2 Things Snowflake Investors Need to Know About CEO Frank Slootman’s Surprise Resignation

Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) is one of the most closely followed software companies in the market. The company competes with the likes of Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, Oracle Database, and unicorn start-up Databricks.

Snowflake became a household name for technology investors following its record IPO back in 2020. A little more than a year prior to its public market debut, Snowflake appointed Silicon Valley legend Frank Slootman as its CEO.

While Slootman is largely credited with Snowflake’s success since going public, investors were hit with some shocking news following the release of the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report.

Slootman is stepping down as CEO of Snowflake, effective immediately. While he will remain Chairman of the Board, investors don’t appear too thrilled. Let’s dig into this surprising development and assess how it could impact investors.

1. Slootman is a technology legend, but…

Co-founders are one of the hallmarks of famous technology companies. Microsoft was led by its founder, Bill Gates, for several years before he handed the keys to Steve Ballmer in 2000. Similarly, Larry Page, who co-founded Alphabet (then called Google), has had multiple stints in the CEO position.

While Slootman has earned an exceptional reputation as a tech executive, he does not have the same experience as some of his cohorts. Slootman has spent a good portion of his career in the C-Suite, but not necessarily as an actual product builder or founder.

Before joining Snowflake, Slootman served as CEO of information technology (IT) data company ServiceNow, and prior to that, he was CEO of Data Domain (which is now part of Dell Technologies).

According to company press releases, Slootman’s successor will be Sridhar Ramaswamy, who recently served as the Senior Vice President of AI at Snowflake. Ramaswamy joined Snowflake last year, as part of the company’s acquisition of AI start-up Neeva, which he co-founded. Ramaswamy’s experience as a co-founder (although not of Snowflake…