Tim Duggan steps back from Junkee, with Rob Stott promoted
The co-founder of Junkee Media, Tim Duggan, will take a step back in October after 14 years leading the youth publisher.
Duggan and co-founder Neil Ackland sold Junkee Media to outdoor company Ooh Media in 2016.
Duggan has new things to focus on
Duggan said he was stepping back from the business he formed with Ackland to enable him to spend more time writing, travelling and developing other projects.
Congrats Tim, great achievement. Cant wait to see what you do next!
An amazing tenure Tim and the execution of Junkee was exceptional, not to mention how fresh and different same same was during its time.. Was lucky to be there for a part of it and saw the way you approached media and creativity and nurtured talent. Congratulations and we look forward to the book!
Well done Tim. Love to profile your book as well.
Can we not be honest here though? While I have never met him and I am sure he is a great guy, Tim was NOT a co-founder of Junkee Media. He was an employee that was promoted. Just because you put a new shingle on an existing business (remember Sound Alliance?), does not make someone a co-founder. Neil Ackland is a co-founder and I think there were a couple of other people in the business with Neil originally, but it was not Tim for sure. The ‘co-founder’ label is too generously used in Australia. Another example is Mark Britt at iflix. He did not co-found that business. Patrick Grove did that. He was a recruited CEO to an existing business and only later was the co-founder tag added to his title. A founder or co-founder is somebody who has often taken substantial risk. They risk their own money, their own reputation, often leaving an existing income-earning job, etc. They are a special category of people that should be held in high regards. Recruited people – and even people that later is given shares in a business/becomes a shareholder – should not be given that title in my view.
On that basis (and while I recognise that Junkee Media is one of Mumbrella’s favourites), was Tim Duggan’s departure really Breaking News at 4.50pm yesterday…..??? I would say not even close.
Hi But,
You asked for honesty. So I felt it was important to address your comments around what constitutes a co-founder.
Was Tim there when I jumped on board with inthemix back in 2000 with the true ‘founders’ Andre Lackmann, Libby Clark and Matt Callander? No, but neither was I. The reality is I came along months after they began. But I was still classified as a co-founder.
Why? Like them, I risked everything to get on board and sacrificed my career to back something insane that had a 0.01% chance of success. I sacrificed salary, sweat and opportunity on nothing but a whim and a dream. So by your measure, I was a cofounder. But, Tim did exactly the same when him and I conceived SameSame in 2005. He was the cofounder in that business that was part of Sound Alliance. He made the same sacrifices all founders make.
Several years later when the original crew had all moved on, it was Tim that I turned to to help me imagine what was next. We conceived Junkee together. It was our baby. The business entity behind it was already established but the creative energy and IP was shared between us both. Without a shadow of a doubt.
So, is Tim Duggan a cofounder of Junkee Media? You bet he is. Did he take significant financial risk? Did he risk his reputation? Hell yes! He deserves huge respect for what he created, not judgement and criticism.
Australia could go a long way to celebrate the success of our thought leaders who have contributed to Australia’s media landscape instead of tearing them down Anon in the comments.
Neil
Hello Neil –
My comments were in no way disrespecting (or in any way disputing) what Tim has created together with you and others. It was also not judging or criticising Tim who I again have never met. I think if you read it again you will (or should) agree with that. The essence of my comments is about the use of the term ‘co-founder’ in a general sense.
Just because a person comes up with a great idea, takes the lead on executing that idea, inspires others to follow, helps to develop a new brand, significantly grows the business, etc, does not automatically make a person a co-founder. Think about it Neil; there would be a huge amount of co-founders out there if that was the case. It would be a bit like Vice President in the US. “Everyone” is a VP! Hugh Marks would be a co-founder of Nine, because he was the lead on buying Fairfax and as a result totally redefined that business. Same for Steve O’Connor merging APN Outdoor with JC Decaux. Steve undertook that transformational project with the backing and support of an existing organisation. Is Ciaran Davis a co-founder of Here, There & Everywhere? A new brand for a very different business once Adshel was gone. No. Executing on one or more major initiatives through an existing business is something quite a lot of people do, Tim included. In fact, it is often a person’s job. But they are not co-founders.
The term co-founder, should be more sparingly used for the risk-takers that start something from scratch, or very near scratch, and not for people that start something within, and with the backing of, a a well established existing business and organisation. Then ‘co-founder’ is devalued and it becomes instead more of a platform to kick-off the next career move.
We can and should celebrate thought leaders in this country. They should be held in high regards. By your description, Tim is a good example of that. But we do not need to put the wrong label on people to achieve that.
Cheeers!