20 Things You Didn’t Know About WorkBoard
WorkBoard is an enterprise Software as a Service company that provides a results platform aimed at leaders and teams for making important decisions for enhancing growth and driving results. This is a unique company that works behind the scenes of many of the giants in industries across multiple sectors. It has grown substantially since its inception. To help you become more familiar with this interesting giant building enterprise, here are 20 things you didn’t know about WorkBoard.
1. WorkBoard is a results-driven SaaS enterprise
WorkBoard provides services that help leaders and teams achieve big goals for their respective companies. It is a Software-as-a-Service startup that guides in clarifying, aligning, and measuring results to drive companies in a positive direction for achieving set goals with rapid speed, according to Wikipedia.
2. WorkBoard empowers large enterprises
WorkBoard is one of the players that are at work behind the scenes of some of the largest and most successful companies in the world. Some of the clients of the firm include Zuorra, Zendesk, Samsung, Microsoft, Cisco, Comcast, Cision, Juniper, and many others. If you’ve ever wondered how these giants in their respective industries have grown so astronomically large, WorkBoard is one of the factors that has helped them achieve rapid growth and the achievement of a variety of company goals.
3. WorkBoard is a pioneer in OKR Coaching
It’s time to get to the heart of how WorkBoard helps enterprises achieve big success. WorkBoard has created a proven playbook that outlines its OKR methodology. It is geared towards helping companies collapse time to success by using the methods to build sustaining organizational competencies.
4. WorkBoard employs 2.500 coaches
WorkBoard is far more than a playbook that tells clients how to become successful in driving towards goals. In addition to supplying a playbook for key staff, it also supplies them with physical coaches. Each of the 2,500 coaches that work for WorkBoard is certified through the agency in their ability to fully explain the methodology of the playbook and to guide and coach clients through the processes. Sometimes it is difficult for people to see the total picture when they’re in the middle of a stressful situation. The outside perspective can help key staff members to gain new insights on how to drive their companies forward in reducing the amount of time it takes to achieve essential goals.
5. WorkBoard was founded in 2013
WorkBoard is a startup that hasn’t even been in existence for a full decade. It was established in 2013 by its two co-founders Deidre Pakad and Daryoush Paknad. The company is based in Redwood City, California. Deidre brings with her years of experience in launching successful and rapidly growing startups. She also served as an executive at IBM. During her tenure there, the company achieved year-over-year growth of 50 percent to become one of the largest matrixed organizations in the world.
6. Deidre Paknad also founded PSS Systems
Before she founded WorkBoard, Deidre Paknad launched a company called PSS Systems, which achieved a high level of success. She knows how to help companies grow quickly. She has established a proven track record of success. IBM acquired PSS Systems in 2010, and she then ran the global business serving as an executive at IBM until she was ready to launch her latest venture, WorkBord in 2013.
7. WorkBoard is about understanding the tension between scale and speed
Companies that try to grow too fast or grow too slow are the ones that are least likely to succeed. Deidre Paknad has a keen knowledge of how to balance scale land speed to achieve the best possible results. She bases the WorkBoard platform on this unique talent and knowledge. She has also built the playbook around communicating the mission of the enterprise to mobilize teams more effectively. These are just a few of the principles that are taught through WorkBoard’s SaaS.
8. WorkBoard is lead by an 11 member executive team
According to Crunchbase, WorkBoard has an 11 member team of executives leading the enterprise forward. They’ve established a solid track record of success. The team is comprised of its co-founder and CEO, Deidre Paknad, a co-founder and chief technology officer Daryoush Paknad, Senhal Shah the senior software engineer, and Joelle Kaufman, its chief marketing officer, and general manager. Other members of the leadership team include Megan Kolkman, vice president of customer success, Karim Damji, the chief financial officer, Charlie Hazlehurst, the head of growth, and David Ginsburg, the chief customer officer.
9. The Board of WorkBoard is larger than the executive team
There are 13 members and advisors on the board of WorkBoard. This is more than there are leading the company. There is no lack of advisement as the company continues to progress and move forward. Deidre Paknad has served on the board since WorkBoard’s inception in 2013. She is joined by Gill Cogan, Founder and General Partner of Opus Capital. He currently sits on 15 assorted boards and advisory seats and is a founder of 1 other organization. He serves as a board observer. Cathy Benko is a board member who serves on 2 boards. Arjun Chopra is a venture partner at Floodgate and serves on 3 boards. Priya Saiprasad is a venture capitalist with the Mayfield fund who serves on 6 boards. Jeff Richards is a managing partner at GGV Capital and serves on 19 boards with 1 company he co-founded. Margaret Georgiadis is a board member and investor who serves on 3 boards.
10. WorkBoard is backed by venture capital funding
WorkBoard has just completed its 6th round of venture capital funding on May 4, 2021. The Series D round raised a total of $75 million. It was led by the SoftBank Vision Fund and joined by seven other investors. The total amount of venture capital funding raised for WorkBoard is $141.6 million.
11. WorkBoard has 7 lead investors
There is no lack of confidence in WorkBoard by its investors. It’s not been difficult for Deidre Paknad to make successful pitches to big investors. She has a long history of making companies extremely wealthy and successful and she is more than capable of doing the same for this startup. In addition to the SoftBank Vision Fund, other investors include M12, GGV Capital, Capital One Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, SVB Capital, Intel Capital, and Workday Ventures. There are seven lead investors and eight other investors which makes a total of 15 investors.
12. WorkBoard is powered by 40 technology products
The WorkBoard platform requires the use of 38 active different technologies to power its website, including Amazon and Libsyn. The enterprise uses a total of 40 technology products and services. jQuery, Google Analytics, and HTML5 are just a few of them. While the technology that is required to power the website is complex, WorkBoard delivers services to the end-users that are easy to use and seamless. The complicated technology is at work behind the scenes but the people who use them are not aware of how expensive and complex the behind-the-scenes operations can be. Not to mention that this kind of technology is expensive and generates high overhead operational costs for WorkBoard.
13. WorkBoard is experiencing positive visitor growth
The monthly visit growth for WorkBoard was last assessed at the rate of 0.71 percent. The average number of unique visitors is 52,789 per month. The website gets most of its visitors from the United States with 86 percent of visitors from this country. The monthly rank growth is at 2.68 percent. Visitors from Taiwan represent 4 percent of the traffic while Canadians and India are at 2 percent with the United Kingdom making up 1 percent.
14. Downloads for WorkBoard are impressive
Statistics for WorkBoard show that during the last 30 days there have been 65 monthly app downloads. This represents a monthly download growth of 490.91 percent. WorkBoard offers a variety of different apps through its website. These include WorkBoard for iPhone, Zenry, and Achieve goals.
15. WorkBoard is currently hiring
According to LinkedIn, WorkBoard has more than a hundred new jobs open. We were browsing through the listings and discovered 176 jobs posted as being open. Several of them are available in the Portland, Oregon area which suggests that the operations in the Pacific Northwest are ramping up for expansion and new growth. There are also openings in Redwood City, California, Austin, Texas, Salt Lake City, Utah, San Diego, California, Seattle, Washington, Denver, Colorado, New York, New York, Boston Massachusetts, and many other locations. LinkedIn shows that before new hires, the company employs 215 members in its workforce. This is up from the previous count of 140 just a few years ago. There are almost as many new jobs posted for WorkBoard as the current number of staff which suggests that they’re going to nearly double in the workforce size.
16. WorkBoard trains the new employee in phases
WorkBoard is transparent in advertising its training schedule for new employees so there are no surprises. In the first month, new hires are expected to have gained an outlined skillset. Within 3 months, the expectations of learning increase. There are yet more expectations by the sixth month there are a few more expectations added. It’s a fair system that spells everything out for people who are considering working at WorkBoard. This is one of the strategies that the enterprise uses for attracting the most appropriate candidates for the positions.
17. WorkBoard is sponsoring a virtual event
WorkBoard is kicking off the spring of 2021 with an event that they call Accelerate Spring 2021. This is a virtual event that features 900 peers from 400 assorted companies. It is a way to help professionals make connections and learn more about the OKR brain trust and its 1000 person strong group of transformation thinkers. The event is about sharing experiences and progress. Guest speakers who will share their insights include those from Iterable, Avalera, Malwarebytes, Zuora, Microsoft, Cisco, EL, and more. The virtual event will feature hands-on learning labs to help attendees build their levels of expertise in WorkBoard. There will also be a demo available for those who are new to WorkBoard’s platform.
18. WorkBoard has high reviews
We were interested in learning more about the experiences of current WorkBoard users. We checked out the Glass Door reviews to learn more. In general, the reviews about the platform were positive. WorkBoard provides excellent service and communication during the implementation phase. The staff is responsive and quick to provide for any necessary coaching or training needs. They do encourage clients to take ownership internally, and there is a fairly consistent push to do so, which makes some leaders feel hesitant and uncomfortable.
19. There are a few downsides
While some reviewers could not think of any recommended improvements to be made to WorkBoard’s platform, there were a few who did have suggestions. Although it’s not a criticism of the application, there are so many different features, the WorkBoard platform does come with a learning curve. It takes time to become familiar with the product to use it effectively. This is where the need for coaches comes in to help out.
20. WorkBoard is a privately held company
You won’t be able to find WorkBoard listed on any of the stock exchanges. While it’s a good company to invest in, there has not been any announcement of plans to file for an IPO, at least, not yet. So far, it’s still a privately owned company that is well-backed by a host of venture capital investors so there is no need to file for an initial public offering for fundraising. The strategy does not work well for all companies and in this case, WorkBoard is moving ahead at a steady pace. WorkBoard is making progress with full confidence from its 15 current investors.