BY BRAD SCHELLER
Business Journal contributor Brad Scheller recently sat with Austin McChord, CEO of Datto Inc., for a conversation about building and leading his high-growth technology company. Datto, which is headquartered in Norwalk, is among the fastest growing data backup and security firms in the U.S.
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Scheller: You”™re listed as one of Inc 500”™s fastest-growing companies. What are some of the challenges you face with your growth?
McChord: “I think the biggest challenge for us is keeping the culture intact as we grow. We”™re on track to bring on over a hundred people this year and when you”™re hiring as aggressively as we are the biggest thing is ensuring they have the right qualifications and they have the passion that fits our culture here. Are they the high-energy employee that”™s here to get the job done, think about how they can make the company better and how they can service the customer better?”
How do you tackle that?
“Certainly in an interview you have a conversation about personal passions that they pursue in their free time. For example, if we”™re hiring a programmer, I want to find somebody who”™s so passionate about computer programming that when they”™re not working, they”™re at home writing a program that makes something automatically feed their dog or checks the weather in a certain way or whatever it is ”“ but they”™re tinkering, they”™re playing with it, they love it. Hopefully then I get an idea that I can hire somebody that when they”™re working on challenges here, they have an opportunity to do what they love.”
What surprises you most about running a fast growing company?
“I think it”™s that it doesn’t stop. It”™s always different. You think, ”˜Well, when I”™m bigger, I won”™t have this challenge.”™ That may be true, but the challenge that”™s going to replace it is just as nasty, just as challenging and just as painful. It”™s never on autopilot, especially if you want to continue to stay on top in the technology sector. So it never stops. You eventually just have to grow to love it.”
Talk about some of the most important leadership lessons that you have learned?
“I think so much of leadership comes down to knowing the people that you work with; knowing what drives them, what their passions are, what”™s important to them. And then making sure that you have the right incentives and the right challenges that both excite them and make them feel they”™re being meaningfully rewarded. Work is just one part of everybody”™s lives, but you have to understand, especially with the people you work with directly, how work fits into their lives.”
How did you come to learn some of these leadership lessons?
“By making lots of mistakes. (Laughing) Just try not to make the same mistakes twice. As my parents say, ”˜MBA the hard way.”™”
Do you have certain rules for success that have helped you?
“Yes, being open is really important, especially when it comes to getting everybody on the same page and building enthusiasm. For example, we collect all this business data and share it openly. It”™s very rare that companies share this much information with everyone. Even a guy that just started here has that information at his fingertips. And so, being open helps everyone feel involved. And, when everyone feels like they”™re involved and have a personal stake in it, they”™re going to work their hardest because they don”™t want to deliver something that”™s not good.”
What values do you operate by?
“I think the biggest thing is employee passion ”“ passion for the company, passion for what they”™re working on, the challenge. The data backup business is not something that is immediately seen as very sexy, but when you see the challenges that we face and overcome and you have the opportunity to help people in a disaster like during Hurricane Sandy, it starts to really mean something to the people that work here, and that passion has really helped us enormously because it shows to our customers and that has really helped us drive our success.”
What leadership qualities do you look for in your managers?
“It has to do with gaining respect from their peers and understanding that a big part of being a manager is being humble. As a manager, it”™s so much less your job to tell other people what to do but to get the obstacles out of the way of the people who work for you. That quality makes the best manager.”
Do you prefer to promote from within or hire experienced managers from the outside?
“The overwhelming majority of the managers within our company have been promoted from within our company. When they share our values, they”™ve seen the passion firsthand and they”™re able to really move up, we like that. Plus, just as we want our employees to be passionate for the business, it”™s our job to make sure that we”™re taking care of the employees and providing them with career opportunities, the right compensation and benefits. That”™s really important, because it”™s a two-way street and giving them that opportunity is huge.”
What have you found works best in motivating your people?
“I think social incentives tend to be stronger than economic incentives. I think about it this way: If somebody”™s inviting you over to Thanksgiving dinner and you bring a nice bottle of wine, that”™s considered a good gift. But, if you brought thirty-five bucks, that would be considered offensive. The same is true at work. The right social incentives ”“ whether it”™s buying pizza or free lunch every Friday ”“ provide far more value than if I gave somebody ten dollars every Friday. It helps in building community, building that connection so that they”™re socially involved and that becomes more binding than just pure economic incentives.”
What advice would you give to young folks who are thinking about their careers?
“Be humble. I think a lot of people graduate college who”™ve been told that they”™re great and are going to go on to do big things and change the world.”
How does that become a problem?Â
“I think that getting started out of school, you”™re ready much the same way that driver”™s ed gets you ready to drive on the road. If you drove strictly by the driver rule book, terrible things would happen. And so while college may help prepare you with an enormous amount of technical skills to succeed, learning the ins and outs of how stuff really operates at a particular business, it”™s best to have your ear to the ground before pushing too hard.”
