Reston, Va.-based Clarabridge and its SaaS platform are edging ever closer to an IPO, and the company is shaking up its leadership in preparation for jumping into Wall Street. Board member and Allego CEO Yuchun Lee is taking over the CEO role at Clarabridge from founder Sid Banerjee, who will become executive chairman. Along with founding Allego, Lee is probably most famous for being part of the group from MIT that would count cards playing blackjack in Las Vegas, a story that later inspired the book and movie 21.
"I enjoy being busy," Lee told DC Inno in an interview. "Both organizations are about B2B data and analytics. That's my wheelhouse."
Clarabridge has spent the last couple of years pouring resources into people and products, Lee and Banerjee explained. The company has garnered several impressive awards of late (including DC Inno's 50 on Fire) and taken over a whole other floor of its office building. 2016 however will be about honing the company as it is, preparing it for inspection by stock analysts and readying it to go public.
"We're accentuating the path toward an IPO," Banerjee told DC Inno. "I'll be tag-teaming with Yuchun."
Lee and Banerjee explained that Lee will be in charge of management and operations, while Banerjee will continue to engage with clients and plot out the company's direction. The Boston-based Lee will commute most weeks to Clarabridge's headquarters. He will also travel as needed to the company's other offices in San Francisco, London, Spain, Singapore or, thanks to a recent acquisition that doubled its client list, Belgium.
"I don't think I could run Clarabridge independently," Lee said. "I'm in a very good place in terms of workload and Sid is still the visionary.
Lee and Banerjee said there is no specific timeline as of yet for an IPO, but the signs are all there for it to happen. The company's year-over-year growth and picot toward efficiency are what will make an IPO feasible. And Lee said the company has decided to no longer take in outside investment since closing an $80 million funding round in 2013.
"We've had tremendous growth," Banerjee said. "Everyone sees now how analytics can drive better products and services."
"We're accentuating the path toward an IPO."
"2016 is the year where our margins will grow quite a bit," Lee said. "We're on a growth trajectory, and as we scale we are approaching a point where we have the option for going public once we have all of our ducks in order."
Photo of Yuchun Lee courtesy of Clarabridge.
