On the heels of our recent blogs featuring new team members — Product Manager Dinika Byrappa and Associate Solutions Consultant Henry Le — we welcome the next in the queue: Director, Commercial, Jack Gibbs.
With a proven track record in enterprise sales, Gibbs comes to Data Gumbo after his most recent position as Senior Account Manager for large enterprise accounts at Slack. He has also held positions at Salesforce as a Strategic Account Manager for oil and gas enterprise accounts and at Oracle as Application Sales Manager where he managed a portfolio of oil and gas customers.
Welcome, Jack! We are thrilled that you are here. Let’s take a moment to learn more about you.
From Oracle to Salesforce to Slack, you’ve worked for some of the biggest tech companies. What was that like, and how are you finding working at a high-growth startup?
Each company offered invaluable experience but I’d say the velocity and communication style prevalent across the board taught me the importance of internal alignment. In larger corporate cultures with matrix selling organizations, there are numerous internal stakeholders, including teammates, colleagues, partners, leadership teams and others that are impacted by individual decisions. Being aligned on objectives enables an entity to achieve progress together.
In a fast-paced startup internal alignment is even more important as things happen quickly. The decisions we make as a small and nimble team can have an immediate impact on our success day-to-day. Additionally, one of the most enjoyable differences between working in big tech versus a high-growth startup is that our current team is still small enough to carpool and share a lunch table!
Drawing on your professional experience focused on oil & gas at Salesforce and Oracle, what are the biggest issues your clients brought to you?
Some industrial sectors are often slow to digitally transform. In my experience, the strongest headwinds are the opportunities that end in a “no decision” (i.e. project on hold). After investing significant time and resources into a project, the decision to do nothing can take a significant opportunity cost without direct action or outcome.
While many Data Gumbo customers want to transform, few know exactly where and how to get started. We are finding that the larger outfits are hamstrung by corporate red tape and often struggle to shift away from the status quo of business processes. One of the main catalysts, which our smart contracts provide, is immediate value and cost-savings.
Do you have any predictions on how digital transformation will impact heavy industries?
The speed of adoption at Data Gumbo is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been part of a lot of fast-paced companies. We are disrupting the industrial sector and changing the way companies do business by driving digital transformation through automated smart contracts.
Given the current economic climate, companies continue to look for ways to create operational efficiencies that yield defendable savings and Data Gumbo is a proven solution. I predict that within the next five years, smart contracts will be table stakes for larger industrial companies with many other industries following suit.
What adoption trends are you seeing emerge right now and what technology do you keep tabs on?
We are seeing overwhelming examples of how transformative companies are outpacing larger corporate entities. In today’s marketplace, the ability to quickly change and adapt is key to not only staying in the race but winning.
What’s the best part about joining the team at Data Gumbo?
The best part has been the team’s willingness to embrace change. It’s exciting to feel like you’re part of a vision that is becoming more real every day. I have to pinch myself when I see things like Forbes recognizing Data Gumbo as a “Disruptive Innovator” in the energy industry.
Where do you see Data Gumbo in five years?
Data Gumbo is experiencing hockey stick growth. Speaking of hockey, Wayne Gretzky — AKA “The Great One” — once said, “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been,” and Data Gumbo is skating to where the puck is going. I expect continuous growth over the next five years and beyond.
As we embrace change and mature as a company, Data Gumbo will look much different from what we are today, but our core values of staying customer focused, taking initiative and being solution-oriented will remain.
