BigCommerce appointed Travis Hess, who joined the company as President this past May, as its new CEO. Hess will succeed Brent Bellm, who has served in the position since 2015 and saw the company through its IPO.
DigitalCommerce360 notes that the SEC filing announcing Bellm’s departure confirmed that his exit was not due to any dispute with the company. He will remain as a non-executive employee and special advisor to the CEO and executive chair until Oct. 18.
Travis Hess is now responsible for leading BigCommerce’s global operations and for the overall success and growth of the business.
Hess previously held senior leadership roles at Accenture, where he led the firm's D2C commerce offering and go-to-market strategy. He has also served on partner advisory boards for Shopify, Klaviyo, SAP/Hybris, and Rackspace.
Prior to his time at Accenture, Hess was VP of The Stable, an omnichannel commerce agency that was acquired by Accenture, and before that, CEO of BVA, a Shopify agency, which was acquired by The Stable in 2021.
See the pattern here? Everywhere Travis Hess works gets acquired!
Earlier this year in May, I reported that BigCommerce was exploring a sale after attracting takeover interest, according to Reuters sources.
The sources said that BigCommerce asked investment bank Qatalyst Partners to solicit interest from potential buyers that included private equity firms, but that the discussions were at an early stage and no deal was certain.
Industry folks have been speculating for years that BigCommerce should / would get acquired. The company has lost more than 90% of its market value in the four years since its IPO in Aug 2020 and currently holds a market cap of $447M, down from its brief ~$12B valuation in Aug 2020.
Rick Watson reported in August that BigCommerce told Wall Street it is no longer for sale, per a research note from Ken Wong, CFA at Oppenheimer, however who's to say that that the For Sale sign isn't switched back on as quickly as it was switched off?
Perhaps the leadership shakeup at BigCommerce is in preparation for the company's sale, as Hess comes with tremendous experience leading companies through an acquisition. But that's purely speculation…
Either way, I wish BigCommerce the best of luck with the transition, and if not sold, I hope to see great things from the company next year.