Josh Reich, who co-founded Portland online banker Simple and has run the business for nearly a decade, said Monday he's stepping aside.

Simple appointed Chairman Dickson Chu to take over as interim chief executive. Reich said he will stay on the company's board but wants more time to focus on his family and spend time at a farm he and his wife have purchased near Silverton. Reich said he's leaving after Simple's strongest quarter to date.

"Given that momentum it felt like this was a good and safe time to begin the transition," said Reich, who turns 40 next month. He said he will retain a home in Portland and expects to continue advising entrepreneurs and working with the city's startup accelerators.

Simple is among Portland's biggest tech employers with a staff of roughly 300, most of them at its headquarters in inner Southeast Portland.

Founded in 2009, Simple moved its headquarters from Brooklyn to Portland two years later and grew quickly here. The company provides banking services customized for mobile apps, aiming to help a younger client base to navigate the financial world and set financial goals.

Simple gained enormous attention as smartphones gained in popularity and startups began exploring new applications for mobile technology. The company sold to Spanish bank BBVA for $117 million in 2014, and Reich remained at the helm while BBVA invested aggressively in the business.

There have been signs, though, that Simple's growth hasn't matched expectations. The company laid off 10 percent of its workforce last August and replaced five members of its executive team.

As Simple focused its engineering on the nuts and bolts of online banking, Reich said the company had necessarily neglected the process of adding new features and tools for customers. The company began refocusing last summer, he said, "rebuilding that startup mentality."

CEOs at Portland's Big Seven

Seven startups that emerged around the time of the Great Recession played an outsized role in rebooting Portland's tech scene. Of those companies' founding CEOs, Josh Reich was the last still at the helm.

Act-On Software

: Founder Raghu Raghavan stepped down as CEO in 2015.

Elemental Technologies

: Co-founder Sam Blackman died in August 2017, two years after Elemental's $296 million sale to Amazon.

Jama Software

: Founder Eric Winquist stepped down in 2016.

Janrain: Founder Larry Drebes exited in 2016.

Puppet

: Founder Luke Kanies resigned in 2016. He remains on the company's board.

Simple

: Josh Reich stayed on as CEO after selling the business to Spanish banker BBVA for $117 million in 2014. He stepped down Monday.

Urban Airship

: Former Citrix president Brett Caine replaced founding CEO Scott Kveton (who once briefly led Janrain) in 2014.

Over the last couple months, Reich said he had begun talking with Simple's board about the timing of his own exit. He will remain on site for the next two months to help with the transition and kick off search for his replacement.

"It's not going to be an easy search," Reich said. "We run a complicated business."

Chu, the interim CEO, is BBVA's head of portfolio management. He's been an adviser to several technology companies and had previously held leadership roles at PayPal, Citi and Wells Fargo. He lives in the Bay Area and will commute to Portland to run Simple, according to Reich.

The farm near Silverton has goats, chicken and geese and Reich said it will soon add a nursery with native plants. Reich said he and his wife hope to start their own family.

"That's definitely something we'd like to add to the flock," he said.

This article has been updated with additional comment from Josh Reich.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699