Hi, I’m Ian Small.

Today is my first day as CEO of Evernote.

This morning, the Evernote board announced to the team that Chris O’Neill was leaving the company and that I was joining as CEO. We are all hugely appreciative of the energy and dedication Chris has shown over the last 3 years, and in particular for putting Evernote on a solid financial footing so we can continue to build for the future.

And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Build the future.

When Stepan Pachikov founded Evernote, he had a vision for how technology could augment memory and how an app could change the way we relate to information at home and at work. Evernote has been more successful at making progress towards Stepan’s dreams than he could have imagined, but Stepan and I both think that there is more to explore and more to invent.

I am a dedicated note taker. An inveterate list maker. A relentless task organizer. I love to work in teams. To get my hands dirty making content with others. To experience many minds working together as one. To learn from the people I work with.

Evernote helps me do many of these things well today. For some of the others, we are only just starting to scratch the surface.

I am looking forward to getting us back on the trail of inventing the future, creating a renewed Evernote that gives you—our community, customers, and partners—even more reasons to fall in love with us all over again. I look forward to learning from you about what you rely on us for today, and what you’d like to rely on us for tomorrow. I look forward to hearing from you about where we’ve fallen short and how we can do better.

I look forward to working hard to continue to earn the trust that you place in us every day, and to earn your support in this new role I have taken on.

It’s a real privilege to join this community. And a real responsibility to lead this team. Let’s invent the future, together.

—Ian

P.S.: From as far back as I can remember, I have strong memories of my mother collecting elephant mementos. From the first day I talked with Evernote about taking on this role, I thought about all those elephants and had the sense that today was somehow just meant to be.