"It's everyone in. As soon as I met Max, he was just energizing. He has started hiring for the company's Chicago-area offices, which will be in Highland Park, next door to G2 Crowd. And probably no surprise when youre in San Francisco in tech, right? I guess I would think of them more as a chat category. He stopped working. I mean, its very much our goal is to make that resource that gives you that insight, like you said, without having to spend six months trying it yourself. . But behind the scenes, theres a rules engine making sure all of the components fit together, updating your pricing, and then you can just buy that online, or print out your quote, or do whatever you want to do. Suite 3200 After either one of those, I read articles the guy couldve just moved on with his life, taken it easy and done nothing, and still he continued. And there were just a lot of limitations. And hes like, Look, I need a German pump engineer to generate that quote for the customer and, you know, put it all together for them. And the really idea at that time, I saw what Dell was doing. . . So he did management consulting in Cleveland with McKinsey & Co., often traveling to work in Germany. . Godard: Yeah. Frankly, a lot of things that they do socially, they do a lot better than we do, so I feel like theres a lot we can learn from them. Tuba player and jazz musician. I invited him here to find out how he built these companies, two of which led to a combined $700M in acquisitions. Frankly, back then to make software perform was super hard. And then we ask the user what theyre really using it for, and so if they show up in the bot category, that means at least 10 reviewers have said, Yes, I used this product . Net Worth: $300 Million. I know you kind of sold a big piece of it before, but when it was sold to Oracle, do you remember that day? you know, turned it into a real product. And so they also see that this is going to go digital. And investors were dying to invest in it because it was a proven team, same thing, hot ecosystem, and so it did just work. You know, Im just starting up my partner program, and he introduced me. G2 Co-Founder and CEO May 1, 2018 Board and Advisor Roles Number of Current Board & Advisor Roles 2 Godard Abel holds 2 board and advisor roles as Executive Chairman at ThreeKit and Chairman of the Board at G2. My name is Andrew Warner. . E-mail oureditor . As of January 2023, The Weeknd's net worth is around $300 Million. And, really, my grandfather in some ways inspired me the most as an entrepreneur, because he started in 1947 and . Family adventure: Abel's wife and three children are spending this year in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where his children are attending school and picking up Spanish. Godard's contact number is (415) 642-9350 (Pacific Bell). SaaS Entrepreneur, Godard Abel, Comes on Board. Godard: Yes. Godard: Yeah. Abel has been a leader at Berkshire since the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate bought MidAmerican Energy in 2000 when he was its president. It was like, hey, this thing is about to end. But hed met, actually, a couple of the guys, my guys at G2 Crowd, Olivier, whos actually our head of sales in San Francisco. During the early 2000s, Godard was inspired to bring businesses - like his family's . I think at some point he kind of got frustrated. He previously built cloud CPQ pioneers BigMachines (acquired by Oracle) and SteelBrick (acquired by Salesforce). From the year 2000, it seems like you had some really . . General Information Description Mr. Godard Abel is a Co-Founder and serves as Chief Executive Officer and Board Member at G2. 15250 REPTI ZOO 904545CM 3 904545CM ZOO REPTI 3 . And, actually, based on Erics feedback, we created this momentum grid. In his vice-chairman role at Berkshire Hathaway, Abel doesn't receive stock options as part of his compensation. Andrew: What do you think of Product Hunt? As mechanical engineers you always think the big metal stuff is the cool stuff to work on. Then I used other software, none of it holds up the way that Zoom does. You never will find a better place to hire phenomenal developers, toptal.com/mixergy. But I remember, like, what felt like [inaudible 00:19:02] one day, it was shortly after Don didnt show up for our meeting. And then to begin, they had a very plain vanilla just Salesforce automation system. Andrew: Really? Not me as a guy whos, like, getting ready to interview the founder. Frankly, its not that I even go to G2 Crowd. And you told them that there was even a sales call customer whos supposed to meet you and didnt show up. Photos in Abel's home exercise room show him in the early 1990s, rowing for MIT on the Charles River. Godard: Yeah, and it was actually interesting. . That's according to the latest luxury homes report released by Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. And so it gives us more strategic flexibility to really . At one point, when BigMachines, based in Foster City, Calif., had $2 million left in venture capital, Abel said, "We had our come-to-Jesus moment, and we were like, 'Hey, do we just give back the last $2 million or do we just buckle down and do this organically?' So far, quote-to-cash software has largely been only available to large enterprises who had the money to afford it. . . . Actually, a company my grandfather started right after World War II in Germany. . As of April 2013, he's accomplished both. Godard: Yeah. To view Godard Abels complete investments history, request access, To view Godard Abels complete exits history, request access, To view Godard Abels complete team members history, request access, Youre viewing 5 of 41 co-investor. Because I also saw those companies are also looking for angel funding, right? 130 E. Randolph St. and sharing SaaS lessons. So its that super early stage [embryonic 00:49:44] stage of products and companies where they both really play. G2 Crowd aggregates user reviews of business software by companies like Salesforce.com, HootSuite and DocuSign, functioning much like a Yelp for business software. and unlike restaurants. Adds credibility, draws people in, allows you to really build it out. Godard started building enterprise software startups at Alyanza in 1998 as he helped the founder scale and sell Alyanza to Niku in 1999 after which he became GM for iNiku.com, which was key part of Niku's successful IPO in March 2000 and subsequent sale to CA in 2006. You know, Jonathan and I sort of chatted. . And then, you know, eventually, it finally started working, but it was a very hard process. And you might know this story. Some, like, famous, infamous guy. This guest is so big I dont even know why hes on Mixergy to be honest. You know, thats one nice thing now being our third company. And I always remember, like, Marc, he impressed me with his larger-than-life figure and kind of like Golden Gate Bridge, Lands End behind him. What was it? But Steve and John Sculley was still a very famous guy. Godard: Yeah, I think it tells us, you know, this is a big market. And so any business in any industry, now, without the right technology, any entrepreneur, youre not going to succeed. You tell Toptal what youre looking for, they search their network for the best people, they test the candidates, and then they present you with only the candidates who meet your individual needs. And I think, as we were first-time parents, you know, I was like, Everythings going to go normally. And . Andrew: BigMachines, well, we should talk about why you came up with that name. Godard: Oh, no, thanks, Andrew. Because big-time CIOs will look to Gartner to say, Hey, what products can I trust?. He's a brilliant Zoom founder & CEO. Some of the company, they do employee reviews. But I think we kind of quickly realized that wasnt going to work, you know? I think Im having . Get the best business coverage in Chicago, from breaking news to razor-sharp analysis, in print and online. In 2011, Abel sold to private equity firms the majority of his stake in BigMachines, a business software company he had been. His latest company is one I use personally to check up on interviewees. . . . executive Chairman for Threekit, a powerful 3D product visualization platform that powers immersive eCommerce for leading B2C and B2B brands. But what theyre all about is hiring talent. I can ask them a question. . I mean, honestly, it felt like it. Im actually on g2crowd.com looking at Toptal to see what peoples feedback is. . Godard Abel BigMachines . Oh, when I met this entrepreneur Max who had started building this SteelBrick product. ", "He likes challenge," she said. Gartner estimates the current quote-to-cash market at around $31 billion and expects it to reach $41 billion by 2018. It was also when my non-compete expired. you know, this is never going to get any worse. 1-877-812-1590, Juice: Crain's daily take on power & politics, The Most Powerful Women In Chicago Business. Prior to G2.com, which we'll talk about here in a little bit, you were part of BigMachines, which was acquired by Oracle for $400 million in 2013. 2022. They were innovators, and then it was awful and I cant imagine the pain he was feeling. And those pumps were big. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Abel pointed out Steelbricks deployment at Cloudera, a data software company last valued at roughly $5 billion, took only about two weeks, as opposed to the months or years it would have normally taken with larger enterprise software. "When he got into something, he was really into it.". G2 Crowd employees believe it's at the vanguard of business software evaluation, replacing analyst advice from companies like Gartner with thousands of user reviews. Godard: Yes. Godard Abel is the Co-Founder and CEO at G2. Now we can focus 100% over the next couple of years really building the company the way we want to build.. My father tells me they kind of moved out to a farm. They believed online was the way to go and it was going to happen. We think obviously the next level. He is from France. Godard: Yeah. Thanks. . We had to build our own hosting. And I mentioned Im here at the AWS re:Invent Cloud Computing Conference, and thats just booming, right? Andrew: Oh, okay. And we decided to do the latter, but we also decided to do it in Chicago, because in the Bay Area, we just won't be able to afford it. Andrew: Do you remember the day that that sold to Salesforce? Thats the problem. Im looking forward to hearing the story as it continues. And this week the long-unanswered question has finally been resolved - possibly by accident. What Is Greg Abel's Net Worth? Threekit has raised $30 Million dollars led by innovators, Shasta Ventures and Salesforce Ventures. Were backing big companies that we think have the potential to be future public companies, and we see that in the financials and performance of Steelbrick, Maltz told us. If youre not happy, Im not hiding. Four years later, by the time of its sale to JMI Equity and Vista Equity, its annual revenue run rate was approaching $50 million per year. Most admires: Nelson Mandela. "He's one of the great stories," said Pat Ryan, a friend and founder of Incisent Labs Group, which turns innovative products into startups. My father was born around that time, but, yeah, the first few years of his life, all they ate was potatoes. They have a $15 billion market cap. Angel, Fund of Funds, Venture Capital), This describes the stage of investor this person is (e.g. Apttus, for example, another quote-to-cash software maker targeting larger enterprises, recently raised $108 million at over a $1 billion valuation. You need to be on Yelp. . . In 1994, Abel got his master's degree in engineering from MIT, doing his thesis on what he described as "research numerical simulation software of manufacturing processing. In fact, we're picking up the. Last fall, Mr. Abel seized the opportunity to build another CPQ giant from a fledgling company. Godard Abel is CEO of G2.com, Inc, a business software review website, which he co-founded in 2012. And, from there, it felt like my life, on all dimensions, just started getting better. And part of it, frankly, people were still using dial-up. And its not like it is today where everything feels really real-time. Explore Topics. Intercom could see, Hey . it was very unexpected. both my grandfathers were totally wiped out. ? you know, we were down to, lets say, about $1 million and we were still burning, I dont know, close to $100,000 a month. "I really had no appreciation for what that meant.". The company is backed and advised by Sculley Brothers, L.L.C. And, frankly, part of it is Marc Benioffs such a brilliant marketer, right? But we burned through . Godard: Yeah. He's so unassuming that, even when he had great success, he stayed grounded, so you never knew he enjoyed that kind of success unless you really got to know him.". You know, because, frankly, all of my early investors including John Sculley, the Krafts were able to actually make money on that deal if they wanted to. If you hate your hosting company, congratulations. . But I think if youre listening to me and youre thinking Toptal is out of reach, youre just . Building companies: It's rewarding spiritually, emotionally and financially.". Seeing how the trajectories of his other dreams have gone qualifying for the Boston Marathon, becoming an admirable golfer, turning into a technology entrepreneur Wall Street may want to clear space for another ticker symbol. If theyre not, they should be by the end of this conversation. it was around the time that Salesforce was going public in 2003, but he was doing an event in Chicago. I think they kind of wrote us off, and then I think theyre really pleasantly surprised, about 10 years later, they actually got . Get the best business coverage in Chicago, from breaking news to razor-sharp analysis, in print and online. Hes pumping heavy slurries, [inaudible 00:06:08] pump coal. Godard: Well, I think I just felt really lucky. A year and a half ago, he started another company, G2 Crowd. But when youre talking about software that requires a team to play with it, to use it, to experiment with it, and you cant get whether its going to be good or not until youre using it for a month, thats a big investment of my teams time, of our money, and Im not going to do it just for a guest. I want to, like, figure out how you grew it. . Go get the details on top as in top of your head, tal as in talent, toptal.com/mixergy. What is Edward Abel Smith's net worth? . We had product market fit because the cloud was booming, Salesforce was booming. BigMachines was acquired by Oracle in 2013 for over $400 million. . Frankly, our next two companies really spent the next 17 years building 2 companies doing that. They also have very smart writers, right? But, you know, he built WebEx. And I remember I was talking about the internet. You can see out to the Lands End and probably just amazing views. I should tell everyone . Let's check, How Rich is Thierry Godard in 2019-2020? But you mentioned your dad. . Well, what I like about G2 . He serves as Chairman at ThreeKit. As of this date, Godard is married. So we definitely have their attention. Godard: Well, he built a pump company, but he was [inaudible 00:03:39] in World War II in 1945, so two years later. It wasnt really rational. And, actually, its in Steve Jobs biography, but, you know, actually, Steve recruited him to come run Apple with that famous line, Hey, do you want to spend the rest of your life selling colored sugar water or do you want to come change the world? And so, John . It would help everyone in business that needs technology and every business today needs technology more than ever. . And Max is from Russia originally so he wasnt aware of, you know, The Wizard of Oz. And my daughter was just in that play, and people were like, No, Max. "The only thing I remember that was, like, a little bit upsetting was some kids were calling me a Nazi, which in this country is not that big of a deal, like you can be a Soup Nazi, and it's like kind of a joke," he said. The BigMachines name, I imagine, comes from, Help people configure and sell big machines.. Godard Abel has a Master of Science in Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994 and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford Business . . And all of you entrepreneurs, you know, like, you start brainstorming and then you start [checking 00:31:40], you know, with HostGator or GoDaddy or whatever. And its been great for him, too, but I was also lucky I was already out. its healthy competition, but also its also validating, right, when we as a disrupter, when the big incumbent starts to copy your model, you know youre onto something. "He would keep track of all these little slips of paper that would have numbers and numbers and numbers," she said. Godard: Yeah. B, youre a dot-com, so when are you going bankrupt? Like, Id lived through the dot-com bust in 2008, 2009, so if somebodys willing to give us, you know, capital to finance our future even when we dont need it . . Im a huge believer in what Zoom is doing. Andrew: Im thinking that normally is chaotic, and . Drawing on his knowledge of manufacturing, Godard Abel solved that problem by using cloud-based software to streamline sales processes for manufacturers, as well as for technology companies. I think there were a couple of years, we only signed up two customers. After this successful exit, Godard stepped down as CEO in 2011 and took time off to pursue two goals: playing a scratch round of golf and qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Godard Abel is CEO of G2.com, Inc., the leading business software review platform and marketplace, which he co-founded in 2012, as well as Executive Chairman of ThreeKit, a leading 3D product . 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