TheLadders is simultaneously announcing a new boss and unveiling a new product, namely a database of company and salary information.
Let’s start with the boss. Co-founder Marc Cenedella served as CEO of TheLadders from 2003 to 2012, when he left to focus on his new startup Knozen. He’s remained involved as chairman of the board of directors, and the company says he was reappointed as CEO earlier this year.
A spokesperson for TheLadders told me that Alex Douzet, who co-founded the company with Cenedella and served as CEO after his departure, is now “focused on some new outside pursuits, independent of the brand.”
When I wrote about TheLadders in November, Doucet told me the company was building new products (starting with a job referral app and job market guide) that should make the service useful even when you’re not looking for a job. TheLadders team will continue in this direction under Cenedella’s lead.
The just-launched Companies feature does expand TheLadders in this vein — though in this case, the feature would be pretty useful both when you are and aren’t looking for a job. It offers information about positions and salaries for what TheLadders says are more than 20,000 companies.
For example, I could see how my salary compares to user-reported paychecks from my employer AOL, which owns TechCrunch (for now). Besides confirming that there are a lot of people who make more money than me, I can also sort salaries from lowest to highest, skim basic facts like the number of employees, and browse recent news stories and social media updates.
Oh, and you don’t need to register to see any of this information. (Glassdoor, in contrast, will show you a few sample data points upfront, but you’ve got to sign up if you want to see everything.)
TheLadders said it started the database with the companies that it was already working with over the past decade. It will be adding more companies over time, as well as the ability for businesses to submit their own information.
Oh, and if you’re wondering what this means for Knozen, apparently Cenedella will be serving as CEO for both TheLadders and Knozen (which has also been adding new features). TheLadders spokesperson said, “He’ll be dividing his time to support the needs and best interests of both brands — which means different things for both companies.”