Discord adds ex-Netflix, block executives to board ahead of potential IPO

Apparently a public offer, Discord is strengthening its board of directors, adding a former Netflix executive and another member of the block, formerly known as Square.

Discord’s directors are Leslie Kilgore, former Netflix Chief Marketing Officer and Amrita Ahuja, Block Chief Financial Officer. Jason Citron, CEO and founder of Discord, said the pair have “incredible experience in creating and advising world-class companies.”

Six-year-old Discord has reached the start stage of a startup when it has to decide whether to continue taking large amounts of private capital, which could mean increasingly low equity or public market for founders and start-up executives and shareholders. Discord has raised more than $ 1 billion in total, most recently valued at $ 14 billion in the last fall, from investors such as Benchmark, Greelock Partners and Index Ventures. The decision to reject a roughly $ 10 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft last spring also indicates that Discord believes it can shape the future as an independent public company.

Another hallmark of a startup is creating an IPO: bringing in executives like Kilgore and Ahuja, both with experience in public companies. At Netflix, Kilgore helped push the early digital subscription of the streamer, working there from 2000 to 2012, at a time when its users numbered from 100,000 to over 26 million. (Discord pinned on its future subscriptions, where users pay extra to get additional features like more customizable profiles.) And before the block, Ahuja worked as a CFO at Activation Blizzard.

Discord has sought to expand its audience over the past 18 months, seeking to change its reputation as a chat app for gamers. It has 150 million active monthly users – nearly three times as many as Twitter and Snap – and recently worked to simplify and streamline its app to appeal to less tech-savvy users like teachers and their students.

“People are re-imagining the controversy over how people get together and find communities online,” Ahuja said. “I’m excited to work with Jason and Discord’s team at this time of innovation and rapid growth for the company.”