Careers at GoodData

Mission

GoodData’s mission is to change the economics of data by transforming it from a cost-center into a revenue-producing profit center that delivers net-new value for businesses.

History

Roman Stanek was an entrepreneur who had launched several companies, all in the high-tech arena. One was NetBeans (now owned by Oracle Corporation), which offered a Java-based software development platform when the Java programming language was just two years old. Another was Systinet (now owned by HP), a cloud-based product which offered an API management solution.

In 2007 Stanek started thinking about his next venture, and looked to his past. When he had first begun his career 20 years prior he had worked in the database business, specifically at Sybase. Now, he believed that data in the cloud would be the next big thing. He began developing software that would enable companies to collect, store, analyze, visualize, and distribute data in the cloud.

Stanek ultimately came up with a solution described as a cloud-based big data analytics and business intelligence platform. At the time, the term“big data“ was not yet widespread. He launched a company to market it called GoodData. Interest in the idea enabled him to garner angel funding totaling $2 million in 2008. GoodData now enables tens of thousands of firms to monetize their data.

Benefits at GoodData

Business model of GoodData

Customer Segments

GoodData has a niche market business model, with a specialized customer segment.

The company targets its offerings at enterprises, independent software vendors, and system integrators who seek to transform their business data into revenue-generating assets and distribute it to large networks.

Value Proposition

GoodData offers three primary value propositions: convenience, performance and brand/status.

The company offers convenience by providing an end-to-end solution that fulfills every task from collecting business data to providing the completed visualization.

The company’s solution offers strong performance. Its platform is highly scalable, accelerating innovation and time-to-market. Customers can launch data products within weeks instead of months or years. High-profile examples of positive client outcomes include the following:

  • Oversight Systems used GoodData’s offering to operationalize its solution in less than 30 days and improve usability and visualizations for customers
  • ServiceChannel used GoodData’s offering to take its solution live within 90 days, deploy it at more than 100,000 locations in 63 countries, and improve operational efficiencies
  • Invodo used GoodData’s offering to achieve a 41% increase in the amount of content managed via its platform year-over-year and development cost savings of $300,000 per year
  • HIMSS Analytics used GoodData’s offering to increase daily log-in percentages among clients to 40% and decrease development time from 6-month to 2-week release cycles
  • HP Software used GoodData’s offering to establish a real-time feedback loop for its platform, decrease response time by 75%, and perform continual, iterative campaign improvements

The company has established a strong brand as a result of its success. It has over 50,000 customers, including 42% of the Fortune 500. Specific clients include Target, Time Warner Cable, Discovery Communications, Fidelity Investments, and General Electric. Lastly, it has won many honors, including recognition as a Leader among Forrester Research’s Agile Business Intelligence Platforms (2015), a Stevie Award for Customer Service Department of the Year (2015), and SIIA CODiE awards for Best Monetization Solution and Best Business Intelligence/Analytics Solution (2013).

Channels

GoodData’s main channel is its direct sales team. The company promotes its offering through its website, social media pages, webinars, summits, roundtables, forums, and conferences.

Customer Relationships

GoodData’s customer relationship is primarily of a self-service nature. Customers utilize the service through the main platform while having limited interaction with employees. The company’s website features a “Resources” section that includes analyst reports, briefs, case studies, “DataTalk” videos, interactive and on-demand demos, infographics, slide decks, webinars, and white papers.

The site also offers eLearning courses on its solution and answers to frequently asked questions. Finally, it provides “Data Land”, an interactive web experience that enables potential customers to assess their readiness for, obtain targeted tips about, and begin the path to data monetization.

Despite this orientation, there is a personal assistance component. The company maintains GoodData University, a program through which it offers customizable instructor-led training courses delivered on-site for groups of three or more participants as well as a private training option. There is also a community element in the form of a forum on its website where customers can interact.

Key Activities

GoodData’s business model entails maintaining a robust platform for its customers.

Key Partners

GoodData maintains the following types of partnerships:

  • Embedded Analytics Partners – The company works with firms to deliver white-labeled OEM analytics to their customers as well as reporting driven by their data
  • Implementation Partners – The company enables firms to develop customer analytics solutions for their customers, or host their own applications on the GoodData platform
  • Technology Partners – The company works with various technology solution providers to use their offerings to enhance its solutions

Specific partners include Keboola, Splunk, Saama, Vertica, Okta, Rackspace, Data Information Analytics, Benissimo, Totvs, Riversand, CloverETL, Semantria, Box, and HP.

Key Resources

GoodData’s main resource is its proprietary software platform, which serves over 50,000 customers.

The company relies on its engineering team to maintain and update the platform, its sales team to promote it, and its training staff to provide instruction.

Lastly, as a startup it has relied heavily on funding from outside parties, raising $101.2 million from 17 investors as of September 2014.

Cost Structure

GoodData has a cost-driven structure, aiming to minimize expenses through significant automation. Its biggest cost driver is likely research and development, a fixed cost. Other major drivers are in the areas of customer support/operations and administration, both fixed costs.

Revenue Streams

GoodData has one revenue stream: the subscription fees it charges for monthly access to its cloud-based platform. The company’s sales force must be contacted directly for subscription rates.

Our team

Roman Stanek,
Founder and Chief Executive Officer

info: Roman Stanek previously served as Founder and CEO of Systinet Corporation and NetBeans. He also served as Director of Engineering for Software Platforms and Products at Sun Microsystems. He has more than 20 years of high-tech experience.

Radovan Janecek,
Senior VP, R&D & Operations

info: Radovan earned a Master‘s degree in Mathematics and Informatics at Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic. He previously served as VP of Engineering for Cloud Automation at Hewlett-Packard and VP of Engineering at CA Technologies.

Pete Godbole,
Chief Financial Officer

info: Pete earned a B.S. in Business/Accounting at the University of Delhi and an MBA in Finance at Michigan State University. He previously served as CFO of the End User Computing global business unit at VMware and held senior roles at Autodesk and Hyperion.

Divya Ghatak,
Chief People Officer

info: Divya earned a B.A. in Economics at Delhi University and a Master’s degree in HR Management at Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She previously led people strategy for SaaS/Collaboration at Cisco Systems and served as Founder and CEO of Venturis India.