Friday morning’s post, Is Something Shaking at Point2 Agent?, has certainly generated a flurry of comments and traffic. Several comments were made from people claiming to be current and former employees of Point2 Agent. Understandably, these comments were anonymous. Given the content of the comments, and the fact they originated from Saskatoon — home of Point2 Technology — I have no reason to doubt they are indeed genuine.
Since Friday morning, I have also had conversations — verbal and via email — with some current and former Point2 employees. Out of respect for these people’s wishes, those conversations will remain private and off the record.
Approximately 12 hours after Friday’s post, Carey Tufts, a Point2 employee (and all-around great guy) posted this on RELiberation (Point2’s “community blog”):
Earlier this week, Brendan King and Jeff Tomlin tendered their resignations to Point2. Others at the management level also chose to part ways with the company.
A comment left here by a current Point2 employee added several other manager’s names to the list of those resigning from Point2.
Those names (and more) were just confirmed on RELiberation by Carey.
Here is the confirmed list of Point2 executives who have tendered their resignations:
- Brendan King – Chief Operating Officer
- Jason Collins – Chief Technology Officer
- Jeff Tomlin – Vice President, Business Development
- Jon Levesque – Vice President, Systems and Information Technology
- John Fothergill – Vice President, Product Development
- Greg Miller – Vice President, Marketing
- Allan Wolinski, support team manager (unofficial title)
In addition, Ches Hagen, VP of Cat/Heavy Equipment — a non-real estate related side of Point2 Technologies — also resigned.
Since Friday’s post, I have received a couple dozen emails and phone calls from Point2 Agent users across the continent, asking me my thoughts, opinions and “what should we do?”.
For what it’s worth, here you go…
With the exception of Ches Hagen, I have met and/or communicated with all of the people listed above. Without exception, they are incredibly talented and dedicated individuals. I consider many of them friends and wish them all the best. I have zero doubt that they will all be remarkably successful in any endeavor they pursue. I sincerely hope that we can all stay in touch.
There are approximately 100 people working in the real estate side of Point2 Technology. Losing seven top level managers at once is disturbing, but there are still 93 very talented and dedicated people left. I don’t believe for a second that anyone using a Point2 web site is in danger of losing their site. P2 simply has too much invested and too good a product to fold up that portion of their business.
But as a paying customer of Point2, and one who relies on their product to generate a significant portion of my business, it would be ridiculous for me not to be concerned. I think it is safe to say that the executives listed above provided a great deal of leadership, talent and vision to Point2 Agent. To lose that all at once is obviously not an optimal situation by any stretch of the imagination.
I have a degree in Human Resource Management and spent a significant portion of my career inside corporate America within Human Resources and Organizational Development. I was involved in countless re-organizations and voluntary and involuntary loss of personnel. I think I can safely say that massive changes in the executive level such as are taking place at Point2 can have a tremendous impact on those remaining.
Yes, this impact can be minimized. But it can not be swept under the rug or considered simply “a bump in the road”. To discount the potential impact of something like this on the remaining work force is a recipe for disaster. It is going to take some very strong leadership to get Point2 though this transition. Do I think they can do it? Yes, I do. As a loyal customer, I certainly hope they do. I don’t plan on taking my site anywhere else. But I will be, for the first time, considering alternatives just in case. That’s just prudence and planning on my part — and I should have always had a backup plan in place. Now I will.
Time will tell how the remaining management team handles this situation. In the past, Point2 has been very open with their customers, and that is one of their traits that make them such a pleasure to work with. They have also been one of the most innovative web providers in the business. I hope these traits continue, and I think they will. But I for one will be more prepared in the future. As the events this week demonstrate, one can never be prepared enough for every circumstance.
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Sounds like a train wreck in progress. Can anyone say what the problem is? Usually higher up suits only leave a job en mass for one reason….
…being told they aren’t getting paid this month.
In any case, I’d be scouting backup platforms asap. Hope everything works out for you in this mess Jay.
I hear (totally unofficially, rumor mill stuff) that some here want these posts removed. I hope they stay up. This is a great company, but like any, we’ve got problems that need to be addressed.
Inside Point2 wrote: “I hear (totally unofficially, rumor mill stuff) that some here want these posts removed. I hope they stay up.”
I wrote in a comment on the other Point2 post that nothing short of a court order would make me remove anything from this blog. And I’d fight that to the bitter end…
Nothing here was written to demean Point2 or any of its employees, current or former. In fact, if you search this blog for “Point2″ you’ll see several posts singing their praise. I write because as one of the largest providers of real estate web solutions, what goes on behind the walls of P2 is important to many.
I used Point2 for about 4 years as my primary site. I liked and still like their service very much. Though they are no longer my primary web site provider. Changes came that I wasn’t thrilled about and things out of their control made me go elsewhere.
What is true about Point2 in the past was that they were always cutting edge, agent-centered and quick to respond to questions and concerns. Again, my leaving them had more to do with a fee service elsewhere than dissatisfaction with the service I was paying them for.
When I first started using Point2 in 2002 I even received a call from their President (or whatever) asking me my opinion with their service. That was kinda cool. But with the evolution of companies I guess this was inevitable.
Here’s hoping they stay true to their past values.
“What is true about Point2 in the past was that they were always cutting edge, agent-centered and quick to respond to questions and concerns.”
Still true as of last week Chris. And I suspect it will be true next week as well.
That said, there should always be a backup plan in place. Always, every time. I never had one — shame on me. I do now, though I don’t think I’ll need it.
Money is not the issue here and I don’t think for a minute that we need to be worried that Point2 will turn off the switch.
I suspect that it has more to do with differences in “vision,” or at least, how the Point2 vision may best be realized. While there is little doubt that these departures represent great loss, I’m certain that there is plenty of passion for this company in those that remain.
Best wishes to Point2, and to all of those who decided to move on.
appreciate the information, point2 visions is a good program
I don’t use Point2 and never did, but we were looking at their system as it appears to be quite good. Can’t comment on the above affairs.