, down from 300 in August.
Before starting at Porch, Doerr spent nearly two decades at Microsoft, working as a general manager across a variety of teams working on products like Azure, MSN, Xbox Live, and more. We’ve reached out to Doerr to find out where he’s heading next. Update: Doerr tells GeekWire that he’s going to catch up on personal projects and spend time with family before figuring out his next career step. Here’s a bit more from him on his time at Porch:
I enjoyed my time at Porch and together, we made great progress in the last year. The company is well positioned for the future and I’ll always feel like part of the Porch family, taking lifelong friends from my time there. I wish the team the best of luck in their journey and will be rooting from the sidelines as they continue their mission to improve the lives of homeowners and professionals.
Remaining Porch executives include Ehrlichman; co-founder Ronnie Castro; COO Asha Sharma; VP of Engineering Tracie Hlvaka; VP of Software Engineering Chris Stremlau; CCO Matthew Neagle; CGO Eric Koenig; Chief of Staff Jenn Branstetter; VP of Sales Rod Browning; and Director of Data Engineering Ben Walker.
Here’s an email Ehrlichman sent the Porch staff today (ATP refers to the company’s all-hands meeting):
Team,
I wanted to share a note with you all in prep for today’s ATP and an important AMA (Ask Me Anything) that the leadership team will host.
I wanted to let everyone know that our Chief Product Officer, Eric D will be leaving Porch. During his tenure, Eric D made many important contributions to Porch and he will be greatly missed. You will hear more from me and Eric D in 30 minutes at the ATP. I know there has been a lot of change and transition lately so I want give enough space for a proper AMA. We’ll shift our normal business update to next week’s ATP.
During that time, I will also address next steps with the org. It’s important to note that changes will be minimal and squads and roadmaps will stay intact.
Chat soon,
Matt
