• by Shankar Gupta , February 19, 2007

Bill Wise, CEO of search engine marketing firm Did-It, has resigned following a disagreement about the direction of the company.

Wise, who has worked with Did-It since January 2005 after being hired away from Ask Jeeves' sales department, said his departure stemmed from a fundamental disagreement about the direction of the company. "I wanted to take the company in one direction. As CEO, and as a guy who really, really helped scale and create the brand that it has in the marketplace, that's what I wanted to do," said Wise, whose last day of work was Feb. 7. "We parted amicably."

Kevin Lee, the company's executive chairman, who held the CEO spot before Wise, agreed the exit stemmed from a difference of opinion about long-term strategy. "We talked about the direction of the company, and decided that where we want to take the company is not the best fit, so he's going to be moving on to other endeavors," Lee said. "It's just really a matter of prioritization of different things."

Did-It co-founder Dave Pasternack will take over most of Wise's duties until a new CEO is hired.