After eight years as CEO and founder of Woot, a daily deal website, Matt Rutledge has announced today that he is leaving both Woot and Amazon so that he can "move on to future projects." Amazon acquired Woot two years ago for $110 million, and it's easy to imagine that the transition from successful start-up to a subsidiary of an enormous online retailer could've changed the atmosphere inside the company.

Started back in 2004, Woot was one of the first companies to corner the daily deal market, but with competitors like Groupon and Dealnews aggregating large numbers of products, Woot has ventured beyond its single-deal-per-day roots in an effort to stay relevant. In a conversation with Tech Crunch's Ryan Lawler, Rutledge reflects on how Woot would have reacted to new social competitors if they had stayed independent. This doesn't mean that Woot is failing in its endeavors — additions like Wine.Woot and Shirt.Woot have expanded the site's variety while keeping its updated-at-midnight focus. In his blog post, Rutledge thanks his compatriots and says that he looks forward to joining his users in exclaiming "I stayed up for this?!!"