1000 Thank You’s!!! 
Another misunderstanding. I wish Nate & this forum title would have included his full name. 
Your secret is safe with me, Chad McTimmerman
Well that feels overboard. Something I learned long ago is that jobs/roles are dispensable and easily replaced. There are plenty people out there who could have done the same or better job Chad did.
I did not mean to say that the “house is actually on fire” but that’s the perception of everyone - judge yourself in this forum and on reddit how many people are in on this topic. It’s almost a group panic and I agree with you that probably things internally and not NEARLY as bad as they seem from the outside.
But that was sorta of my point…a statement worded like this makes it way more dramatic than necessary, no matter what’s really going on.
-
I’d call that a rather large brush that doesn’t capture the reality of the situation.
-
Yes, this is an active topic with some wild speculation (as expected). But plenty of people are NOT posting at all, or are keeping a cool head with their comments.
sucks to see 2 of the 4 people leave in past 6 months
I’m not sure if people are just joking with the whole “AI replaced Chad” angle. This would be the worlds stupidest way to handle that if it were actually the case so I’m extremely doubtful.
The way it was messaged seems weird to me, but without any knowledge of the situation I don’t think any of us can fully judge. In messy situations there is often no good way to message something, so you just need to get over with and start moving forward.
The somewhat more concerning thing to me though is this on top of Ambers departure. The two are hopefully in no way related, but 2 sudden departures of key faces of the company within a year with very limited explanation is going to cause people to speculate
I think even if AI was able to completely take over plan building, etc., Chad was a wealth of knowledge and experience that certainly could have been of value to the company in another capacity.
I think Nate would have been able to find roles for valuable people , which leads me to believe it’s something “worse.” Which I hate to speculate about, but with such little detail, all we are left with is speculation.
Ah man, I’m truly bummed about Chad’s departure.
The good side of the podcast is that they’ve spent endless hours building a relationship between the TR hosts and the podcast-watching/listening clients. The result of that is a bond between the customers and TR.
The flip side (i.e. the bad) of building a user base by building relationships via podcast is that when a host leaves unexpectedly, it can feel like a friend left town, or an family member suddenly left without explanation. It’s shocking.
TR is a victim of the success of their own marketing strategy. It’s painful for them, but it’s also painful for us.
Maybe this will trigger the end of the podcast? Who knows…
I’m also bummed I missed the Beers with Chad episode. Guess I’ll never see it now.
I hear you and I understand where you are coming from. It is a difficult thing to maneuver for TR: how to handle the PR of a departure of a company cofounder who didn’t leave voluntarily.
I imagine “X is no longer with the company” and period allows for the least amount of speculation.
This is true, however, when someone makes a massive contribution to the success of a company it should be recognized—a mere mention of his departure lacks the appropriate recognition and comes off as immature, arrogant and lacking of appreciation. Even if it was on bad terms. It also provides no context into the departure, for which this community sorts of warrants. We have invested time and money into supporting this company.
It’s easy to assume that Nate could have partnered with anyone and build TR what it is today, but that’s an impossible assumption. Factually speaking, the partnership with Chad is what led to what TR is today.
Again, a bit more grace and appreciation would have been the appropriate send off.
That’s pretty standard from a company standpoint
Probably too soon but I really hope this pops up on the Meme thread.
Disappointing but life will go on.
When I started using Trainerroad I really enjoyed the personality of the company and this was driven by the podcast and the banter between Nate, Chad, and Jonathan. But things change and I don’t listen to it much anymore.
I still find Trainerroad and this forum useful tools for my needs but of course recognize that it’s jut a business.
They would say he is leaving to pursue other opportunities and we wish him success if he wasn’t fired.
Here is my wild speculation:
TR is putting out more polarized plans. Chad disagreed. Things came to a head and chad was like I’m done with this and got bought out.
Very simply…”Chad has left TR to pursue new opportunities. He was a vital part of our success and we wish him all the best in his new endeavors.”
Kinda seems like the announcement was a bit of a self-inflicted wound, but…
Chad’s knowledge and insights will be missed.
Since this is all mindless speculation anyway…
Right around the time the Zwift rumors for merger/acquisition came out Nate has been less present on the forum, podcast, even IG. I know there are a lot of personal things there, but I always thought there was some truth to those rumors and himself and chad were just working on selling. Since chad was also less present I kind of thought maybe he wanted to retire and enjoy the PNW….
I personally dont understand it at all and feel quite shitty about it. It took me a little while to get used to Amber and then when I did I couldnt imagine the podcast without her. Amber really complemented Chad on the science. Then poof… I was left with at least Ive still got Chad and have always depended on his deep dives and thorough explanations on everything and now poof… forced out?
A few weeks ago they were talking about a TR sponsered gravel race near Chad and now this.
I have no idea whats going on. I dont think Nates message at the beginning of the podcast was great and dont like how it was stated as non voluntary. BUT I dont know how Nate could have done it better and it seems like it was rushed like they were trying to get out ahead of something. I feel bad for Nate, Chad and the rest of the TR crew.
My dream one day to see a few podcasts with the whole crew including Chad, Amber and Pete. I wish them all the best.