Turning the Page
10 years after co-founding and building the world’s largest online beer platform, I’ve decided to step down as Chief Creative Officer at Untappd. While I’m stepping back from day-to-day responsibilities, I will be staying on in an Executive Advisor role at Next Glass (Untappd’s parent company). I can’t believe I just typed those words, but I feel that it’s the right time.
As for many of us, 2020 has been one of the hardest years of my life, both professionally and personally. COVID-19 has prevented us from doing many of the things that we enjoy and it has also affected our industry. During this time, I stepped away from leading technology as the Chief Technology Officer into a more creative role within the company. This transition turned out to be something that was very difficult to adjust to.
People close to me know how deeply I care about the Untappd community. I pride myself on being transparent and building the best product possible. It’s not just a job to me. Untappd is in my blood; it fuels me everyday. However, that can be a blessing and a real challenge . For most people, when the work day is done, they can disconnect and go on with their life. Because of my passion for the Untappd community, I struggled to do that, and not disconnecting turned to late nights and a lot of stress. It can certainly have it’s advantages, with quick turnaround and high quality products for the end-user, but it takes a toll emotionally and physically.
To the outside world, people have compared me to a robot. Being able to respond to users, develop features, provide the vision for Untappd and more, all in one day's work. When we were a two-man team, this trait and ability made Untappd the great product it was. But I’ve learned this is not a sustainable trait and this became clear during my transition into a more creative role. In that creative capacity, I became that “old man” that complained about things in the engineering organization. I was acting like a retired football coach, hanging around the locker room, questioning the plays they were running. I became emotionally and physically drained. It wasn’t who I was, nor who I wanted to be.
As the year continued, I tried to distance myself from engineering and product to get a new perspective and focus on new initiatives, like our Virtual Festival, Untappd TV and engaging with our community on social channels. I took up photography; going out into nature and capturing what I saw as a way to reduce stress, relax and have some moments where I didn’t think about Untappd. I still couldn’t let it go. You see, I love this community, I wanted to be respected and well-liked by it. As we’ve grown, there are more and more decisions being made each day, so many that it is impossible to be consulted on each one. I’ve remained the focal point for feedback on every product decision on social media and other outlets. Sometimes that feedback is positive, sometimes it is not. It has been difficult to keep up with it all.
As this continued, I started to feel symptoms of depression, anger and sadness. I kept all these emotions inside. I struggled to disconnect. That pushed me down toward the rabbit hole even further. Relationships at work started to suffer, including with people that I’d hired and seen grow within the company. It got really worse to the point where it affected my personal life, where I was mentally emotional and not a joy to be around. My health also suffered, I stopped working out, I was out of breath for no reason, tired all the time and not eating right.
They say a child can change your life and this is true as 2020 came to a close. My second son was born, and I took two weeks off for paternity leave. It was the first time in 10 years, I’ve taken more than seven days off from this company. I turned off all notifications and alerts on my phone, and just spent time with our new baby. It was an eye opening experience and saved me. During this time, I started reading and learning about new technologies, and I even built a small CMS for my older son's Matchbox cars. I reconnected with some old friends via Zoom chats, and started to pick myself up again. I didn’t open my work computer at all in those two weeks, something I could have never done before and it was incredibly freeing.
Unfortunately this feeling was short lived, as I got back into the thick of things upon my return and the same stress and habits reemerged. Not liking these feelings and lifestyle, I decided I needed to make some changes for my own personal happiness. What would my life be without the thing that had been a part of me for basically one third of my life? I consulted with friends in the industry, mentors and family. The choice became clear, I needed some space from day-to-day operations at Untappd.
Hence where this decision to step back has come from. Over the last 10 years, I’ve worked 80 hour work weeks to get Untappd off the ground. We were acquired twice. I made a beer with Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head for our 10th Anniversary and I’ve developed amazing products with an amazing team. I couldn’t be more proud. Not many people get an opportunity to have their dreams come true, and I’m incredibly thankful for what I have experienced.
With the full support from the Next Glass leadership to step back, they have offered me an Executive Advisor position that I am excited to play. I’ll be offering guidance on the products, community, and brand that I still deeply love. This will allow me to stay close to Untappd, but not be involved in the day-to-day operations. You may not see me at an Untappd event or on Untappd TV, but like many founders, I am heavily involved in the Untappd community, and will still be active on the service. I won’t be able to provide support, preview the roadmap or take feature requests anymore, but I plan on still engaging with you in the community as new features are released.
I’ll also be advising Trace Smith (CEO of Next Glass), on matters important to the community based on my experience. I still have an ownership stake in Next Glass, so of course I will try to help where I can for the good of the company.
Stepping away from the day to day, also means that Beer Memories will be shutting down on February 18th, 2021. With me taking a step back, it’s necessary to shut down this site. As of today, we will not be accepting new users, and existing users can download their entire history. It was amazing building a product from scratch again, and I thank everyone for their support! Hope you enjoyed your daily emails, as I know I did.
I want to take this time to thank my fellow employees, friends, family and specifically my wife, Ashley for all their support. We were dating when Untappd first launched, and are now married with two amazing kids. She thought I was crazy to do something like this with someone I met on the internet, but I'm very glad I did!
Tim and I’s first communication. Little did we know what it would become!
Also want to thank my co-founder Tim Mather, who left the company two years ago. Tim and I met over Twitter, and it’s amazing to see what is possible using technology. When I first met Tim, over 12 years ago, in my parents’ basement, I never imagined where Untappd would be today. It’s truly an American dream that has played out right before my own eyes.
I also want to thank all of our moderators on Untappd, which some I have worked with from the beginning. They dedicate their spare time to Untappd, for the greater good of the community. I firmly believe without their passion for keeping the database clean, we wouldn’t be viewed as having such an accurate database that millions of users and thousands of developers use on a daily basis. It’s been an incredible pleasure to work with all you out there.
I finally want to thank all of YOU. Untappd was built for you, the community, and I always wanted to build an amazing experience for you. Without you, there is no Untappd. I’ve said this many times, but it’s the truth! You guys and gals drove me to keep delivering and engaging in this amazing beer community. While this is certainly a bittersweet day, it’s a new beginning for me.
As to what’s next, I plan on taking a step back, reflecting and spending time with my family, before deciding what to do next. Untappd will always be part of me, and I have all of you to thank.
Thanks again to everyone for your support and I’ll see you on Untappd!
Your friend in time,
Greg D. Avola
