Inman

Trulia co-founder shedding management duties

Trulia co-founder and President Sami Inkinen will be stepping down as president effective March 31, and will no longer be involved in the company’s day-to-day operations after that date but will continue to serve on the company’s board of directors. He announced the decision in a blog post.

Inkinen, who co-founded the online real estate search and marketing company in 2005 with CEO Pete Flint, served as the company’s chief operating officer until February 2011, when Trulia brought in former Current TV executive Paul Levine as his successor in the position.

In December, Trulia hired two additional executives — Sean Aggarwal as chief financial officer and Scott Darling as general counsel — the additions may help move the company toward an eventual initial public offering.

Aggarwal is a veteran of PayPal, eBay and Amazon North America, and Darling helped data security company Imperva Inc. execute a successful IPO.

"In the last 24 months, we’ve significantly built out our senior management team, attracting some of the best talent in Silicon Valley," Inkinen said in a blog post announcing his departure. He said Trulia’s accelerating growth in the last two years "is a true testimony to the strength of our core business and expanded leadership team."

A company spokesman said there are no plans to replace Inkinen.

Inkinen said he will continue to help Trulia expand and grow, taking time off to travel and spend more time advising "the next wave of entrepreneurs both in Europe and in the U.S."

A competitive triathlete who originally hails from Finland, Inkinen said he and his wife plan to ride mountain bikes to the base camp of Mount Everest in April.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to note that Inkinen is stepping down as president effective March 31.