Very few companies have experienced simultaneous positive and negative press at the same time than data and AI startup Astronomer, as it's new CEO finally issues a public statement following the departure of Andy Byron.
You'd certainly be forgiven for having no idea who Astronomer was or what the company offered only a week ago, yet it's been hard to escape their name following a rather explosive social media scandal that emerged last Thursday.
Following a TikTok posted by someone who had no idea what they were about to start, the company's CEO and co-founder Andy Byron's life turned upside down, as he could now be without both a marriage and a job.
Following a weekend of chaos, Astronomer announced that it was parting ways with Byron and that co-founder Pete DeJoy was stepping into the role of Interim CEO in an attempt to grapple with the mass attention the business had gained over the past few days.
Why did Andy Byron resign from Astronomer?
Unless you've been living under a rock, Andy Byron was caught on the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert - which some would say is a crime in of itself - embracing Astronomer's Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot.
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While a seemingly secret relationship between CEO and CPO is definitely something that any business would want to avoid at all costs, social media quickly caught on to the fact that Byron was in fact married, and things quickly devolved into a cheating scandal.
Byron's wife was quick to break her silence by removing the surname from her Facebook account, adding fuel to the fire of theories surrounding an impending divorce, and Byron also deleted his LinkedIn account in a bid to escape the mass criticism.
It didn't take long for Astronomer to part ways with Byron following the weekend though, and that paved the way for Pete DeJoy to take the reigns.
What has Astronomer's new CEO said?
Pete DeJoy's first official statement as Astronomer CEO had to be a good one to combat all of the negativity that surrounded the company thanks to Byron's scandal, although he made the clever decision to avoid any direct reference to the incident.
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"The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies - let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world - ever encounter," DeJoy wrote on his LinkedIn page.
"The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name."
While the attention came from a place of negativity, it is hard to deny that far more people know about Astronomer as a company than ever before, and it's likely that very few investors will think badly of the company due to Byron's actions.
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"We're here because Astronomer is built by people who live to sold hard problems, stay late to fix what's broken, and care deeply about doing things the right way," DeJoy continued. "We're here because our customers trust us with their most ambitious data & AI projects. And, most importantly, we're here because the mission is bigger than any one moment."
He also thanked his team for their resilience and "commitment to building something great," and also expressed his appreciation for his customer's trust, promising them that they won't be let down.