A Message from our CEO, Sean Thorne

It is with mixed emotions that I write to you all today to share that Henry and I have made the decision to step down from our day-to-day roles as CEO and President of the company. Typically, this isn’t a decision founders get to make for themselves and I’m extremely grateful that I have had Henry as a partner through every stage of the business, including this transition to help make decisions that are best for PDL.

As the company’s two largest shareholders, Henry and I remain bullish on PDL’s future, but recognize that our own skills have always been best suited for the “zero-to-one” stage. We started this company together and we always said we’d hand it off together, but only when the time was right. It was important to us that we have the right person to take PDL to $100M ARR and beyond.

Henry and I have thought of Ben Eisenberg as a third founder for many years, and throughout his time at PDL, Ben has been a pivotal part of every stage of our growth for over 7 years. Having served in various senior roles across all functions of the business, Ben has been a significant driver of our product strategy and a key figure in our largest customer relationships. We feel that Ben is the best person to lead PDL into its next great era of growth. So today, we are incredibly excited to announce that Ben is stepping into the CEO role at PDL.

Over the last year or so, we’ve spent a lot of time discussing what the future of PDL would look like. PDL’s vision is simple: to enable our customers to become data companies. Whether it’s the recent AI wave, the datafication of the enterprise, or our surging client base of investors, we are seeing that companies across verticals are buying more data. Not only are they buying more data, but they need help evaluating that data, turning it into products that provide value, and explaining the value of those products to their stakeholders. Arguably, no one at PDL has spent more time deep diving with our customers than Ben has. He has the broadest understanding of our business, our market, and our go-forward strategy, making him the clear choice for leading PDL into the future.

Outside of Henry and I being heavily invested in the business’ success, I will remain involved as a member of the Board. Henry and I believe in this team wholeheartedly and we are incredibly proud of all that our current and previous employees have accomplished. And, of course, none of our accomplishments would’ve been possible without our amazing customers. Thank you for believing in two first time founders, no words can really express what an amazing ride this has been.

Keep building,