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HOT TOPICS
- The Accelerator Conundrum
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Building an IPO-Ready Identity Software Company from Colorado: Andre Durand, CEO of Ping Identity (Part 7)
Sramana Mitra: What is the financing history beyond that $2 million Fidelity and General Catalyst round? Andre Durand: I would say after about two years roughly, in very traditional fashion, we started raising money to fuel our growth. I think we raised about $30 million in total between 2003 and 2012. In 2013, we made
Leveraging Amazon To Build a Cloud Storage Business: Nelson Nahum, CEO of Zadara Storage (Part 1)
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. Nelson has built an interesting enterprise storage company and one of his key strategic moves was an unusual deal with Amazon. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your story. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of
Building an IPO-Ready Identity Software Company from Colorado: Andre Durand, CEO of Ping Identity (Part 6)
Sramana Mitra: With that General Catalyst money, you said 2006 was when you had the server? Andre Durand: 2005 was when it came out. We used the General Catalyst money, in essence, to build the first commercial product. The first one probably took us about 18 months. Sramana Mitra: When did American Express hit? Andre
Bootstrapping Using Services From Houston: Identity Automation CEO James Litton (Part 7)
Sramana Mitra: So you’re trying to find a mid-market niche now where you would be able to compete with these very large players. That security and identity management space for both enterprise and mid-sized enterprises is a very crowded space. I’ll tell you what bothers me about your enterprise strategy. James Litton: There’s a couple
Building an IPO-Ready Identity Software Company from Colorado: Andre Durand, CEO of Ping Identity (Part 5)
Sramana Mitra: Who were the customers you were going after? Were these enterprise customers? Andre Durand: We didn’t know at that time. The truth was it was big enterprises that had this problem. Sramana Mitra: Since your background was selling to bulletin board kind of people, you didn’t really have any enterprise software sales experience.
Bootstrapping Using Services From Houston: Identity Automation CEO James Litton (Part 6)
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
Building an IPO-Ready Identity Software Company from Colorado: Andre Durand, CEO of Ping Identity (Part 4)
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.
Bootstrapping Using Services From Houston: Identity Automation CEO James Litton (Part 5)
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
