Careers at AppDynamics
Mission
AppDynamics is an IT operations analytics and application intelligence company. It provides a product that enables businesses to manage and analyse application performance data cross multiple cloud computing platforms in real-time.
History
AppDynamics was founded in 2008 by Indian software engineer Jyoti Bansal (“Bansal”). After graduating from a top engineering school in India, Bansal began the process of moving to the US, where he wished to work for a startup company and later found his own business. He arrived in the US in 2000 on an H-1B visa and began working for small start-up tech companies in Silicon Valley. Bansal was forced to wait for his Green Card process to progress before founding his own company. He received an employment authorisation document in 2007 and soon after left his job and established AppDynamics.
AppDynamics began to attract investors in 2008, raising $5.5 million in its first round of funding. The Company has since completed a further six rounds of funding, raising a total of $314.5 million. AppDynamics’ investors include Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, and Sands Capital Ventures. AppDynamics has grown rapidly in just over seven years in operation, currently employing around 900 members of staff. Recent estimates value the Company at just under $2 billion.
Benefits at AppDynamics
Business model of AppDynamics
Customer Segments
AppDynamics provides products and services that are useful for businesses across multiple sectors, with customers spanning the education, financial services, retail, technology, logistics, healthcare, telecoms and gaming industries, among others.
Its customers are not limited geographically, serving clients across North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
On its website AppDynamics lists a number of household names among its customers, including Hallmark, Expedia, eHarmony, Cisco, Macmillan Publishing and NASDAQ, as well as high-profile educational institutions such as Cornell University, Washington University and Missouri State University.
Value Propositions
AppDynamics’ greatest value is in the efficiency, usability and capability of its analytics software, which purports to enable users to identify potential performance issues well in advance and from one unified platform.
The Company provides real-time and continuous data monitoring, management and analytics services for public or private cloud-based applications.
Its prices are negotiable depending on the individual needs of its clients, with all products available as a free trial. AppDynamics offers flexible service options, providing cloud-based, on-site and hybrid platform delivery. AppDynamics also claims to provide enterprise-level security services and robust architecture for every one of its customers.
Channels
AppDynamics’ products can be accessed directly from its website at www.appdynamics.com through desktop or mobile browsers. The Company’s products are delivered either on a software-as-a-service basis, with AppDynamics hosting the platform software with users accessing it via the cloud, or through on-premises installation, where users deploy and host the product themselves.
Users may also access AppDynamics products via a hybrid service, comprising some on-site installation and cloud-based services. Products hosted by the Company can be accessed via the AppDynamics mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Customer Relationships
AppDynamics sells its products and services through online subscriptions. Users are able to set up an account and register for a free trial of any AppDynamics products on a self-service basis. Paid-for Pro subscriptions, however, must be routed through the AppDynamics sales team, which provides custom quotes depending on the individual requirements of each customer. Both free and paying users receive ongoing technical support, with Pro customers receiving access to round-the-clock assistance.
In addition to providing its users with webinars, FAQs and tutorials via its website, AppDynamics hosts a community forum where users can access discussions and special content – including access to user groups and training events – and the AppDynamics University, where users can take part in instructor-led training and interactive self-paced courses.
Key Activities
AppDynamics provides application intelligence and real-time business insights and analysis into application performance and user experience, primarily to corporate customers and website operators.
Its software allows businesses to monitor, manage, and optimise complex software platforms and applications with a view to identifying potential performance issues before they are realised.
The company’s software provides mobile, browser, synthetic and database solutions, as well as cloud migration and scaling, cloud monitoring, continuous delivery and troubleshooting services.
Key Partners
AppDynamics’ activities are supported by a network of partners, primarily companies operating in the technology space.
The Company maintains its Partner Ecosystem, with partners divided into three categories: Technology Partners, Service and Cloud Providers, and Solution Providers. Its Technology Partner category principally comprises software engineering and development companies that provide technical assistance to AppDynamics in serving customers with accurate, real-time business insights and analysis of application performance. AppDynamics’ Service and Cloud Providers primarily provide marketing and reselling services, while the Company’s solutions partners – mostly software and analytics companies – help to provide AppDynamics customers with tailored data monitoring and management solutions.
AppDynamics’ recent partners include IT and business consulting company Cognizant Technology Solutions, cloud solutions provider Trace3 and open source software company Red Hat.
Key Resources
Among AppDynamics’ key resources are its analytics platform, IT infrastructure and personnel. The Company, and its founder Bansal, have several applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, including applications titled ‘Time series metric data modelling and prediction’ and ‘Automatic capture of detailed analysis information for web application outliers with very low overhead’.
AppDynamics employs an expert development and support team to ensure the efficiency and reliability of its platform and a sales team that is key to the Company’s customer management.
The Company also requires reliable IT infrastructure, notably server space, to host its platform.
Cost Structure
AppDynamics accrues costs through the development of its analytics platform, the retention of its personnel and maintenance of its IT infrastructure.
The Company must pay for the rental of server space and operational costs relating to its data centres, as well as other fixed costs concerning the management of its network of offices across the US, Europe, Asia and Australia.
AppDynamics also incurs costs relating to employee salaries and benefits, with recent reports stating that it employs more around 900 staff members across 12 countries.
Revenue Streams
AppDynamics operates on a freemium basis, providing a basic analytics and monitoring service free of charge, alongside more advanced offerings than come with greater functionality and support. AppDynamics offers a free Lite Plan and paid-for Pro Plans, which scale to support unlimited application deployments across an entire business. Pro Plans are quoted individually and are priced according to the number of apps covered by each product and on a per-unit basis, a unit being the metric that governs each product module. A unit could correspond to a set number of page views, a set number of monthly active users or a set number of CPU cores, depending on the service provided.
AppDynamics reportedly ended 2014 with $150 million in revenue under contract. The Company is reported to have grown further over the course of 2015 and is expected to post greater revenue figures going forward.
Our team
info: Jyoti has served as AppDynamics’ Executive Chairman and Chief Strategist since 2015. He was the Company’s founding Chief Executive Officer from 2008, stepping down in 2015 to allow the appointment of current Chief David Wadhwani (“Wadhwani”). Prior to founding AppDynamics, Bansal was an architect at Wily Technology, an analytics company founded by Lew Cirne, the founding Chief Executive Officer of competing app data management provider New Relic. Prior to this, Bansal held software engineering roles. He served as a senior software engineer at NextPage from 2000 to 2002 when he joined Rockwell Automation as an engineering manager and senior engineer.
info: David has served as AppDynamics’ President and Chief Executive Officer since September 2015. Wadhwani has worked within the technology sector since the early 1990s. He began his career in 1993 at software giant Oracle, where he worked in a business intelligence role for four years. In 1998 he joined software company iHarvest as Vice President of Product Development. He moved to Adobe Systems in 2002 where he was appointed Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Digital Media Business Unit. Wadhwani remained in this position for more than 13 years, ultimately leaving Adobe Systems to join AppDynamics.
info: Joe was appointed AppDynamics’ President of Worldwide Field Operations in 2012. In this role he oversees all of the Company’s field operations, including sales, marketing and business development. Sexton is a seasoned executive within the technology sector, with particular experience relating to sales and marketing. From 1991 to 1998 Sexton served as Senior Vice President at Computer Associates (now CA Technologies). He joined software company Mercury Interactive in 2001 as Senior Vice President of Sales for the Americas, leaving the company in 2007 to assume the role of Executive Vice President of Global Sales at tech security provider McAfee. He remained in this position until joining AppDynamics in 2012. Sexton served briefly as a director of security software-as-a-service provider CrowdStrike during 2015, but no longer appears to be associated with the company.
info: Randy has served as AppDynamics’ Chief Financial Officer since 2015. He also sits on the board and audit committee of big data company Datastax. Gottfried is an experienced financial executive. He began his career in 1988 as a certified public accountant at Ernst and Young before going on to serve as a financial analyst at Bank of America from 1990. From 1993 to 1997 he was employed by enterprise software provider Sybase, initially as a corporate financial planning and analysis manager and from 1995 as Investor Relations Director. Gottfried joined internet software company Inktomi in 1997 as its Vice President of Finance and Corporate Controller and later appointed the company’s Chief Financial Officer in 2002. Prior to joining AppDynamics Gottfried worked for seven years at Riverbed Technology as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Services.