Experience is Everything: Why I Joined ControlUp

Today marks a new era in ControlUp’s growth and an exciting new opportunity in my career. It has been announced that I have joined ControlUp as CEO to work alongside ControlUp co-founder Asaf Ganot. Asaf will transform his role to Executive Chairman and continue to lead the company’s product strategy building on his vision of the digital employee experience (DEX) market category that he started more than a decade ago. Together, we will be executing against a huge growth opportunity with a multi-billion valuation potential. Read today’s press release here. 

A Software Powerhouse in the Making

If the era of hybrid work is teaching us anything, it’s that digital experience is at the core of every business success metric. Better digital employee experiences have a direct correlation to business performance and productivity. Digital workers who are more productive are more engaged, innovative, collaborative and happy, and IT teams that can deliver this productive experience efficiently, securely and reliably create significant business value. 

This mounting IT priority – the need to empower a delightful work-from-anywhere experience – is creating an explosive opportunity for the innovative digital employee experience (DEX) platform that Asaf Ganot and the entire ControlUp team have built. Following Asaf’s vision, ControlUp has created the benchmark for what is a new and exploding DEX market category. And ControlUp has only started its trajectory of innovation. 

Like the industry, I saw the powerhouse potential of ControlUp early on. It established the DEX standard and has redefined it with each brilliant product release. Today, the ControlUp DEX platform has the industry’s fastest time-to-value – with the ability to be up and running in just minutes – and is becoming the secret sauce for IT teams looking to build employee confidence, get to resolutions faster and lower overall computing costs at the endpoint. 

More than Brilliant Technology

The reason I joined ControlUp, however, is deeper than its category-defining technology. I also joined because of the talented team behind it, the resources at our disposal and the incredible partner ecosystem that we can further engage to dramatically accelerate ControlUp’s market adoption. Specifically, ControlUp has a number of distinct advantages that go beyond great technology that attracted me to this new opportunity. 

1. The People. Asaf has assembled an incredibly dynamic and talented team ready to capitalize on the growth opportunity ahead. With a culture that balances autonomy with collaboration and work ownership with flexibility, ControlUp has a global team that is poised for this moment of dramatic expansion. 
2. The Resources. ControlUp has also received a significant injection of capital from iconic investors JVP and K1. With the support of our committed investors and our ongoing sales execution success, we have the ready resources to execute an aggressive expansion strategy that will build the company at a record pace. 
3. The Partners. Across the business software application, endpoint device and end user computing technology ecosystem, ControlUp has a valued brand among technology and channel partners alike. The opportunity to further activate and engage this partner landscape gives ControlUp exceptional potential to become the core platform at the center of the DEX market category. 
4. The Customers. Most importantly, ControlUp has built an active and loyal community of thousands of customers who have become avid advocates of the ControlUp platform and the power and flexibility it delivers. They are ControlUp champions and truly love how we enable them to monitor, troubleshoot and optimize their employees’ digital experiences – so they can work without limitations.  

What’s In-Store

As I join Asaf and the ControlUp leadership team at this time of exploding opportunity, I plan to execute on three key milestones in the year to come. In aggregate, they will comprise the achievements that will truly make ControlUp a software powerhouse leading the DEX technology revolution. 

1. Go-to-Market Acceleration. Anyone that knows me, and my background, knows I am a firm believer in a channel-first sales model. To support this, I’ll be working with the ControlUp team to build out a go-to-market success strategy that balances a channel-centric approach with enterprise customer success and a robust technology ecosystem. We’ll be making investments in the ControlUp channel program to support that. We’ll also be working at a global level to activate our channel partners and ensure sales alignment. Finally, we’ll build on the ControlUp technology partner relationships and expand our partner ecosystem to deepen and further accelerate our market adoption.  
2. Global Expansion. The intense need for DEX is a global one. One of my initial priorities will be to strategically and actively grow the ControlUp market presence across EMEA and APAC, while further deepening the company’s reach throughout the North American market. Sales resources, channel partnerships and marketing investments will be made throughout all key international regions for exponential reach and growth opportunities.
3. Customer Advocacy. At the core of everything we do are our valued customers, and their voice must be part of the evolution of how we optimize their employees’ experiences. I’m passionate about engaging, listening and acting on customer priorities. By investing in programs that encourage greater customer advocacy, we’ll be delivering the DEX solutions customers want with greater speed and affinity. 

Together, I believe it’s these priorities that will quickly help ControlUp achieve the annual recurring revenue (ARR) that gets the company to a multi-billion-dollar valuation in record time. With methodical and persistent execution, ControlUp will not just become a “unicorn” company, it will be revered by the investment community. 

I Believe

As those that I’ve worked with before will likely attest, my leadership style is unique. I truly believe that anything is possible when you have a committed and talented group of aligned humans. When you believe together with passion, and use the power of visualization, you can truly make every goal a reality. 

I am also an advocate of a “servant’s heart” approach to life. As a leader, I believe it’s my role to serve and to empower employees and teams with the atmosphere, resources and opportunities to be amazing. This philosophy is more than a leadership approach, it’s a true cultural catalyst that when combined with believing in something bigger, and selflessly looking out for each other, our partners and our customers, we can create an outcome that cannot be replicated. 

I’m thrilled to be joining the passionate and talented ControlUp team at such a pivotal time in its growth. This is a significant moment. United, we have a powerful belief in the future of DEX and its impact on the success of today’s digital enterprises. We will see the realization of this goal together.