The Growth of GoodData Portland

Wait, and go fast! Two operating speeds I’ve become accustomed to here at GoodData. Wait until we have the right data to make an intelligent decision, then once made, execute it quickly and decisively. Like Rudy Guliani says in his book Leadership, “Decision making is that mix of speed and deliberation.” I’ve encountered this modus operandi on a number of occasions at GoodData, but one of the significant moments came shortly after I joined the company…3 hours and 30 minutes shortly after.

Unbeknownst to me the exec team had been quietly looking at the readiness of our technology and go‐to‐market for the right moment to dramatically scale. While I thought I’d work indefinitely from a home office in a quiet Portland suburb as an individual contributor I, like so many of my colleagues at GoodData, have been able to undertake expanded career opportunities as the company’s vision and structure grows. So, before lunchtime on my first day, Michael Gear, our SVP of Field Operations came to me and said, “Go back to Portland, open an office, hire some people, and build us an inside sales organization!”

That was 3 years ago and now we have one of the most productive sales development teams in the US in our Portland office of 25+ people. I’ve checked our performance #s across the industry – and they’re pretty good. That’s what we get when hire great people with a passion to drive great customer value and grow with a great company. Our experience keeps getting more interesting with the addition of our VP of Account Management Jonathan Cogan and his team, a growing presence of marketing experts, and even field sales.

Hire great people, set a vision to win big with a great company, enable them with great tools, build a culture of helping each other succeed, sprinkle in a measure of good Portland beer – and out comes an inspiring group of people we call GoodData Portland. We’ve grown so much the past few years, it will be amazing to see what the next Go Fast! moment will look like.

Read recent press on our growing Portland office:
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2014/04/san-francisco-based-gooddata-hunts-for-a-good-home.html