{"id":43316,"date":"2014-07-11T15:34:29","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T14:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/?p=43316"},"modified":"2014-07-11T15:34:29","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T14:34:29","slug":"michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mind Candy founder Michael Acton-Smith OBE has revealed he is stepping down as chief executive officer of the Moshi Monster brand in order to concentrate on the creative side of the social gaming business.<\/p>\n

Announced in a video post on the Mind Candy blog earlier today in response to “bizarre rumours that have been swirling around”, 2003 Young Gun Acton Smith<\/a> explained that current COO Divinia Knowles will be acting president of the company until they bring in a new CEO.<\/p>\n

Discussing how he’s “much better on the creative side of the business than the operations side”, Acton-Smith says that the change will give him more free time to “evangelise Mind Candy, travel the world, speak at conferences and start dreaming up new projects”.<\/p>\n

Acton-Smith will remain at the company and while working on his “notebooks full of ideas, sketches and scribbles”, will also focus on the entertainment firm’s current projects;  Moshi Monsters, Warriors; “Game of Thrones meets Pokémon”, and PopJam; a “new safe, creative community for kids on touchscreen devices”.<\/p>\n

The move is said to follow from the company’s growth to “multiple products and multiple studios”, which Acton-Smith says has “become a lot more complex over the years”.<\/p>\n

Having founded Mind Candy in 2003, Acton-Smith claims that he remains “obsessed” with the company and that if you cut him he would “bleed jelly beans so I’m not going anywhere”.<\/p>\n

Acton-Smith’s replacement will be someone from the outside “from media and entertainment with traditional big business experience”.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mind Candy founder Michael Acton-Smith OBE has revealed he is stepping down as chief executive officer of the Moshi Monster brand in order to concentrate on the creative side of the social gaming business. Announced in a video post on the Mind Candy blog earlier today in response to “bizarre rumours that have been swirling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63583,"featured_media":6068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMichael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO - Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO - Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mind Candy founder Michael Acton-Smith OBE has revealed he is stepping down as chief executive officer of the Moshi Monster brand in order to concentrate on the creative side of the social gaming business. Announced in a video post on the Mind Candy blog earlier today in response to “bizarre rumours that have been swirling […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/startupstowers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-11T14:34:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/images.staging.startups.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"390\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan Dunsby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@startupstowers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Dunsby\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Megan Dunsby\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#\/schema\/person\/71414082e08e42767b86aac67ad766de\"},\"headline\":\"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-11T14:34:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/\"},\"wordCount\":260,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2014\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/\",\"name\":\"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO - Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-11T14:34:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#\/schema\/person\/71414082e08e42767b86aac67ad766de\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":390,\"caption\":\"Michael Acton-Smith\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/\",\"name\":\"Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business\",\"description\":\"The UK's No.1 starting a business resource\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#\/schema\/person\/71414082e08e42767b86aac67ad766de\",\"name\":\"Megan Dunsby\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3295d96d173c0ec87376e71f6c3586d5d495ab1beec516d87c31eabffbe132a6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3295d96d173c0ec87376e71f6c3586d5d495ab1beec516d87c31eabffbe132a6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3295d96d173c0ec87376e71f6c3586d5d495ab1beec516d87c31eabffbe132a6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Megan Dunsby\"},\"description\":\"Features and News Editor for Startups.co.uk\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/startupstowers\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/startupstowers\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/author\/megandstartups-co-uk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO - Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO - Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","og_description":"Mind Candy founder Michael Acton-Smith OBE has revealed he is stepping down as chief executive officer of the Moshi Monster brand in order to concentrate on the creative side of the social gaming business. Announced in a video post on the Mind Candy blog earlier today in response to “bizarre rumours that have been swirling […]","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/","og_site_name":"Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/startupstowers","article_published_time":"2014-07-11T14:34:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":390,"url":"https:\/\/images.staging.startups.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Megan Dunsby","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@startupstowers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Megan Dunsby","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/"},"author":{"name":"Megan Dunsby","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#\/schema\/person\/71414082e08e42767b86aac67ad766de"},"headline":"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO","datePublished":"2014-07-11T14:34:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/"},"wordCount":260,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2014","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/","name":"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO - Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg","datePublished":"2014-07-11T14:34:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#\/schema\/person\/71414082e08e42767b86aac67ad766de"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/images-startupsv3.ecs.stg7.eu-west-1.mvfglobal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/09\/Michael-Acton-Smith.jpg","width":640,"height":390,"caption":"Michael Acton-Smith"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/michael-acton-smith-obe-steps-mind-candy-ceo\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Michael Acton-Smith OBE steps down as Mind Candy CEO"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/","name":"Young Guns by Startups.co.uk: Start up a successful business","description":"The UK's No.1 starting a business resource","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/#\/schema\/person\/71414082e08e42767b86aac67ad766de","name":"Megan Dunsby","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3295d96d173c0ec87376e71f6c3586d5d495ab1beec516d87c31eabffbe132a6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3295d96d173c0ec87376e71f6c3586d5d495ab1beec516d87c31eabffbe132a6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3295d96d173c0ec87376e71f6c3586d5d495ab1beec516d87c31eabffbe132a6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Megan Dunsby"},"description":"Features and News Editor for Startups.co.uk","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/startupstowers","https:\/\/x.com\/startupstowers"],"url":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/author\/megandstartups-co-uk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63583"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.startups.co.uk\/young-guns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}