Blues Welcomes Silicon Valley Veteran Ian Small as CEO to Deepen Customer Focus and Drive Expansion

Rhea-AI Summary

Blues, a leader in IoT connectivity solutions, has appointed Ian Small as its new CEO. Small, former CEO of Evernote (2018-2023), brings over 30 years of technology industry experience and a strong track record in scaling companies. This announcement follows Blues' recent $25 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital.

Small's appointment comes at a crucial time as Blues expands its presence in helping enterprises transform physical products into intelligent services. The company specializes in making IoT connectivity simple and secure across various sectors including industrial manufacturing, logistics, and energy. Small's extensive experience includes roles at Telefónica S.A., Apple, and board positions at Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE).

Positive

• Secured $25 million in additional funding led by Sequoia Capital
• Strong demand reported from large enterprise customers
• Appointment of experienced CEO with proven track record in scaling companies
• Growing customer base across multiple sectors and regions

Negative

• None.

Insights

Corporate Strategy Expert

Blues appoints veteran tech executive Ian Small as CEO to scale operations after securing $25M funding amid growing enterprise customer demand.

This leadership transition at Blues represents a strategic inflection point for the IoT connectivity solutions provider. Founder Ray Ozzie stepping into an executive chair role while bringing in Ian Small signals the classic founder-to-operator handoff that many successful technology companies undergo when moving from product-market fit to scaling phase.

Small's appointment carries several strategic implications. His experience at Evernote (CEO), Telefónica (Global CDO), and current board positions at Lumentum and Snapdocs brings valuable operational expertise across both startup and public company environments. This diverse background aligns precisely with Blues' current position - having established product-market fit but requiring disciplined operational leadership to capitalize on enterprise traction.

The timing is particularly significant as it coincides with a $25 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital. This capital infusion, coupled with mentioned strong enterprise customer demand, suggests Blues has overcome the initial adoption challenges common in IoT implementations and is now ready to accelerate its go-to-market strategy.

Small's background in data-centric roles (CDO at Telefónica) and his advisory role at Squint (manufacturing intelligence) align well with Blues' focus on transforming physical products into data-generating assets. His emphasis on customer listening and turning needs into innovation indicates a likely shift toward more enterprise-friendly product development cycles.

For Blues' competitive positioning, Small's deep technical credentials (9 US patents, engineering background from University of Toronto) combined with CEO experience position the company to potentially accelerate its technical roadmap while simultaneously improving operational efficiency - a challenging balance that many IoT platform companies struggle to maintain.

BOSTON, June 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Blues, a leader in IoT connectivity solutions, today announced that former Evernote Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ian Small has joined the company as CEO. Small, who has more than 30 years of technology-industry experience, brings deep operational expertise and a track record of scaling companies from early-stage through public-market maturity.

Small is widely recognized as an end-to-end operator with the ability to drive growth across every stage of the business lifecycle. He brings a standout reputation for listening to customers and turning their needs into innovation. Small's experience spans a broad range of technology companies, from nimble startups to large-scale public enterprises, making him uniquely suited to guide Blues through its next phase of expansion.

The announcement follows Blues' recent closing of $25 million in additional funding led by Sequoia Capital and fueled by strong demand from large enterprise customers, many of whom are expanding their use of Blues as they scale their businesses.

"I founded Blues because of a deeply held belief that all the world's physical products would become connected and intelligent. Since 2020 we've been helping enterprises to do just that - transforming their businesses from products to intelligent services," said Ray Ozzie, founder and executive chair of Blues. "We've reached a phase where our growth calls for a strong operational leader who can help us unlock our full potential by scaling the business. I look forward to working closely with Ian to take Blues to the next level."

Blues is empowering established industries to reinvent themselves through intelligent, cloud-connected products, while also enabling emerging businesses to create entirely new markets. From industrial manufacturing and logistics to the energy sector, Blues addresses the most complex challenges of IoT connectivity, making it simple and secure to bring any physical product online.

"My early conversations with customers proved to be incredibly inspiring, ultimately cementing my decision to join Blues," said Ian Small, CEO of Blues. "On every call, customers shared their excitement about driving revenue or profitability with their new intelligent services, all made possible by tapping the data previously locked inside their products."

"Blues makes it dramatically easier and more affordable to derive actionable insights from physical products, accelerating the time to market for new services. We're driving a long-overdue platform shift by putting these capabilities within reach of every product maker, not just those with big R&D budgets. I'm excited to help Ray, the team, our customers, and partners accelerate the shift."

Small has most recently been CEO of Evernote (2018-2023), Global Chief Data Officer at Telefónica S.A. (2013-2016), and currently serves on the board of directors of Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE), a market-leading manufacturer of optical and photonic products, and Snapdocs, a leading digital mortgage closing provider. He also currently serves as an advisor to Squint, which provides a manufacturing intelligence platform to Fortune 500 enterprises, and has previously served as an advisor to Loon, a graduate of Google's X Labs, as well as to Alpha, Telefónica's long-term innovation/moonshot unit.

Small began his Silicon Valley career in 1989 as a research scientist and senior engineer at Apple, where he led several advanced product and research teams within the Human Interface Group and was responsible for engineering management and product release of QuickTime VR.

Small earned his bachelor's degree in Engineering Science and his master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Toronto, and is a holder of 9 US patents.

About Blues 
Blues is a leader in secure wireless connectivity, helping organizations to transform their physical products and businesses to be centered on data and the delivery of data-fueled intelligent services. With customers across transportation, health care, energy, and logistics in North America, Central America and Europe, Blues is on a mission to empower innovation by making cloud-connected machine intelligence possible for organizations of any size.

With Blues, customers can easily and securely provision and communicate with any physical product, anywhere, enabling new sources of revenue and new customer experiences while also reducing costs. Blues solves the biggest challenges associated with wireless connectivity, making it easy to securely cloud-connect any physical product at scale.

Thousands of organizations worldwide, from non-profits to startups to enterprises, connect their devices with Blues integrated hardware, software, and cloud services. For more information about Blues and its wireless connectivity solutions, visit blues.com, and follow Blues on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and X.

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SOURCE Blues

FAQ

Who is the new CEO of Blues and what is his background?

Ian Small is the new CEO of Blues. He was previously CEO of Evernote (2018-2023), Global Chief Data Officer at Telefónica S.A. (2013-2016), and has over 30 years of technology industry experience, including roles at Apple and board positions at Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE).

How much funding did Blues recently secure and who led the round?

Blues recently secured $25 million in additional funding led by Sequoia Capital.

What is Blues' main business focus and market presence?

Blues is a leader in IoT connectivity solutions, helping organizations transform physical products into intelligent services. They operate across transportation, healthcare, energy, and logistics sectors in North America, Central America and Europe.

What was Ian Small's role at Evernote before joining Blues?

Ian Small served as CEO of Evernote from 2018 to 2023 before joining Blues as CEO.

Who founded Blues and what is their vision?

Ray Ozzie founded Blues with the vision that all physical products would become connected and intelligent. He now serves as executive chair and will work closely with Ian Small to scale the business.