INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Babbel, the popular Berlin-based language learning service, today announced that its founder and current co-CEO Markus Witte is stepping
down from his CEO role but that he will remain the executive chairman of the company’s board
The company’s current co-CEO Arne Schepker will become Babbel’s sole CEO.In addition to these leadership changes, the company also
today announced that it has appointed Katherine Melchior Ray, who held previous executive positions with luxury consumer brands like
Japan’s Shiseido, Hyatt Hotels, Tommy Hilfiger, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, as its new chief marketing officer.All of these changes come as
Babbel hits €100 million in revenue for its 2018 financial year.As Witte and Schepker told me in an interview ahead of today’s official
announcement, there were a few reasons why the team decided this would be the best way forward
And while it’s unusual for U.S
founders to step back from their CEO role, especially as a company is hitting a new growth phase, Witte argues that going forward, being the
chairman of the board will put him in the best position to ensure the company’s future going forward.“Being CEO and chairman of the
board has pros and cons,” Witte told me
“To say that the founder and chairman are one and the same person, that’s the West Coast model — and every now and then, that has its
But it’s not what people would consider good governance in Europe and at times, it makes things harder because it creates a conflict of
interest in board meetings.”Those conflicts, Witte argues, made him less effective in the chairman role and, in addition, he believes that
Babbel has now reached a point where the chairman and CEO just can’t be the same person anymore
And so he decided that if he had to choose, he’d stay as chairman of the board because that’s the role where he can ensure that Babbel
remains true to its mission.He also admitted that as the company grew, the workload became a bit too much
“CEOs like to overestimate themselves and I’m no exception,” said Witte
“But you get to the point where you have to say: I can’t fill all of these roles anymore.”With Schepker, Babbel had brought on an
outsider as CMO a few years ago who proved himself in the co-CEO role and was, in Witte’s view, ready for the CEO role, making his
decision easier.Schepker tells me that the company doesn’t plan to change its overall strategy going forward
“We have a clear strategy and we plan to implement that even faster — but that’s independent of these leadership changes,” he told
“The focus is on how we can create more value for our customers, our learners, by looking at how we can better guide them through their
personal learning journey
The problem that most learners face is that, unless they studied it in college, they never learned how to effectively learn a new
language.”In practical terms, this means that Babbel will look at expanding the range of language learning opportunities for its users to
better guide them through their learning experience (and for longer).
