Rahul Sood Resigning His Post At HP, Moving Onto Something New
We can't say we never saw it coming. Rahul Sood had withdrawn from the
spotlight quite significantly in recent months, but it's still somewhat
surprising. As of today, Rahul Sood is no longer planning to continue
his role as the CTO of Global Gaming for Hewlett-Packard, a post
he has held for some time following the acquisition of VoodooPC. He
was responsible for spearheading VoodooPC back when it was a standalone
custom PC powerhouse -- a company that HP eventually ended up buying.
From there, he saw many HP computers get a little of that VoodooDNA, but
the company never really was the same. Sood even tweeted publicly
following the departure of CEO Mark Hurd that things were getting really
interesting at HP.
And now, he's moving on. He'll maintain his position until Dec. 1 of this year, giving the company a matter of weeks to find someone else. Rahul, in a blog post, says that it's a really difficult decision given that he has basically been with either Voodoo or HP for all of his working years, and while he has experience "some of his best moments and most challenging moments while at HP," something else is calling him away.
A key line in his blog is this: "In 2006 an article published in the New York Times entitled “Canadian Innovation Helps HP Stock Rise” shined a spotlight on us that few people expected, and then the snowball effect kicked in. We merged, we invented, we kicked ass, and we had fun, but then things got a little complicated." It's no surprise that HP basically swallowed Voodoo. Even the Envy line lacks the true VoodooDNA that lasted so long. And for the creator of that DNA, seeing it assimilated has to hurt.
As for what's next? Rahul's definitely not going to be taking it easy. He's interested in being "directly involved in a product pipeline again," and we wouldn't be shocked if he's fielding calls from Dell's Alienware or Falcon Northwest (or some other custom startup PC builder) right now. He also says he'll "be back soon," so definitely plan on hearing more in the near future. Voodoo may be gone, but we're glad to see Sood picking up something else and turning it into something awesome. He never saw him as a really good fit for HP anyway.
And now, he's moving on. He'll maintain his position until Dec. 1 of this year, giving the company a matter of weeks to find someone else. Rahul, in a blog post, says that it's a really difficult decision given that he has basically been with either Voodoo or HP for all of his working years, and while he has experience "some of his best moments and most challenging moments while at HP," something else is calling him away.
A key line in his blog is this: "In 2006 an article published in the New York Times entitled “Canadian Innovation Helps HP Stock Rise” shined a spotlight on us that few people expected, and then the snowball effect kicked in. We merged, we invented, we kicked ass, and we had fun, but then things got a little complicated." It's no surprise that HP basically swallowed Voodoo. Even the Envy line lacks the true VoodooDNA that lasted so long. And for the creator of that DNA, seeing it assimilated has to hurt.
As for what's next? Rahul's definitely not going to be taking it easy. He's interested in being "directly involved in a product pipeline again," and we wouldn't be shocked if he's fielding calls from Dell's Alienware or Falcon Northwest (or some other custom startup PC builder) right now. He also says he'll "be back soon," so definitely plan on hearing more in the near future. Voodoo may be gone, but we're glad to see Sood picking up something else and turning it into something awesome. He never saw him as a really good fit for HP anyway.
