MADISON, Wis. -- Ian Chen, executive vice president of software licensor Sensor Platforms, abruptly left the company last week.
A brief conversation with Chen, and a subsequent interview with Sensor Platforms’ CEO Dan Brown on Monday (Jan. 28)--a week after Chen's departure--did not yield any clues to explain the sudden management changes--beyond the possibility of a personality clash between the two executives.
Sensor Platforms, founded in 2004, is a venture-financed company located in San Jose, Calif. The company licenses algorithmic software and platforms built around the growing number of sensors installed in smartphones and tablets.
Sensor Platforms offers what it calls “FreeMotion Library.” It’s designed to combine and process data from various sensors inside mobile devices. The library lets carriers, handset vendors and chip companies interpret the users’ movements and situations, and infer their intentions. Sensor Platforms does not develop hardware, like sensor chips. Rather, the company is pursuing a software-only business model.
According to Brown, the departure of Chen does not imply hat big changes are forthcoming. The CEO, however, added that Sensor Platforms is planning to “enter a couple of new markets” this spring. He declined to discuss it further, saying that the disclosure would be too premature.
Brown also pointed out that Sensor Platforms’ cash flow is about to turn positive. Describing the company as “on the borderline" of profitability. “Nobody–also in the software-only business–is in the position to say that," Brown said. Given that, there is no reason to suspect that “our business model is flawed or we need to change it,” he added.
Next: Unconventional path