Fireside chat with Ryan Smith, the CEO of Qualtrics, an online survey software company. Smith started the company with his father and brother, in his parent’s basement back in 2002. He bootstrapped the firm for 10 years before seeking venture capital funding. Today, Qualtrics is valued at $1 billion, making it a “unicorn.” That’s Silicon Valley speak for companies deemed to be worth $1 billion or more. Qualtrics is used by more than 8,000 enterprise businesses (including half of the Fortune 100 companies), as well as by universities around the globe. Here Smith shares his experiences during his journey of success. Learn more about Oracle for Startups https://www.oracle.com/startup/
Ryan Smith co-founded Qualtrics in 2002 with the goal of making sophisticated research simple. As CEO, he has grown the company from a basement startup to one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world. Qualtrics has more than 8,500 enterprise customers including over 75% of the Fortune 100, 1,800 colleges and universities worldwide, and 99 of the top 100 U.S. business schools. Qualtrics has received $400M in investment from Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, and Insight Venture Partners.
Ryan was named to Fortune’s 2016 40 Under 40, a list of the most powerful, influential, and successful young people in business, and was listed as one of Forbes’ “America’s Most Promising CEOs Under 35” in 2013. He is a frequent contributor to Fortune Magazine and has been featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Inc., The New York Times, TechCrunch and USA Today, and has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and FOX Business. Ryan is a graduate of Brigham Young University and is a frequent guest lecturer at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
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(Interviewed by Startup Grind's founder + CEO, Derek Andersen).