When Adam Layman joined SaaS data protection platform provider OwnBackup nearly five years ago, he thought the company would do what other startups do: grow extremely fast for one to two years and then slow down.
He was wrong. “The company’s growth has far exceeded my expectations from when I first started out,” he said.
After joining the company several years ago, the director of solution engineering saw the organization grow 100 percent year over year while adding new team members just as quickly. As the company keeps scaling, its focus has shifted to sustainable growth rather than a growth-at-all-costs strategy.
And according to Layman, there’s a reason behind OwnBackup’s continuous expansion: “The security of organizations’ SaaS applications is more important than ever before, as the breadth and amount of data increases,” he said. “This increases the risks for organizations who do not have a backup and those who have not secured their SaaS applications appropriately.”
To keep up with an ever-growing demand for its product, the company is focused on building out its existing teams. In doing so, the organization has given its people, including Account Executive Rachel Futterman, more chances to learn new skills and take on new responsibilities.
While Futterman lacked a SaaS background when she applied to OwnBackup, the company still brought her on board. Now, she has the chance to excel in an industry she never knew she would be a part of while helping the company accelerate its potential.
“I certainly owe much of my success to the various leaders and managers I’ve had in my time here who have challenged me and enabled me to grow,” Futterman said.
ABOUT OWNBACKUP
OwnBackup offers a SaaS data protection platform for Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and ServiceNow. The platform provides data security, backup and recovery, archiving, sandbox seeding and more.
Investing in The Future
Finding the right talent to help steer an organization can be challenging, especially given our current economic climate. Yet OwnBackup has managed to scale its teams and enable its new employees to play a part in shaping its future.
When Sierra Valenzuela-Phillips was hired, she was the company’s only technical account manager based in San Diego. But after acquiring Salesforce security and governance solutions company RevCult in 2021, OwnBackup was able to grow her team significantly.
“I thought I would just get one or two local colleagues, but I never imagined that we would expand enough to welcome an eight-person team so quickly,” Valenzuela-Phillips said.
This growth extends to the company’s public sector department, as well. Layman noted that the scaling team has received its FedRAMP “In Process” designation and is currently working toward becoming fully authorized.
“This process is a huge investment in our future growth doing business with the federal government,” he said.
Yet headcount isn’t the only thing that’s changing at OwnBackup. With customers’ budgets getting tighter, Futterman is paying closer attention to her AE strategies to help the company keep up with its transformation.
“I focus on emphasizing value selling and enabling my customers to make internal business justifications as to the significant ROI they would see by purchasing our products,” she said.
Futterman believes it’s the right time for the company to continue building out its teams, given organizations’ reliance on a wide range of SaaS applications.
“Now is the time to continue to spread that knowledge and enable the customers of other SaaS applications outside of Salesforce to own their own data,” she said.
Opportunities to Evolve
As teams across OwnBackup continue to grow and refine their strategies, employees have even more chances to broaden their skill sets and take advantage of growth opportunities.
Since joining her team, Valenzuela-Phillips has attended her first AWS tech conference, earned seven Salesforce certifications and taken on a leadership role — all while gaining valuable experience from her day-to-day work.
“OwnBackup offers a unique client base that allows you to work in a number of technologies at once, offering paths in various ecosystems,” she said.
“OwnBackup offers a unique client base that allows you to work in a number of technologies at once.”
During her time at the company, Futterman has been excited to see many of her colleagues take on new roles. “OwnBackup does a great job of both promoting internally and giving account executives and entry-level sales roles the opportunity to move up,” she said.
Futterman added that she continues to evolve professionally by relying on her teammates’ unique expertise, whether product development or sales. She considers her peers to be “key resources to success.”
OwnBackup has taught Futterman that growth goes beyond headcount and recurring revenue. She has learned that companywide expansion is defined by opportunity — the chance to grow personally while impacting the organization as a whole.
“There are a number of different ways OwnBackup grows each year, and I’m proud to be a part of that journey,” Futterman said.
