Press Releases
Spreadshirt's Gadowski Passes CEO Baton to Eggers
Founder Shifts from Operational to Strategic Role; New Leader Brings Key Skills
Boston, MA
July 24, 2007
–
Spreadshirt founder and respected angel investor,
Lukasz Gadowski today announced the promotion of himself to President, a newly-formed
strategic role in the company, and the promotion of Jana Eggers, current North
American CEO and Global EVP of Marketing and Product, to replace him in the role
of global CEO.
“Spreadshirt will remain my top priority,” said
Gadowski. “But, after six years of hard work, I want more time to share my experience
with other entrepreneurs through angel investing and advising.” In addition to
founding Spreadshirt, Lukasz has successfully invested in StudiVZ, hitflip and
rapleaf.
Gadowski and Matthias Spiess founded Spreadshirt in
2002 without venture capital. Quickly, the company established itself as
European market leader in personalized clothing. 2005 brought expansion to the
North American market, and over the past two years,
Business Week, Red Herring, and several
government agencies have recognized Spreadshirt for its high-growth. In 2006,
leading venture capital firm, Accel Partners, invested in Spreadshirt to
support growth through enhanced services and additional international focus.
“I’m honored to have been asked by Lukasz and the
board to lead Spreadshirt during this exciting time,” said Eggers. “My passion
and experience is in helping companies maintain focus under the challenges
created by rapid growth. With Spreadshirt, I have a product and team I believe
in.”
Eggers
brings extensive executive management experience, a career focus on early-stage
businesses, and a deep knowledge of the US market – a key area for growth.
Most recently, she led Intuit’s QuickBase to be the Fortune 1000 company’s
fastest growing business unit, while at the same time founding and leading
Intuit’s corporate Innovation Lab. Prior to this, Eggers held leadership and
technical positions at American Airlines’s Sabre, Lycos, Los Alamos National
Laboratory, and several start-ups. She has been recognized with various leadership
awards, and regularly is an invited speaker on innovation and management.
“Jana
is an exceptional person with an incredible array of talents. I am happy to see
her at the helm,” said Matthias Spiess, co-founder and CTO. “Her knowledge and
network in the North American market will be an essential piece of our
success.”
“Lukasz
is taking an important step for himself and Spreadshirt,” said Rezzo Schlauch,
Spreadshirt’s Supervisory Board Chair. “His Midas touch will now support
Spreadshirt and younger companies. I look forward to my work with Spreadshirt
at this new stage.”
Harry Nelis, Accel partner and Spreadshirt board
member said: “Lukasz and Jana have complementary skills, and work well together.
We see this change as combining the best skills in the right mix – which will
accelerate Spreadshirt’s growth in Europe and North
America.”
Once ratified by the board of directors, the change
will be effective on 1st August 2007.
About Spreadshirt
Spreadshirt is the “things you wear” answer to the growing desire for personal branding — letting customers quickly create one-of-a-kind, high-quality, expressive apparel. Two types of customers include:
- Buyers. Like tattoos, phone skins, and MySpace or Facebook pages, Spreadshirt lets people show who they are through shirts, shoes, bags and more, with affordable prices, high quality, fast delivery, and no minimum quantities.
- Sellers. With Spreadshirt’s online shop platform, sellers offer their creations without worrying about managing inventory, accepting credit cards, manufacturing, shipping, or customer service. Shop partners focus on the creative… Spreadshirt delivers the rest. Shops are free to set-up, and standard shops are free to maintain.
Launched in 2002 in Leipzig, Germany, Spreadshirt was named one of Europe's fastest growing companies. The company now has over 300,000 shop partners worldwide, which include a range of private individuals, charity organizations, artists and corporations. Notable partners have included Samsung, Coca Cola, Chuck Norris and The Guardian. With t-shirts as the company’s specialty, shop partners can create branded merchandise with a range of around 80 printable items, from sweatshirts and jackets to bags and shoes.
Try us!
North America: www.spreadshirt.com
European Union: www.spreadshirt.net
