Just a few short days ago (it seems) I posted my swan song to EasyBits Software. But I didn’t give any precise details on where I was going …
So, for those who haven’t seen it on my LinkedIn account, yes, I have joined Canpages! Canpages is exciting for me for a bunch of reasons.
First of all, it’s back to the web. That’s my first love, that’s what I’m passionate about, and that’s what I eat, breathe, drink. The reality is: installable software is getting less and less important. More and more intelligence and also computing capacity is transferring to the cloud. So that was an important consideration.
Secondly, it’s mobile and social. Canpages has several iPhone apps and a BlackBerry app … and in fact one of the first things I’m working on here is apps. More on that soon from Canpages.ca – look for the press releases! We’re already social with a number of different web properties that we own, and it’s only going to increase. Again, can’t give any more details here and now, but look for big things in the near and medium-term future.
Third, Canpages is local search. Local search is the holy grail right now. It’s what Yelp and Facebook and Bing and Google and Yahoo! and FourSquare and so many other companies are working on. And guess what: Canpages is leading the industry in Canada, and with some of the things in our pipeline, we’re going to grow our presence and capabilities substantially.
That’s the other major part of what I’m working on: canpages.ca, the website. The user experience, the UI, the traffic strategies, the conversion rates … the product. I’ll also be managing several of our other web properties, GigPark, ZipLocal, and Urban Pill.
Finally, coming out of a very lean start-up scenario, not having to manage the HR stuff, the benefits, the finance, etc. etc. etc., and just being able to wear the product hat … it feels good. I feel like I can focus on the things that I care most about.
So: looking forward to what we can do here. Stay tuned!