We’re excited to share some big news at Quickbase. Boston software veteran Edward Jennings, who has served as an executive at Mimecast and Veracode, has been named our new CEO.
This news comes amid a surge in interest for Quickbase (we’ve doubled our enterprise customer base in a year!) and on the back of our recent announcement that we’ve made a significant investment in our ability to integrate to hundreds of cloud and on-premise software solutions.
Rick Willett, who has served as CEO and chairman of the board for the past four years, is stepping down to retire and focus on philanthropic efforts, and we’re all thankful for what Rick has done to turn Quickbase into a market-leading low-code platform.
Ed has a proven track record of accelerating growth at SaaS companies through innovative market strategies and operational excellence. Most recently, as COO at Mimecast, he helped bring the company public in 2015, grew their annual revenue from roughly $80M to over $400M in four years and scaled the team from 350 employees to 1,800, while expanding offices across North America, Europe and the Middle East.
We recently spoke with Ed about why he came to Quickbase, the opportunities he sees for the company and his predictions for low-code software.
What was unique about Quickbase that made you want to take on the CEO role?
I looked at a lot of great software companies. What makes Quickbase so unique is that we’re providing a technology that enables infinite potential for customers–we’re helping people tap into the wonderful talent and information they already have, so businesses can adapt, flex and evolve as the world changes around them. We believe that businesses aren’t just going to come back from COVID-19 disruption, they’re going to leap forward in their transformations in search of sustainable operational agility. There aren’t many platforms that can help with that. With Quickbase’s ability to add speed and agility while reducing IT burdens and risks, we’re in an incredible position to help.
Any reflections on the people at Quickbase?
The first thing that hits you when you talk to the people here, both customers and employees, is their passion. It’s inspiring. A lot of companies talk about being customer–obsessed, but you can actually see that here in everything this team does. There are thousands of people out there who have built careers based on using our platform to solve the problems most software can’t. They believe in the power of Quickbase—we’re upending what has traditionally been costly and complicated, instead creating a new way of getting work done. We have a remarkably strong leadership team and an engaged, enthusiastic group of employees who are inspired by our mission, and I couldn’t be more excited to be part of it.
What’s the greatest opportunity ahead for Quickbase?
What’s crazy about Quickbase is just how much success the business has had without many people noticing. The ability of our product to solve problems, across systems, across teams and across enterprises is totally unique. Traditionally data and systems have been siloed within organizations, difficult to access and very challenging to connect. At Quickbase, we have customers managing 5,000+ unique workflows across their businesses on one platform with one, simple governance model. Yet, so few businesses know about it.
Our opportunity right now is to wave that flag and help a heck of a lot more businesses remove the operational barriers that slow down their business breakthroughs. I’m fortunate to step into a business that is strong and growing, and I’m looking forward to working with the team to share what we do with every business in the world.
What’s your perspective on where low-code technology is headed, particularly in the face of COVID-19?
COVID-19 is forcing organizations to accelerate their digital transformations to help them to do more, faster and at lower costs. The need for organizational agility and speed are critical—data and technology need to be more accessible, automated and integrated than even before.
But while the pandemic has made digital transformation a matter of survival, it has also made the work to get there harder to execute. Challenges that existed before COVID-19 like disconnected legacy systems, inefficient manual workflows and scarce development resources, are magnified. The reality is that people across every business–from operations pros to IT developers to functional leaders–are under incredible pressure to adapt and evolve at a pace their technology resources were never intended to support.
Low-code platforms that enable citizen development—like Quickbase—present a unique opportunity for organizations to continue their digital transformation journeys, adapt to this new reality and gain the organizational agility and fast impact they need. Low-code won’t replace the complex things software developers build or the standard platforms businesses use. But we are helping businesses get more out of their technology and people, empowering anyone across an organization to fill in the gaps and build the solutions they need that connect their data and systems.
We’re on the first mile of a marathon for low-code software right now, and I think we’re collectively on pace to help every business do what they do better, faster and in a far more adaptable way. I feel fortunate to have this opportunity to be in the race.
