What’s secret to Pendo’s success? ‘There’s no secret,’ says CEO. ‘Just focus and execution’

RALEIGH – While Pendo’s CEO Todd Olson mostly asked the questions on stage at the CED Tech Conference on Monday, he did stop outside the main ballroom to chat about his company’s success.

“We had record growth last year – more than doubled to close to 130 percent growth year over year,” he told WRAL TechWire.

Raleigh-based software firm to add 590 jobs downtown

In December, Pendo announced plans to more than triple its local operations over the next five years, adding 590 jobs and investing $34.5 million in Wake County.

Pendo’s secret?

“There’s no secret. Just focus and execution. We’ve hired really good people that are good at what they do. We’ve got an amazing market for what we do, and now it’s just a matter of execution.”

He added: “We saw more uptake of our mobile product, which was a product of our acquisition in 2017. That acquisition allowed us to book a record number of mobile deals, which helped drive a lot of the growth.”

With its headquarters in Raleigh, Pendo is now getting ready to open its fifth office in London next week.

“Going to Europe is just attacking another market,” he said. “As long as we feel that things aren’t breaking, we’ll keep pushing.”

Unlike MapAnything’s founder John Stewart, who shared the stage on Monday and spoke of his startup journey pivoting from services to software, Olson said his experience has been quite different.

“That’s one of the areas Pendo hasn’t had to do a lot of pivots. We’ve been sort of focused on one thing, and we’ve been fortunate enough that core business has worked,” he said.

His advice to young entrepreneurs: “If you’re going to raise capital, find the best possible partner to do that with. Not just a firm, but individuals. We had our board meeting last week, and I had three board members to my house for a glass of wine after. It just tells you that after so many years, if you’re willing to have a glass of wine with someone in your living room, that’s the kind of person you want. It’s not just money. You need a real relationship with these people.”