30 Sep 2019 Spotlight on AppNeta
Describe your company and its product.
AppNeta is the only network performance monitoring solution that analyzes network data through a 4-Dimensional lens, delivering actionable, end-to-end insights from the end-user perspective. With AppNeta’s SaaS-based solution, IT and Network Ops teams at large, distributed enterprises can quickly pinpoint issues that affect network and business-critical cloud application performance, regardless of where they occur.
What year did your company start?
2011
Which city (or cities) are you located?
Vancouver and Boston
Describe your company culture in three words.
- Transparency
- Performance
- Trust
How do you celebrate company or employee wins?
Along with employee shout outs at each of our monthly company meetings, we award “Most Valuable AppNetian” laudits to team members on a monthly basis, which includes a monetary prize, custom “MVA” jacket, and a bi-coastal round of applause from the entire company. And when the whole team scores big (be it a major client win or a product update), the whole AppNeta family enjoys the spoils, with regular team outings organized to celebrate along with branded backpacks, sweatshirts and other enviable swag all a part of the mix. This is all on top of a robust bonus program that rewards individuals and the entire organization for meeting internal goals.
What is the problem that you are trying to solve?
With enterprise networks migrating to the cloud and adopting SaaS en masse, arming IT with a complete picture of network performance they can take action on is essential. While teams used to own and control most areas of their network, the move into network environments supported by the cloud makes visibility a tall order – that is, without a comprehensive monitoring solution.
By looking at four dimensions of monitoring data – analyzing network paths, packets, web synthetics and flow data – AppNeta’s SaaS solution empowers enterprise IT with the visibility they need to take a proactive stance in resolving network issues before they impact end users.
What is your biggest milestone to date?
When you’re a company that’s always innovating and enhancing your platform to support some of the largest enterprise clients on the planet, milestones tend to get crossed on a near constant basis, from being named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing public companies five times to achieving “Visionary” ranking in our hyper-competitive Gartner Magic Quadrant. As we’ve upped the ante and expanded our customer base to include 4 out of the 5 largest cloud providers and 3 out of the 5 largest corporations over the past year, it’s safe to say we’re crossing new milestones on a daily basis.
What is your biggest challenge?
The challenges we face are a product of our success: By continually enhancing our platform’s features to stay ahead of the issues facing enterprise customers, we’re constantly on the lookout to grow our Vancouver team and retain the best available talent.
What is your motto?
At the center of AppNeta’s culture are our three core values — transparency, performance, and trust (TPT): We trust each other to perform our jobs with integrity, quality, and a sense of urgency, giving 100 percent every day to our work, to our customers, and to each other.
How are you making an impact?
By looking at four dimensions of monitoring data – analyzing network paths, packets, web synthetics and flow data – AppNeta’s SaaS solution empowers enterprise IT with the visibility they need to take a proactive stance in resolving network issues before they impact end users. AppNeta is among the only SaaS-based performance monitoring solutions that can be delivered cost-effectively and at scale, as the platform is designed to monitor more than 10,000 locations and millions of applications with nearly unlimited deployment options to fit customer’s needs.
What is your hope for the future of tech in BC?
We hope that as AppNeta grows, we continue to tap into the incredible talent pool that has helped make BC one of the leading tech employment centers on the planet, and continuing to work closely with others in the BC tech ecosystem to help maintain the region’s breakneck momentum.
Lightning Round with Matt Stevens, President & CEO of AppNeta
What excites you about your job?
AppNeta is my fifth startup and I’ve been at this for 36 years now. By far, the best part of my job is being able to partner with the most talented group of passionate individuals I’ve ever worked with to empower the success of the world’s most respected companies.
What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?
When I came into the CEO position, the leadership team was in period of broad transition, so re-building that team carefully (and avoiding the urge to get it done fast, just to have people in positions…) to maintain our core mission and still support the needed evolution was a long, slow, and very challenging time for AppNeta. I couldn’t be happier with the results: Today, we have a top-tier leadership team with every department leader hitting on all cylinders in their respective areas, but also pushing and pulling each other to achieve new heights nearly every day.
If you can give advice to your 20 year-old self, what would you say?
Work life balance is more than just a set of words. You figured it out in your 40’s, and while sacrifices will always be part of the formula for personal growth, you can start to learn this important lesson earlier than you did last time.
What are your pet peeves?
Guessing when the answers can be known, but the time/effort just hasn’t been put forth to know. Using a lot of words in a conversation to either cover-up the fact you’re not up to speed on the topic at hand, or that you just enjoy the sound of your own voice.
Words of wisdom to other tech CEOs or founders?
Coming from a technology background, it took me too long to realize the formula for sustained company and customer success is A) your team/employees always come first B) investment in your product/service are second and C) processes and systems to support your customer’s business needs to come third. Many put “C” first, and techie’s often put “B” first (I used to…) but to truly achieve customer success, you need to focus most on “A” in order to build & deliver a world-class “B” to facilitate a long-standing “C”.
Favourite city you visited?
So many great cities make this list for me. Sydney, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, and of course New York City all are tops for me. But my all-time favorite city to be in and explore is still Vancouver.
What is your formula for success?
It’s really all taken from above. Practicing a work-life balance both enriches and enables me to be fulfilled and happy, which in turn motivates me to focus on the needs of my AppNeta team so they can deliver consistent success to our customers. A happy, growing customer base is one of the keys to any successful business.
Name one book that everyone should read.
The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck.
How do you decompress?
I was fortunate to have a father who exposed me to many different hobbies growing up and I love them all today. Be it making things with wheels (or tracks or propellers) go faster, to working with wood, to photography – all are great ways to relax and enjoy time with family.
Favourite movie?
The hardest question here by far. Single favorite movie … come on! There is no single one for me since my current frame of mind and the emotional center of the film have to align … and many have done that over the years. But I guess I’ll pick “Lawrence of Arabia” due to it having so many timeless elements all wrapped up in one single terrific movie experience.