Sramana Mitra: The growth rate did not shift when you went from services to product? James Litton: During the transition, on some level, it probably slowed. There were some critical things that we had to go through. As an entrepreneur, it’s scary. You’re going from something that you know into a world that you don’t
Sramana Mitra: They were people who had made money off you before, so they had confidence in your ability. Andre Durand: Exactly. On January 4, I moved my computer from the corner office in Jabber. I think we had 50 people working at the company. I announced that I was going to start something new.
Sramana Mitra: All your existing K-12 services clients came with you to this product? James Litton: Yes, because we were extremely focused on the customer. That continues to be a central part of the Identity Automation ethos. It’s not just paying lip service to it, but actually living up to that. I think the real testimony
Sramana Mitra: What happened to the Jabber project? Andre Durand: Jabber continued on even in my absence. I left in 2002 to start Ping. Sramana Mitra: When you left to sail around with your friend and wife, you quit Jabber? Andre Durand: No, I just took a sabbatical. I just said, “I’ve been at this
Sramana Mitra: Was K-12 also consulting services and implementing identity management solutions kind of projects? James Litton: Yes. Keep in mind that as we were doing this, we were doing projects for all types of organizations. It’s just that the majority of them was K-12. Sramana Mitra: The business, however, were these projects? You were
Sramana Mitra: How long did this continue? Andre Durand: We actually did about $600,000 worth of business that first year. Sramana Mitra: That’s pretty significant. These were all from newsletter ads? Andre Durand: This all began with a black and white, half page advertisement that went into a little newsletter of 20 pages that shipped once
Sramana Mitra: The fact that you decided to go in this direction, does this have anything to do with your background in facilities management? James Litton: No. The decision to go down this path was multi-faceted. I had known Troy since the Coca Cola days. We had stayed connected. Troy had really grown up around
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. The identity space is heating up, especially because of the explosion in cloud services in the market. Ping Identity is at a $100 million annual run rate already. Read the story of Andre’s entrepreneurial journey. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey.