内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2026/seekouts-anoop-gupta-steps-down-as-ceo-hands-reins-of-ai-recruiting-company-to-tech-vet-sean-thompson/

内容总结：

西雅图招聘科技公司SeekOut迎来新帅，创始人退居二线专注“番茄与人生”

总部位于贝尔维尤的招聘科技公司SeekOut近日宣布重大领导层变更。公司联合创始人兼首席执行官（CEO）阿努普·古普塔将于5月4日卸任CEO一职，转任执行董事长。其职位将由企业软件行业资深人士肖恩·汤普森接棒。

现年67岁的古普塔是科技界知名人物，曾长期任职于微软，担任过比尔·盖茨的技术助理，并领导过Skype和Exchange团队。他在采访中表示，这一交接计划已酝酿数年。他坦言自己既是技术极客也是创业者，但“最重要的是人、情感联结、故事讲述，以及……蔬菜”。他计划在退居二线后，将更多时间投入家庭、社区及个人爱好，例如种植传家宝番茄。“番茄不会长得更快，”他感慨道，“它们仍然需要一整个生长季。”

新任CEO肖恩·汤普森是西雅图地区知名的商业与科技领域老将。他近期曾担任私募股权支持的治理与合规软件公司NAVEX的总裁兼CEO，更早之前则在SAP和微软担任高级职务，并联合创立了AI初创公司Nuiku。汤普森在过去一年处于半退休状态，如今选择重返创业舞台。他表示，SeekOut在“智能体AI”领域取得的进展及其市场潜力极具吸引力，让他无法置身事外。

汤普森上任后的战略重点将聚焦于扩大公司一年前推出的AI招聘服务“SeekOut Spot”，并通过收购招聘机构来驱动长期增长。他相信这项技术能“从根本上改变求职者与招聘经理的招聘体验”。公司联合创始人兼首席技术官阿拉温德·巴拉将继续领导产品与工程团队，与汤普森紧密合作。

SeekOut成立于2017年，其诞生源于古普塔和巴拉早期创业项目中一个用于寻找潜在客户的工具。公司迄今已累计融资1.89亿美元，投资者包括老虎环球、Madrona风投集团等，并在2022年初的C轮融资后估值达到12亿美元。尽管经历了2023年和2024年的两轮裁员以应对市场变化，古普塔透露，公司目前拥有约150名员工、超过750家企业客户，银行现金储备超1亿美元，这为推进AI战略和收购计划提供了充足空间。

据悉，此次CEO交接并非通过长达半年的正式猎头流程达成。汤普森最初是作为收购战略顾问被引入公司，在与巴拉的深入交流后，双方迅速就领导权交接达成共识。“一切契合，进展非常快，”古普塔回忆道。

转为执行董事长后，古普塔预计将把20%-25%的时间投入公司事务。他更广泛地表达了对AI社会影响的关切，并希望为技术无法加速的事物留出更多时间：家庭、人际关系与社区。而公司的未来航向，则将交由新任掌舵者汤普森，专注于用AI重塑招聘行业的图景。

中文翻译：

阿努普·古普塔将卸任招聘初创公司SeekOut的首席执行官一职，这家位于贝尔维尤的公司由他于2017年联合创立。他将把公司管理权移交给企业软件行业资深人士肖恩·汤普森，自己则将注意力转向种植传家宝番茄等个人事务。

67岁的古普塔计划于5月4日卸任全职职务，转任执行董事长。他曾在微软长期任职，期间担任过比尔·盖茨的技术助理，并领导过Skype和Exchange团队。他在接受采访时表示，这一决定已酝酿数年。

"我是个技术迷和创业者，但对我来说，最重要的是人、情感联结、故事讲述，还有蔬菜，"他说。

新任首席执行官汤普森表示，他计划重点扩展SeekOut Spot——这是一年前推出的智能AI招聘服务，同时将通过收购招聘机构来推动长期增长。

作为西雅图地区的商业和科技界资深人士，汤普森最近在2022年至2025年初担任私募股权支持的治理与合规软件公司NAVEX的总裁兼首席执行官。他此前曾在SAP和微软担任高级职务，并联合创立了AI初创公司Nuiku，该公司于2016年出售给Nortek。

汤普森居住在贝尔维尤，距离SeekOut办公室约两英里。过去一年他处于半退休状态，在蒙大拿州的庄园骑马，并担任董事会顾问职务。

如今他重返初创企业战场。汤普森在接受采访时表示，SeekOut利用智能AI进展的机遇令人无法抗拒。"市场前景广阔，我们能够从根本上改变求职者体验招聘流程的方式，以及招聘经理处理招聘流程的方式，"他说，"能够产生影响正是激励我的动力。"

该公司周四上午宣布这一消息时表示，自公司成立以来一直领导产品和工程部门的联合创始人阿拉温德·巴拉将继续担任首席技术官，并与汤普森密切合作推动下一阶段增长。

古普塔和巴拉曾在微软共事，共同开发在线演示服务Office Mix，之后离职联合创业。据GeekWire当时报道，他们最初致力于开发一款基于"注意力经济"理念的通讯服务——即接收者而非发送者或平台应为其注意力获得补偿。这一构想未能成功，但他们为寻找潜在客户而打造的工具后来成为SeekOut的基础。

SeekOut已从包括老虎环球基金、Madrona风险投资集团和Mayfield在内的投资者处筹集了1.89亿美元，在2022年初的C轮融资中估值达到12亿美元。该公司曾快速增长并扩大员工规模，但随着经济形势变化和招聘市场收缩，在2023年10月和2024年5月进行了两轮裁员。

据古普塔透露，目前公司拥有约150名员工、超过750家企业客户，银行储备金超过1亿美元。这为SeekOut深化AI计划提供了资金保障，也为实施汤普森视为核心战略的收购计划留出了时间。

SeekOut进行了超过六个月的正式高管寻聘，但汤普森并非通过该渠道加入。他最初是通过人脉关系被聘为SeekOut收购战略顾问，其中包括SeekOut总法律顾问萨姆·沙多克斯——曾在Nuiku出售期间担任其外部律师，以及西雅图并购咨询公司Alexander Hutton（其兄弟詹姆斯·汤普森在此任职）。

通过顾问工作，汤普森与巴拉建立了联系，关于CEO职位的讨论由此展开。"我们一拍即合，进展非常迅速，"古普塔说。

SeekOut业务分为两大板块：Recruit是招聘人员可使用的AI驱动平台，能搜索超过10亿份候选人档案；Spot则是将AI智能体与SeekOut自有招聘专员结合的服务，可在约两周内向招聘经理提供可面试的候选人。在汤普森领导下，Spot预计将成为主要发力点。

作为执行董事长，古普塔预计将投入20%至25%的时间履行职务。他更广泛地表示，自己担忧AI对社会的影响，并希望为技术无法加速的事物留出更多时间，例如家庭、人际关系和社区。

"番茄不会长得更快，"他说，"它们仍然需要整个生长季。"

英文来源：

Anoop Gupta is stepping down as CEO of SeekOut, the Bellevue-based recruiting startup he co-founded in 2017, handing the reins to enterprise software veteran Sean Thompson and turning his attention to growing heirloom tomatoes, among other pursuits.
Gupta, 67, whose long Microsoft career included stints as Bill Gates’ technical assistant and head of Skype and Exchange, plans to step down from his full-time role May 4 and become executive chairman. The decision has been a few years in the making, he said in an interview.
“I am a geek and an entrepreneur, but to me, the most important things are the people and the connections and the storytelling and, you know, vegetables,” he said.
As the new CEO, Thompson said he plans to focus on scaling SeekOut Spot — the agentic AI recruiting service launched a year ago — while pursuing acquisitions of recruiting agencies to help fuel long-term growth.
A Seattle-area business and technology veteran, Thompson most recently led NAVEX, a private-equity backed governance and compliance software company, as president and CEO from 2022 until early 2025. He previously held senior roles at SAP and Microsoft, and co-founded the AI startup Nuiku, which sold to Nortek in 2016.
Thompson lives in Bellevue, about two miles from SeekOut’s office, and spent the past year in semi-retirement, riding horses on his Montana property and taking on board advisory roles.
Now he’s getting back in the startup saddle. In an interview, Thompson said SeekOut’s opportunity to take advantage of progress in agentic AI was too compelling to sit out.
“There’s a large market out there, and we can fundamentally change the way candidates experience the search process, and the way hiring managers approach the search process,” Thompson said. “Being able to make an impact is really what inspired me.”
Announcing the news Thursday morning, the company said SeekOut co-founder Aravind Bala, who has led product and engineering since the company’s founding, will continue as chief technology officer and work closely with Thompson on the next phase of growth.
Gupta and Bala worked together at Microsoft on Office Mix, an online presentation service, before leaving to launch a company together. As GeekWire reported at the time, they initially pursued a messaging service based on the idea that recipients — not senders or platforms — should be compensated for their attention. That idea didn’t take off, but a tool that they built to find potential customers became the foundation of SeekOut.
SeekOut has raised a total of $189 million from investors including Tiger Global, Madrona Venture Group, and Mayfield, hitting a $1.2 billion valuation with its Series C in early 2022. It grew rapidly and expanded headcount, but cut staff twice — in October 2023 and May 2024 — as the economy turned and the recruiting market contracted.
Today it has roughly 150 employees, more than 750 corporate customers, and over $100 million in the bank, according to Gupta. That gives SeekOut the runway to deepen its AI initiatives and time to pursue the acquisitions Thompson described as central to his plans.
SeekOut ran a formal executive search for more than six months, but Thompson didn’t come through that process. He was initially brought in as an advisor on SeekOut’s acquisition strategy, through connections including SeekOut general counsel Sam Shaddox — his outside counsel during the sale of Nuiku — and the Seattle M&A advisory firm Alexander Hutton, where his brother James Thompson works.
Through that advisory work, Thompson connected with Bala, and the CEO conversation evolved from there. “It clicked, and moved just very fast,” Gupta said.
SeekOut operates in two areas: Recruit, an AI-powered platform that recruiters can use to search more than a billion candidate profiles; and Spot, the service that pairs AI agents with SeekOut’s own recruiters to deliver interview-ready candidates to hiring managers in about two weeks. Under Thompson, Spot is expected to be the major focus.
As executive chairman, Gupta estimates he’ll spend 20% to 25% of his time on the role. More broadly, he said, he worries about the societal impact of AI, and wants to make more time for the things technology can’t accelerate, such as family, relationships, and community.
“Tomatoes don’t grow any faster,” he said. “They still take a season to grow.”