When Todd Dunlap took over the CEO role at Bellevue-based digital marketplace OfferUp in July, he had already put hours of work into ensuring a smooth transition with co-founder and former CEO Nick Huzar.
Dunlap was joining the company after nine years at Booking.com, where he was the North America head.
Dunlap said he and Huzar, who has since become the company's chief product officer, went through details of the transition before Dunlap agreed to take the new role. For example, the two worked through how it would work if they disagreed about an important decision down the line. It took hours to work through all the different scenarios that could arise.
"That's what it took," Dunlap said. "Let's think through all the worst-case scenarios and best-case scenarios and just work through it together and see. It took energy and it took effort, but I think that energy and effort really paid off in how smooth this transition has been."
Dunlap added that, although there are instances where a company's board of directors insists a co-founder steps down as CEO, that was not the case with OfferUp. Huzar himself realized the company had grown to a size it was "ready for its next chapter," according to Dunlap, and Huzar wanted to focus back on the product. Dunlap added that both he and Huzar feel energized in their new roles.
OfferUp announced the transition in June. At the time, Huzar told the Business Journal he wanted to spend more time charting the company's product roadmap, and Dunlap was a good fit to lead the startup through late-stage growth.
"We would love to go the distance and really be in control of our own destiny as an independent company. Todd clearly has public market experience," Huzar said at the time.
Before his years at Booking.com, Dunlap spent more than a decade at Microsoft.
Huzar and Arean van Veelen co-founded OfferUp in 2011. Van Veelen left his chief technology officer role in 2017.
OfferUp's marketplace allows consumers to buy and sell goods locally. Users can find furniture, appliances, clothes and even cars on the marketplace. OfferUp earns revenue through third-party ads and fees on services like shipping. The company raised $120 million last year and has offices in Bellevue, Miami and Mexico City. Dunlap said the company has about 400 employees.
"We're probably going to continue to add to the base of employees over time," Dunlap said. "But real growth is going to come from top line."
