strongDM has a new CEO.

A note from Liz.

“Friends – today I'm stepping down as the CEO of StrongDM. After 7 years of leading, it's time for me to move on.

When I reached out to Tim earlier this year to join us as SVP Sales, he didn't know what was up my sleeve. Over the past four months, he has proven that he's an outstanding leader and executive. Most importantly, he proved to me that he was an outstanding fit for StrongDM. This company – its customers, its employees, its investors – continue to deserve the very best. 

I hired Tim selfishly hoping he'd end up agreeing to scale this company to the next level, and today, he takes over as CEO.

I feel much emotion right now, the most palpable of which is gratitude. I’m thankful to have worked next to such talented, tireless folks, a million billion times over. This team truly is tops.

As for me, what’s next? The life of a founder, especially as CEO, requires singular focus, sometimes to a fault. I’ll be taking the proverbial time – to reflect, to rest, to just be – and will be excited to see where the relationships I’ve formed will be applied next 😊

Thanks to all again. It’s been an outstanding ride.”

Liz Zalman, StrongDM's Co-Founder & OG CEO

Hello world. I’m Tim, StrongDM’s CEO.

To the StrongDM Community,

Today I write to you as StrongDM’s new Chief Executive Officer. My comically-sized sneakers suddenly feel small for the first time ever, as I step into the shoes left by my predecessor. I want to take this moment to appreciate the trust and confidence shown to me by Liz, Justin, and Schuyler. I hold great respect for what they've built, and I'm boiling over with excitement about the journey we have in front of us as a company.

By every metric, this is a company on a trajectory of success. 

We have built a product that solves a massive problem for hundreds of customers and thousands of people. Over the past seven years, this team has put in the hard work of building a substantive and elegant experience that our customers love, and we’ve changed the way they work for the better.

We have brought together people with different skill sets, experiences, cultures, and backgrounds to compose an amazing team. This diverse group has shown that collaborating remotely with respect for one another is possible... even amidst crazy startup life, a pandemic, and crazy growth.

To be handed the reins at this company is an incredible opportunity. I welcome it and our bright future with open arms. I’m ready to further empower this world-class team to execute and build upon this story, using the full potential of the incredible talent they possess. 

I say this to the market, and anyone tempted to join us at the starting line: This is only the beginning — buckle up and prepare for us to explode out of the gate.

We sit at the crux of a massive problem

We’re solving a problem that every organization has through digitization efforts:

• The adoption of cloud and microservices has created thousands (if not tens of thousands) of ephemeral assets. 
• DevOps necessitates that more people need access to do their jobs. 
• Evolving business, compliance and regulatory needs have complicated how access is granted and infrastructure is secured. 
• The velocity of change is at an all-time high in every business, and the need to keep up with this change is now table stakes.

Managing multiple access protocols, complicated workflows, VPNs, checking and revoking permissions seemed easy enough as organizations started on their cloud journey. It quickly became a huge pain and completely unmanageable. It's not fun for developers. It's not fun for security teams. It's not fun for compliance teams. 

The good news is that we at StrongDM think it is fun solving this huge problem.

It’s our time to execute 

Our vision is simple: you have the access you need, when you need it.

Our mission is clear: help the people who power today’s technology companies realize their full potential. 

And as we define the future of access, our values will guide us: transparency, integrity, and most all — we put people first.Transparency means we will tell you not only the answers to your questions, but why those answers are critical to contemplate in your course of business. Integrity defines the way we respect and value our customers and their time, and means we won't engage in the practices of ambiguity that startups use to avoid difficult conversations. People—the one true differentiator that makes us the best company to work for AND work with—will always be our first priority.

We’ve built a strong brand with our customers that is true to who we are and what we do. Our relationships with our customers are some of the strongest I’ve seen. And we believe there’s much opportunity for us to increase our impact. We're relentlessly changing the way people work with infrastructure, and we are solving complex problems that impact every business from the nascent startup to the Fortune 50.

Now it’s time to execute across the company in even bigger ways than we have heretofore. It’s time to step on the gas and demonstrate that we can be the leader I know we are. 

And to the StrongDM team: I joined StrongDM because we are solving the gnarliest of problems. I’m taking the leadership role because of you, the people who make it possible. Let’s do this!

Tim