Alicia Navarro, the co-founder of Skimlinks, is stepping down as the firm’s CEO.
Navarro will continue to oversee the company’s trajectory in her roles as president and partner board member, but Sebastien Blanc, the current chief revenue officer, will become the new CEO.
“Seb taking the reins as CEO is incredibly exciting,” said Navarro. “He has a drive for excellence and a disciplined growth mindset that will take Skimlinks to the next level. As our chief revenue officer for the past two years, Seb was instrumental in driving an acceleration in growth and efficiency that helped Skimlinks reach profitability.
“Skimlinks’ culture is one of our most important assets. Seb’s deep appreciation for our team, our customers, and our mission make him my natural choice to take over responsibility of the company I started and led for 10 years,” she added.
Blanc has more than 15 years experience in the media and advertising industry as an investor, advisor, and senior executive. Before joining Skimlinks, he was a director at Quantcast, where he built and subsequently led global media buying operations across five countries and signed the first 3,000 private deals with premium publishers. Blanc first joined Quantcast through their acquisition of Struq, a programmatic advertising and retargeting specialist, where he launched the US operation and reportedly took revenues from $0 to $10m in 18 months.
“Over the last two years, as CRO of Skimlinks, I have enjoyed working with Alicia and seeing her lead with a level of passion and dedication that only a founder can truly bring,” said Blanc.
“She built a great business and a great team. I am looking forward to building upon what already makes us special, and finding new ways to deliver value for our customers and opportunities for growth to our people.”
John Brimacombe, a partner at Sussex Place Ventures and lead investor in Skimlinks’ Series A, will become the interim executive chairman while the company looks to fill the role permanently.
Brimacombe commented, “Alicia is a model founder. Along with her co-founder Joe Stepniewski, Alicia took Skimlinks from an idea to more than $50m in annual revenues. As the company now enters a new chapter of growth, Alicia made the bold decision to find a successor and guide the board through a thoughtful process to select a new CEO. I deeply respect and appreciate all that Alicia and Joe have done, and I’m delighted to work with Seb in his role as CEO.”
Under Navarro’s tenure, Skimlinks, which seeks to help publishers diversify their revenues by monetising content through commerce, raised $25m.
“Since we led their Series C, Skimlinks has solidified its position as a lucrative partner to many of the world’s best-known digital publishers, becoming the undisputed leader in the category they created for commerce-related content monetisation,” commented Joe Krancki, partner at Frog Capital.
“We’re thrilled to have Seb carry Alicia’s vision forward as the new CEO of Skimlinks and continue transforming the way publishers earn revenue from their content.”
Navarro says she will now channel her passion for entrepreneurship to help start and build other early-stage companies.