Forbes jobs have learned that Discord's chief marketing officer has left the firm after just over a year in the position. Tesa Aragones, who started working at Discord in September 2020, left the firm earlier this month. Aragones revealed her departure in a statement to Forbes, saying that "the brand strength measurements have never been higher." According to a Discord spokeswoman, CEO Jason Citron will serve as interim CMO until a replacement is identified.
“When I joined the company, the priorities were to build the brand and help make Discord a place for all kinds of communities,” Aragones wrote. “The work I led resulted in a new vision that unified the company around inclusivity, and a sharpened mission to create space for everyone to find belonging. It has been rewarding to see how this shift has helped strengthen Discord’s voice and rally the company around things that truly matter to its community members.”
This year has been a watershed moment for Discord. The chat app, which was originally known for its core user base of gamers, has been at the center of debates on some of the year's trendiest internet subjects, including meme stocks, cryptocurrencies jobs, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Discord secured another $100 million in December 2020, months after raising $100 million in June 2020, giving the firm $7 billion.
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The company then raised $500 million in September 2021, increasing its total worth to over $15 billion just months after supposedly concluding acquisition talks with Microsoft jobs. In addition to the investment announcement, Discord also revealed a new makeover in May, including a new color palette, logo, and font.
When Aragones joined Discord in September 2020, the goal was to broaden the platform's reach beyond its core demographic. According to the firm, it currently has 150 million monthly active users, up from 56 million in 2019. Discord's total quarterly app installs climbed significantly from fourth quarter 2019 to fourth quarter 2020, according to statistics from CB Insights and Sensor Tower, before decreasing in the first and second quarters of 2021.
“Tesa has done incredible work in helping us build Discord’s brand,” Citron said in a statement sent to Forbes. “We are grateful for the contributions she's made as we've expanded to welcome people and communities all over the world to our service.”
Discord’s momentum has not been without mishaps. Earlier this month, the company reportedly suspended plans to integrate cryptocurrencies and NFTs into the platform after Citron suggested Twitter plans for adding crypto wallets MetaMask and WalletConnect. After users complained that the move might make way from pyramid schemes and fraud, Citron later tweeted that Discord had “no current plans to ship” the internal concept. Instead, he said, the company was “focused on protecting users from spam, scams and fraud.”
Aragones had a long history of developing user bases before joining Discord. During her ten-year employment at Nike, she established the company's digital training community and the company's first iPhone app. After that, Aragones spent two years as the CMO of VSCO, a photo and video-focused app, where she doubled membership subscriptions in two years.
While Aragones wouldn’t disclose the reasoning behind her reason for leaving or any future plans, she said, “I’m proud of these achievements and I’m proud of my team,” adding that she’ll announce what’s next “in the new year.”
