Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Akamai CFO Sherman leaves for HubSpot

By Galen Moore, Boston Business Journal

Article updated as of 9:20 a.m., Feb. 9, 2012.

Akamai (Nasdaq: AKAM) chief financial officer J.D. Sherman is leaving the Cambridge Internet data delivery firm after six years, heading across town to venture-backed HubSpot to take a role as president and chief operating officer. James Benson, senior vice president of finance, has taken over as CFO in his place, effective March 1.

Akamai president Paul Sagan confirmed the move in the company’s earnings call Wednesday. “Now, (Sherman) wants an opportunity to help run an early-stage business,” Sagan said.

The move was first reported by TechCrunch, which quoted HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan pointing to Sherman’s large, public company experience. “We are on the same fast growth path of all the successful SaaS companies,” Halligan told TechCrunch, “and need to start preparing for an IPO.”

Venture-backed HubSpot makes software allowing small and midsize business-to-business firms to use the web for marketing. The company has raised about $65 million in venture capital from backers including General Catalyst Partners, Google Ventures, Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital and Venture Scale Partners.

Hubspot told the Boston Business Journal it has 300 employees, as of last December, and analysts have pegged its 2010 revenue at $15.6 million.

The news follows Akamai’s announcement that it has acquired Canadian company Blaze Software Inc. to give it a technology that speeds up Web page rendering by optimizing delivery of content.