by Brian Solis

Interesting times indeed in Silicon Valley. And if you’re a geek and follow tech, then I’m sure you’re following three very public stories involving the impending IPO of Facebook, the ups and downs of Technorati, and the rumors circling Podtech.

All three were in the news this week.

Facebook COO Owen Van Natta’s title was reportedly demoted to chief revenue officer and vp operations.  

Kara Swisher reports, “Van Natta now shares power – how uneasily it remains to be seen – with newly installed Vice President of Marketing and Operations Chamath Palihapitiya . . . longtime exec Matt Cohler, vice president of strategy and business operations . . . newly installed CFO Gideon Yu . . . co-founder and Vice President of Product Engineering Dustin Moskovitz; and CTO Adam D’Angelo.”

PaidContent.org’s Staci D. Kramer describes it as “an expansion of the management team as [Facebook] hovers between well-funded, fast-growing startup, acquisition target and possible mega IPO.”

Technorati’s founder, David Sifry stepped down as CEO today finally succumbing to rapidly increasing outside pressure to create a long-term business model.  The search for a new CEO, which started last spring, failed to turn up an promising candidates. The company, over the last year, was also forced to make additional cuts to prolong cash flow.  CFO Teresa Malo, VP of engineering Dorion Carroll and VP of Marketing Derek Gordon will run the show until a new CEO is in place.

Earlier in the year, over at 625 2nd Street aka the Looksmart building, several community leaders discussed this very subject in the hallways and basically predicted this result. One of the industry pundits said directly, “You can’t run a successful companies with your fingers plugging your ears. There are too many good business opportunities out there to fail.”

Podtech has been taking a lot of heat lately, many of it based on unsubstantiated rumors. What is true however, is that CEO and Founder, John Furrier has been leading an effort to find a replacement to help take the company to the next level.

Podtech announced that COO, James McCormick, is stepping into the roll. McCormick brings 23 years of operational, finance, and senior management experience to the company.

According to TechCrunch, Loren Feldman’s 1938 Media ended its parternship with Podtech. I like that guy.

 technorati podtech john+furrier david+sifry facebook ipo