welcome to Glide chat where we give you the rundown of all things service now let's talk about the now right [Music] now all right welcome to another episode of Glide chat my name is Mike Lombardo sitting here with Jared pippy the COO of Glide fast what's up pip I'm doing good it's Friday doing good it's Friday it's Friday so GL has been around 9 years yeah 205 yeah 2015 wow n imagine when we hit 10 what do we do at 10 but you've been here like basically since the beginning y you stupid enough to join us to quit your cushy job you had a great job at State Street right yep and want want go into the story go into the story all right so Mike approached me uh got to be eight years now right so it was uh September 2016 uh his first opportunity was not service now it was a Salesforce project so I got a phone call saying hey it wasn't our first slow down it wasn't our first but it was a big one it was a big one it was a first direct I think yeah I think so right that's that's the irony like where're I don't know anything about Salesforce and the first Direct Customer because I knew them from you know doing service network like was was Salesforce and I'm like I don't know Salesforce and the CIO is like figure it out yeah I trust you typical Mike fashion just says yes to it so I got a phone call we took a trip down to New York yeah crushed the introductions and they were ready to hire us on the spot on the ride home you was approached you're not going to quit your job and here we are eight years later well I remember I remember it a little different I remember saying like I was like just come to New York with me and like just meet this customer and like if it seems legit like just see how you feel then like just take a PTO day you know no harm no F and you know and then um I was like I remember being like all right pip if this doesn't work out I can pay you for like I can pay you for the two months of this project or whatever or or like you know an extra month for you to just find a job and you were like all right and then uh I remember like you told your mother like your mother was like or your father was like dude what are you doing you have this great job you have a career and you said do you remember what you said I don't know exactly no you said I'll tell you exactly what you said said you said tell me one story where somebody made it big by not taking a a risk and that's big yeah mean it all worked out I mean in hindsight it all worked out but it could have been a could have been a huge ter terrible decision could a huge mistake it was a terrible decision but it worked out yep and then we did Salesforce for a little while I think I maybe did two or three projects not not many you commute into freaking lot people don't know yeah six month like you were commuting to New Hampshire you put that's that's that's why I think Glide fast that's one of the main reasons why Glide fast successful is cuz like we always did and we still do whatever we have to do yeah no one's above it's not like you were like I'm too go you Mike you didn't you didn't say I had to commute somewhere we had a project where it was like you had to commute yeah and you were down for like the the bigger picture and the beginning of the company was a lot of hard work but it was rewarding here we are today so you're still working hard yeah still worth it worth it yeah no it's awesome for those who don't know we grew up together in ever home of the casino ever Casino that's we used to play soccer on that site where do you live now live north of the 15 minutes from you now okay yeah we live 15 minutes apart you know but uh we got employees everywhere yeah I know how how how does that feel it's crazy the fact we have employees in 40 States Canada Mexico the UK and India just and you know what's crazy about you too is like all right so you started off doing sales for us obviously like we we didn't you know we thought maybe hey we'll see if this takes off it didn't it was hot technology it it was and we were like all right maybe we'll do Salesforce and service now but it you know we stuck to sers now but Lightning Fast lightning yeah lightning fast we were going to have this initiative to upgrade all these Salesforce to lightning but um you know what was like unique to you that I really don't see with a lot of other people too is like when that Salesforce work kind of like stopped MH you didn't just like sit on your hands or like you know okay maybe I got to go somewhere else you just started looking for stuff to do and you just did like okay Mike's not you know organizing a CRM let me do that you know I was committed to making it work I mean I didn't want to go back to station and I thought we had a good thing going I wanted to ride it out and luckily you know it came to fruition but you know it could it could have fallen flat in our face too I know what was that your mindset like when you were like all right we don't have Salesforce because I didn't say hey you're the COO no no not at all but like what made you just do it like do stuff I just I saw I saw the where the company could go like I saw the you know I wasn't familiar with service now you were very passionate about it Floyd the other you know first founding employees they're all passionate about it so if I wasn't going to be able to contribute on that front what could I do to contribute to bringing the company to the next level so remember we used to fight all the time all the time yeah like bad yeah like more than me and Dan me and Dan still fight but like we were we would fight realit what how did that change I just think over time it just we just had to have that Kumbaya moment where you know there's give and take right so we're building a company you never ran a company before I never ran a company before a lot of Googling you know so it's like a lot of Googl we had a you know figure out what was the right path for the company of course there's disagreements you can't just have all Yes Men around you of course you know and I think I think I kind of convinced you on some stuff too of course yeah yeah cuz like obviously we're right in some things yeah no I know I know but I remember like one time you said to me you're like dude you actually are pretty good at sales and I was like yeah I told you you're the best sales person I've ever seen no that's fact I'm going to break my heart no you know why though I think it well not that I think that's true necessarily Kevin I think is better but Kevin's great but but I think because I wasn't a sales guy yeah true by you know trade or whatever yeah because I was a service now consultant I knew the platform I was pretty you know I could also have a bear with you yeah it's a people person it's you know what I mean so I think that made me and I was like honest yeah that's how we build trust right give a shot and then we deliver love it though I love closing a deal I love like winning just think of all the projects we started with it was like just give us a shot and then it just was like one person then that turns into 10 people and then you know not to talk about our largest customer but that started with one individual really delivering and now we got 200 plus and just the team that we were able to bring in with us yeah and you're such a big part of that like two reasons why worked out I think one around the resourcing you were always really good at Fantasy Football yeah I still think way it's a weird way to think of it that's architect a bpc just sliding people with these skill sets so it's not just any architect it's like they got to have CSM they got to have it's like the at attributes of a of a football player and you always good at Fantasy like all right maybe he could do that and then um you're so likable yeah like growing up and like through high school and college like everyone you were like the guy everyone always wanted to like be friends with and you never had like beef with anybody except for that one guy we both had beef with yeah no I appreciate that I mean it's clear clearly yeah it worked out what's your favorite thing about Glide fast ah my favorite thing about Glide fast I think that I mean obviously it's cheesy but to say you know the family aspect but like the fun we have it's like yeah you know we throw the best parties in Vegas and I know it's just always a good time to hang out with but we take care of business we take care of business first like that's the thing like how I don't know how we these best in the industry people who can go work anywhere they want they just gravitated towards us yeah and it's like certain people that even like I we couldn't get to join like right away like three years later two years later you know finally come how many people have left and came back it's got to be up over 50 at this point I think it's over 50 it's over 50 over nine years that's that's huge we work really hard we have a lot of fun we don't want to Ju Just work hard but we just can't have fun either like it's a it's a perfect balance and we're tapped into the ecosystem we know what we're doing well what other competitors are doing well and we try to adjust you we know them better than they know themselves that that that's that's that's scary every time the private Equity Firm would send over like a a company perspectus you know because we would look at companies to acquire and stuff they would send they would like not have the name of of the partner but all the information I was literally like nine for nine ask Patrick I was like 9 for nine guessing the companies like it was crazy he's like how do you do this now look at some of those companies they're no longer and G that that's like it's almost a little scary yeah that's why I think service now is trying to get into a little bit more of the services because they just can't rely on Partners I mean the the leaders that were here three four or five years ago are not here anymore you know and then you got the big guys and it's like it's good for us it's great it's great for us because we're the most consistent partner we were built organically Apex has been an amazing parent company for us like shout out Apex I me we're freaking lucky the amount of leads we're getting from them and just their sales function you know growing our sales team by 600 people and not and not messing up our culture right and kudos to us cuz we were like yeah this is the biggest risk if you guys do any of these things you're G to mess up our culture and we're done right right and they stuck with us yeah they they kept their word which is great and so as long as we keep delivering as long as we deliver as long as we deliver I don't think that's going to change yeah you got your first kid I had my first kid yes that she's two now she's two actually two crazy I I don't know how you did this building the company with two two kids every week on the road New York even sometimes for no reason just to go to New York I know I know um yeah it's and um I miss it now because I'm kind of sidelined and it like and I was just doing it even up until until you know I got I got hit with the the news but I was literally traveling and it was like too much it was like three days a week it it was just but I'm so hungry still and I want to be out there like I'm missing knowledge this year that's my first I mean the goal is a billion dollars I know we talk about it but it's true I mean I know I know and I think that's like even a fictitious goal though it is it is because once we hit a billion it's going to be two or something once we hit 200 I'm happy you know I know 200 good let's just get through this year it's like you got to take one step at a time but totally and that's why like I like the billion number CU it's like out there we got to you know and we're slowly expanding globally right so UK still on top for us India India is growing like wildfire yeah and uh but and you know another thing um and I think there's some books that I've seen titles you know you know how I buy books but I don't read them you know I mean just I like the title yeah have a nice bookshelf but I think there's like like what we infinite game I think is one the thing but like we never like put a ceiling on us we never were like hey once we hit a billion once we hit 50 million once we hit 10 million we're you know that's the number like it it was just it was just keep keep going I remember we used to sit like you know we get an email like a d close be for like you know $5,000 high five I remember getting these checks like like I mean we didn't know we didn't know what untapped untapped like we can but that's like I think that's great advice for somebody like like don't put these artificial boundaries because you never know true we didn't set out to to to sell the company for whatever you know like we didn't like hey you know let's get rich no we're just having fun luck we had some great people in finance to help us along the way yeah Anthony dude oh man imagine without him cuz that that was like that's another good advice make sure you bring in other people who are experts trust but also experts and areas you're not like that's why like Jess my wife was like great because she was an accountant and I I don't want to send invoices I don't want to do payroll I don't know I don't really like I don't have time to do that I'm I even know how to do it yeah I don't know how to do it I don't I'm selling I'm I'm trying to bring in Talent so to have her handle that in the beginning and then ultimately Anthony yeah and having that box fully checked and not have to worry about that to check in on it or you just knew you knew what was happening the numbers were always right the invoices were always going out and we were getting paid I mean we need a dollar on the table ever and that's shout out to our to the people doing great work delivery yeah yeah I mean that's that they make our lives easier they do and I think you would I almost alluded to this before but we built the company based on the talent a lot of companies right you hire a bunch of salespeople yeah cast a big line try to catch something that's why we we went the opposite yeah we spent a lot of money on great delivery and then return brought sales it was everything I mean we and and shout out to Lloyd and and Lloyd because we both were like just reinvesting yeah you know he had he had the same vision if we did at least in the beginning to just you know keep growing it he wasn't like hey let's stuff our pockets now it's like no let's keep hiring let's keep bringing in the right people he he was a grinder when I remember first time I met him he had three cell phones at his was on like three calls like nice to meet you I'm L he got blacklisted he got I remember Sarah NPS call me like how many projects this guy on I'm like oh don't know he's working I know that but uh no it's funny a lot of a lot a lot of laughs a lot of fun over the years and it's just like I don't like people like oh don't you want to do this again like you know wouldn't you want to like so when are you start opportunity at some point you got to step back like it doesn't happen right you just don't start a company and all of a sudden you're successful no never the odds of that we well I just saw the video from Elon Musk that saying like 98 99% of companies completely fail and so not only did we succeed but then it's like we hit this crazy like 350 million like the valuation and we're still growing 20% year-over-year at our size like crazy 600 employees and the profitability too like it's hard to grow at our size and be profitable yeah and I've seen the numbers of the other partners they don't have that yeah so it's like I don't know it's crazy it's CRA and that that's what gets me excited of course and that's what keeps me engaged and then there's just like all the positivity that's out there the brand is topnotch I mean it's so welln we got a freaking book what our customers praising us because there's just so many of them I just like what are we G we need a V2 already yeah have you seen the latest surveys I I I I saw q1 that was not one under five yeah it was not one under five great q1 and these brands are like big companies that we grew up loving yeah what else what's what's the future for you future for me I don't know you were acting CEO for a little bit I was I got I got to clear that up that you're not yeah I don't think anyone calls me to CE but it was short Liv I had access to your emails for like three days it's like you're gonna the amount of emails I don't know how how do you okay that's let's get into that a little bit I feel like we're a lot similar where like when emails come in we deal with it right away slacks come in otherwise it builds up it just builds up and I I don't I don't know about you but for me I'm a procrastinator so I know I'll never get back to it so like but it does create this like 247 work which is not healthy either maybe it's not it's not I get yelled at all the time for being on my phone or answering emails but I mean I know what it we need to do to be successful so I know I take it out of the equation but I don't want you to burn out either it's fine it's fine that's what same on me I don't know I just do I just do it and the emails I I know the answers to the emails I know the it's not like I have to go research so it's like let me just let me just no more Googl I've been here for eight years you know not many questions I can't I know but you really do you handle everything not only like the emails and the slacks but like and and it's solving problems yeah right it's like that Elon video it's like you you just have to solve problems every single day yeah you know how many problems have you dealt with this morning already oh I mean you can't even count them it's just you can't even count it's just but it's second nature at this point you know that's that's the key and I think a lot of people just you know everyone has their strengths and weaknesses I think there's some people out there that just cannot handle the volume of decision me wrong I get stressed but I mean stress I know there was a couple times I really really worried about you in the last couple months you got to do it there's no one else to do it that that's what I learned when we started there's no one behind you to do it so if I decide not to answer this email then this email goes unanswered right so it's that's I think my behavior has been that same way I know it was like when we started there's four of us like if you're not answering the email and I'm not answering the email no one answering the email so and then part of me is like worries that like you know people rely on people too much too like oh pippy will just do it Mike will just do it but we've really kind of like navigated those Waters well like we got some people if you're not showing value you're not going to be here very long either right so you kind of weed yourself about if you get too complacent or too comfortable and we notice that look at us I mean that's the thing like we set the example it's like we're not freaking partying every day you know what I mean it's like like the next day and if you're not it's like that's no excuse you know there the door but but um yeah I think it's it's pretty amazing how the amount of decisions and problems yourself I I I attribute a lot of my problem solving skills to being on the help desk for five years because I was every phone call was like another problem you knew once that phone was ringing you knew and you had to find whether it was Google the knowledge base you know you had to find an answer and it was just like and not every answer is going to be right but you got more than wrong that's okay any decision is better than indecision true if it doesn't go right it's the fear of failure you know like and again I think failure is good you know because it if you're not failing you're not moving forward yeah so you can't be afraid of it and and having the right partner not to be salesy but having the right partner by your side with the right expertise right on a service now implementation is crucial I mean that's yeah you know if you got the wrong partner you really really that's why we have so many repeat customers right it's like once once we're in there we we prove ourselves and I think we've done the great job over the last eight years to prove that crazy I think uh over 500 customers right way more than that at this point really oh yeah yeah it's just they're big they're big customers I know they're like big Brands really impressive like someone someone said to I can't say the I won't say the name of the customer but to I was talking to Tori she's like can you believe we're selling we're selling to XYZ company which is like a fortune 5 whatever it's like I know it's kind of crazy was it you and Kevin when you guys went to Road Island for one of our customers right and they would like RH Island yeah right yeah Rhode Island yeah Rhode Island Jersey Jersey sorry Jersey Jersey and they were like how did you even get this meeting you knew a friend of a friend whose cousin was in procurement dude that's why he is he's the goat so shout out Kevin yeah shout out Kevin I love him he T he taught me like the sales he like refined like but yeah like we this big big pharmaceutical company Kevin had just basically joined the last couple months and you know we really didn't have a ton of business I remember him saying like man I thought you guys were a lot bigger when I joined he's like you kind of got me uh you got me we've been advertising 100 employees when there was like four yeah so we go into the this meeting at the pharmaceutical company and I get this guy is a scary guy like he's a very very firm very like no BS I've heard stories he kicked I knew another partner was in there kicked them right out mid project so he's like a no joke guy and so we get in there get into the room he comes and sits down he goes first of all how the F did you get this meeting and we're like like and uh Kevin's like whoa I had this procure he's like he's like I don't even meet with anybody if you can't get on boarded you know he's like you know so uh and then I did a presentation it was like it was my biggest presentation up to that point you know as far as like scale of importance and it went really well and he's just like and still a and and now we're doing yeah a lot a lot there but there's so many of that we we grow how do we grow so close with our customers like we're passionate I mean it shows from the sales front and the delivery front like we really care about what we're doing yeah and most people don't they don't I mean sales people sales they get the reputation cuz they're sales people right I mean but our sales people I truly think care about the wellbeing of our customers and success of their projects and I know the delivery does and the delivery that's I mean that's like like we get mad when we see like bad practices like you know what I mean and we hold ourselves accountable the other delivery people are holding their Architects accountable their TC's accountable they just care about that check coming in yeah not often but there sometimes like you know a a solution is presented to a customer like a service now product that's the wrong product and like I pride ourselves on our ability to be like you know dance around at the right way of like this is not the right solution but uh all right so next five years what do you think next five years I think I mean next five years I mean I'd love to see us double right I mean I'd love to see us over a thousand employees I'd love to you know have to it bigger expansion into potentially some other countries right I I globally is untapped for us I'll tell you at SK those Germans Germans were head loocking me Brazil Brazil sounds like bra I got a couplea obviously Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia is popping big conversation for us internally gez you think they're going to build that line thing do you see that no oh the the the line yeah it's like Office Buildings right it's like a million like so so many miles long yeah yeah yeah but it's like I guess it's called a line I don't know they got that money do you see is it true that they're I know you're a conspiracy theory guy they have you seen them the the deserts are like growing green like no well is it from all the I just cloud seating the cloud SE yeah because I saw I saw Dubai had like that crazy was your tin foil hat I know I need a tin foil hat but no but I like I saw I don't know if these videos are real but they're like showing like vegetation in the desert what used to be in the desert of like I have something later tonight yeah we keep getting messages to like go to Saudi Arabia yeah I mean expand I don't know it's a far drive I know nothing about that's a far drive that's a yeah yeah I know nothing about no CL why and planes aren't safe yeah yeah they're all falling apart did there was another uh rule that just passed uh I think today the FCC said if you're delayed they lose your luggage or it's canceled they pay you in cash right you have to get paid cash no remote points nothing crazy no non- competes anymore no non competes which I think just that that helps us because the only time we have non-compete situations is with other companies right right who sue their people I don't know I could never imagine suing a developer right just like if you're not happy hair okay like sorry sorry you know good luck wherever you're going you're not happy I want people to work here because they want to work want work here yeah feel the same way they can already go wherever the freak they want you know not here to ruin their life no pip thanks for everything you do and appreciate it and you don't like thank yous that's he hates thank you i' rather just s in the back room yeah that's fine thank Mike thank thank Mike you go on camera and be on TV shows that's all be here getting everything done I'll create the deck for you you present it there you go but thanks for everything and uh thank you for joining us on glide chat and make sure you guys give a shout out to pip add him on LinkedIn he's the he's the man do you have a topic in mind that you'd like to discuss reach out to us at Glide fast.com And subscribe to our podcast for new episodes thanks for listening