How Dave Goldberg's Tech Company Is Moving On

SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg had no detailed succession plan in place, leaving the future of the company he had helmed since 2009—one valued at $2 billion—in question after his May 2 death. Within days, SurveyMonkey—whose technology is used around the world to gauge everything from employee satisfaction to whether private equity firms should acquire new companies—released updates to its survey software. "We kept the business normal," the head of marketing communications tells the New York Times, which takes a look at how the saddened company is coping. As employees grieved, with some 200 attending Goldberg's funeral, they were also fielding calls from recruiters who hoped to steal them away. None could be persuaded.

Under Goldberg's leadership, SurveyMonkey, founded in 1999, has transformed from a small company to one with 3 million responses received in 55 languages each day. And it continues to grow. The Times shares plenty of details big and small about the company's current day-to-day: It opted not to place a memorial for Goldberg on its public-facing website, for instance, and it's using its own surveys to gauge how its employees are handling things. Though Zander Lurie of GoPro stepped in as interim CEO—helping arrange a deal for executives at GoPro, LinkedIn, and Twitter to mentor SurveyMonkey employees—a new leader will be chosen in the next two months. For now, the company's goal is clearly written on shirts that many wear on Fridays: #makedaveproud. Read the Times' full piece here. (More SurveyMonkey stories.)