ThoughtSpot, the AI-Powered Analytics company, has appointed Jeff Depa as its Chief Revenue Officer. He joined the company after the departure of Spencer Tuttle in May. Tuttle subsequently joined Redis as Chief Revenue Officer.
Depa joins from Gainsight, where he was Chief Revenue Officer for three years. Before that, he had senior roles at Luciworks, DataStax and Oracle, which he joined after spending 10 years at Sun Microsystems. Depa will look to continue the work that Tuttle achieved, which included 100% growth in ARR over the last year and exceeded $150 million in revenue.
At Gainsight, Depa led the expansion of the global go-to-market organisation in a sector where Gainsight is recognised as a leader. He was responsible for Gainsight’s record growth, and ThoughtSpot hopes that his experience will help drive its growth.
Depa to lead
He will drive strategic and durable growth through go-to-market strategies across multiple products, geographies and channels that deliver long-term customer value.
Sudheesh Nair, CEO, ThoughtSpot, said, “Companies today need agile, trusted partners who can help them leverage data and Gen AI to drive constant, continuous cycles of innovation. While traditional sales organisations focus on how to get customers to buy the most product, the most strategic and impactful companies have made sales truly the voice of the customer.
“Jeff is a modern sales leader who has proven experience advocating for the customer across different products, segments and geographies, shaping every aspect of go to market around delivering exceptional customer experience. We’re excited to have him join us now as we continue to evolve as a business, and through his leadership evolve our go-to-market strategy and philosophy to match.
“Jeff’s track record driving profitable hyper-growth for SaaS companies, combined with his human first leadership style, will be critical in delivering our next phase of growth as we enter a new fiscal year and continue down our path of building a company of lasting consequence.”
Dynamic CRO for a rapidly evolving company
Depa is joining a company that has seen significant changes over the last 12 months that bode well for the future once harnessed. In June, it bought Mode Analytics for $200 million. Mode extended the ThoughtSpot capability with its code-first experience that enables businesses to quickly answer novel questions.
The company saw success with large and small firms, from global enterprises like Verizon, CVS, Anthem, Capital One, Snowflake, and Comcast to digital natives like Wellthy, Modern Milkman, and Huel.
In March, ThoughtSpot launched ThoughtSpot Sage. It is a natural language and AI-powered search engine that offers business users an interface to generate insights with a simple question. The combination of organic and inorganic product development will become the fuel that will help Depa power new growth.
Jeff Depa, CRO, ThoughtSpot, commented, “In today’s world, if you’re not making insights instantly and easily available to your teams and customers, you’re falling short. Businesses across the spectrum, from G2000 to digital natives, have an incredible opportunity to put the power of their data into the hands of every employee that allows them to easily find and curate smart, personalised, and actionable insights that deliver real business impact.
“The excitement from ThoughtSpot’s customers and market tailwinds of GenAI indicate we’re only just beginning to see the unprecedented growth and impact that AI-powered analytics will have on the market.
“I am thrilled to join the ThoughtSpot team at this juncture in our journey where we have an expanded product portfolio to meet customers wherever they are on their analytics and BI journey, from data teams to C-Suite, to frontline employees, and help solve their data challenges. This is the time to unearth net-new opportunities and drive durable growth through our product, our community, and our customers.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
It seems there is a bit of musical chairs for Chief Revenue Officers. Gainsight has yet to announce one as this article was written, but CEO Nick Mehta will surely be able to attract the right candidate. In Depa, ThoughtSpot has attracted a well-known personality in the space. One with rich experience and with the Gainsight role should have a deeper understanding of Customer Success as well.
What will be interesting is what challenges he uncovers, how he determines his priorities and when he starts to move the needle at the company. He takes over from Tuttle, who was successful during his time. Depa will hope to achieve even greater things.
