Tyrone Ross resigns as CEO of Onramp Invest

Tyrone Ross Jr. has resigned as chief executive of Onramp Invest, effective immediately. Co-founder Eric Ervin has taken over as CEO, according to an email sent to investors late Monday night.

Ross' abrupt departure was followed by resignations from at least two Onramp board members, and Torie Happe, head of business development was fired. Also, within the past two weeks, Onramp stopped working with its outside public relations firm.

When reached for comment early Tuesday morning, Ross said he was in the process of posting a statement on LinkedIn. The statement doesn't explain why he's suddenly leaving the 19-month-old fintech platform that provides financial advisers with education and access to cryptocurrency investments.

Nor did Ross, who co-founded Onramp, explain in his statement what he plans to do next.

“The last 19 months were a trial by fire that has pressured and molded me into a better man and leader,” the statement reads in part. “You all made it possible and for that I am eternally grateful.”

Ross wrapped up his post by saying he “will be taking time to decompress and assess new opportunities. I look forward to the next chapter in my journey of building a legacy for my family.”

In his email to investors Monday evening, Ervin was similarly cryptic.

After reassuring investors by introducing himself as the new person in charge, Ervin referenced the origins of Onramp and how he and Ross “agreed that in order to build quickly and scale, we should each focus on our strengths. He focused primarily on raising capital, building the brand, and attracting talent, while I focused on the day-to-day operations, product development, and building the business.”

“What we achieved in such a short amount of time is remarkable,” Ervin added. “However, we are now at a crossroads. The small company we started just 19 months ago has grown significantly and we now realize the stresses that dual leadership places on the company.”

By midday Tuesday, Onramp board member Dani Fava of Envestnet, announced on Twitter that she had "made the personal decision to step down from the @OnrampInvest board."

Kyle Van Pelt, executive vice president of sales at Skience, also announced Tuesday on Twitter that he was leaving the Onramp board.

When reached for comment, Fava responded, "My official statement is that I’m not aligned with Onramp's strategy moving forward."

Industry consultant Tim Welsh views Ross’ departure as a “big blow to the prospects of Onramp,” describing Ross as the face and leader of the business up to this point.

“Tyrone leaving the company brings up so many questions, and even more so because this is a crypto platform and it’s not clear what the business model is,” Welsh added. “Tyrone did everything he was supposed to do; he put them into the limelight. They succeeded tremendously in branding, but whatever Onramp had created, I think that trust is broken by Tyrone leaving. This could be a devastating blow.”

Onramp did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but by Tuesday morning the Onramp website was already updated to show the management change.

As news of Ross’ departure was sinking in Tuesday morning, industry consultant Suzanne Siracuse predicted more big things from Ross.

“I cannot wait to see what Tyrone does next,” Siracuse said. “He is a true visionary, leader and disrupter.  We are lucky to have him and his perspective as a part of our industry. He has managed to brand crypto assets in a very short period of time. I’m not sure who else could have done that.”