Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders TJ Jiang, CEO at AvePoint – Ahead in the Cloud: Riding the huge growth in the Saas software industry
Summary
In an industry that's seen incredible growth in the last few years, lots of Saas companies are exploding. But Saas software vendor AvePoint was on the scene long before the industry took off, and their strategic vision of the cloud's potential has helped secure their own extraordinary long-term growth.
Back in March we chatted with AvePoint's Chief Brand Officer, Dux Raymond Sy about building brands, so I'm excited to learn more about this growing company with today's guest, AvePoint's CEO, Dr. TJ Jiang.
TJ co-founded AvePoint in 2001, and he's served as CEO since 2005. He holds a Master's degeree in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University, and a PhD in data mining from NYU and in 2010, TJ was the recipient of Ernst and Young's, Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Ave Point is the Saas backbone of data management and the hybrid workforce. Their full suite of Saas solutions enable organizations worldwide to collaborate with confidence in the cloud. More than 9 million cloud users rely on AvePoint solutions for securing data, sustaining connections and ensuring business continuity.
TJ and I spoke about the early, lean years of the business, AvePoint's careful choices along the way, and the evolutionary factors that have made AvePoint one of the biggest players in the Saas industry.
Highlights:
- TJ's enterpreneurship story: how AvePoint began (3:15)
- What AvePoint does and who their clients are (5:58)
- How the pandemic influenced their business (7:38)
- TJ explains the benefits and necessity of Saas technologies (10:15)
- The size of the market and why this is just the beginning of digital transformation (13:34)
- TJ talks about AvePoint's go-to-market strategy (15:01)
- Why AvePoint is enjoying great growth when other companies are struggling (16:58)
- The story on some of AvePoint's latest acquisitions (19:01)
- TJ discusses their philosophy on capital allocation (23:03)
- Some of the factors that have led to AvePoint's strong balance sheet (24:50)
- The things that investors might miss about AvePoint (26:32)
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If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, elizabeth@lowerstreet.co.