Culture Amp co-founder Rod Hamilton departs

The Melbourne-based software company was most recently valued at $2bn. Its chief product officer, Rod Hamilton, says he is leaving to find new challenges.

Culture Amp co-founder Rod Hamilton. Source: Supplied.

Culture Amp chief product officer Rod Hamilton will leave the tech unicorn he co-founded, citing a desire for new challenges.

The Melbourne-based software maker was most recently valued at $2bn and Mr Hamilton and co-founders Doug English and Didier Elzinga were last month featured on The List – Top 100 Innovators. The company laid off about 8 per cent of its workforce in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, but has since added more than 600 roles.

“To some, this will seem like a strange time to leave my role,” Mr Hamilton wrote in a blog post.

“We have nearly 1000 employees, we’ve grown to over US$100m in revenue with no sign of slowing, and most importantly, we have thousands of customers and millions of employees across the world who genuinely love us – we are making a difference!

“But I‘ve realised now that I still want to grow. I just want to grow in different ways.

“I want to grow as a dad, a partner, a son, and a brother. There are some problems I’m deeply curious about, and I want to dedicate real time to these to learn more about them and see what may come from them. In some ways, it’s similar to my decision to start Culture Amp. I don’t quite know what’s ahead, but I know I’ll grow, and I’m excited by the possibilities.”

Mr Hamilton said he would remain on Culture Amp‘s board as a strategic adviser.

Culture Amp Co founder and CEO Didier Elzinga in his Melbourne office. Picture: Sarah Matray

“I step out of the CPO role feeling grateful, proud, and incredibly confident you‘ll continue growing the business and helping the world’s most ambitious cultures unleash their people’s potential.”

Culture Amp provides employee feedback and analytics services around the world, serving about 6000 employers and a total of 250 million employees.

TDM Growth Partners and Sequoia Capital China led last year’s $US100m ($144m) Series F funding round, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and existing investors Felicis Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, Index Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Skip Capital, Grok Capital and Global Founders Capital.

Mr Elzinga, now chief executive, paid tribute to his outgoing colleague in a LinkedIn post.

“Thank you for everything my friend. You’ve been the best person I could imagine to help build this product and this company. So excited for your next chapter and for continuing to get to pick your brain!!!,” he wrote.

Mr Elzinga recently told The Australian that despite an overall tech downturn, there will be optimism about start-ups as 2022 progresses, but investors have to take a longer-term view.

“If you grow for 10,15, 20, 25 years, that will actually make up for some of the assumptions we might get wrong,” he said.