Comments on: DEVELOPING: SugarCRM Cofounder and CEO John Roberts Resigns

By: SplendidCRM

SplendidCRM — Sun, 10 May 2009 04:26:58 +0000

SugarCRM’s CEO, John Robert’s exit is probably a good thing. When we started SplendidCRM, we thought that the folks at SugarCRM would be open to suggestions. Our path has always been to cater to the developers that only want a Microsoft-based solution, so we really did not see SplendidCRM as competition to SugarCRM, but more as a complement to SugarCRM. Apparently, John Roberts did not see it the same way. Instead of embracing the whole open-source mantra, he threatened us with a lawsuit. Such threats are empty because the whole point of open-source is to encourage others to build upon the platform; in fact, the accompanying license specifically encourages this.

By: Ned Lilly

Ned Lilly — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:18:29 +0000

I don’t have any particular knowledge of the situation, but I do have the highest opinion of John and the company, team, community, and brand he was able to build at Sugar.

It wouldn’t be the first time that a VC-heavy board decided that they knew better than the entrepreneur(s) that founded a company. Time will tell whether that’s the case here – but I wish John all the best, and can’t help but think that Sugar will be poorer for his absence.

By: David Myron

David Myron — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:55:55 +0000

There’s no question that John Roberts helped to put SugarCRM and the open-source CRM concept on the map. So it’s a little jarring to see him leave so abruptly without a publicly stated reason. An explanation from the company, a departing quote from him, or any indication that he plans to help find his replacement would have undoubtedly been appreciated by partners and customers. Without any of these messages, people are left to ask, “What’s going on at Sugar?” and are forced to jump to their own conclusions.

David Myron
Editorial Director
CRM magazine
Speech Technology magazine