{"id":6057,"date":"2021-05-26T10:11:20","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T09:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/?p=6057"},"modified":"2021-05-26T10:11:40","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T09:11:40","slug":"get-to-know-jason-vandeboom-activecampaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/2021\/05\/26\/get-to-know-jason-vandeboom-activecampaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know: Jason VandeBoom ActiveCampaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the lighter side of things, we ask Jason VandeBoom, Founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign, about what makes him tick.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would you describe as your most memorable achievement?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closing my first customer in 2003 was a super-impactful moment. Back then, I was a solopreneur, selling a piece of software via a free directory listing, with the aim of funding my living expenses at art school. I was amazed that someone was simply willing to pay me for what I created. More recently, the realization that ActiveCampaign has grown to such a size \u2013 we\u2019re 850 employees globally and counting \u2013 that it\u2019s no longer possible for me to know every detail of everything that goes on here is truly exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jason VandeBoom, Founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What first made you think of a career in technology?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always liked the idea of building things. As a kid, that meant building things out of wood. Then, as a teenager in the late nineties, I became fascinated by computers and, after pushing my parents into buying one, I spent a lot of time tinkering. For me, part of the attraction of technology is the fact that what you create can have an extraordinary impact on multiple people or businesses; it\u2019s unique in that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to keep growing and that means surrounding myself with smart people who have complementary skills and who\u2019ll push me to do more and do better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As ActiveCampaign has gone from a start-up to a sizeable company, I\u2019ve strived to provide my leadership team with autonomy but, given the chance, I\u2019m like water \u2013 I\u2019ll get into all the little niches and nitty gritty. Staying close to the details \u2013 and our customers \u2013 is really important to me. Creating a buffer between yourself and the frontline can feel comfortable but it can also result in your not understanding your customers\u2019 pain points, and the opportunities you have to help solve their problems. That\u2019s how businesses go off track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you think is the current hot technology talking point?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital Transformation, without a doubt. It\u2019s been talked about for years by big business but last year forced millions of businesses of all sizes to think about what it meant too, and to do something about it. Many are just scratching the surface of what\u2019s possible and those that don\u2019t go down this path may struggle to maintain mind and market share with customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s evolving. I have two young kids and I try to make sure they come before anything at ActiveCampaign. Spending time with them gives me so much joy. Skiing is my favorite hobby and the rest of the family enjoys it too. I also love what I do and have enormous fun at work, so that helps as we navigate the continual ups and downs of a fast-growing business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you could go back and change one career decision, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of people would say what if the potential of SaaS and customer experience had been recognized back in 2005. Where would ActiveCampaign be if we\u2019d scaled quickly in the first few years? But I\u2019m grateful for the first decade where we were a small team focused on really understanding our customers\u2019 needs and how to solve them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We laid the foundation for ActiveCampaign, and that\u2019s why we\u2019ve been so successful as we\u2019ve scaled within the last five years. Being an entrepreneur of some sort was always my game plan but not because I saw it as a means of making a lot of money, or owning a successful company. It was more about my wanting to create things and to pick what it was that I\u2019d create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personalization is a big one. The technology exists but we\u2019re now seeing more focus on democratisation. That means making it easier for small businesses to get value from it, without having to spend big bucks that they might not have, and ensuring the personality and human touch of their enterprise isn\u2019t lost in the process. Bridging the gap between in-person and digital experiences has also become a hot issue, in the wake of last year\u2019s race to embrace all things e-commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the region specific challenges when implementing new technologies in APAC?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not enough for a new market entrant to offer a tool for small and medium sized enterprises. You need to be providing \u2018recipes\u2019 and a game plan of how to get started. Without those things, you can have the best technology in the world but you\u2019re unlikely to get much traction in a diverse market like APAC. And having a genuine local presence is so important. That\u2019s why we set up our regional headquarters in Sydney and hired people who had expertise in marketing, customer support and education, and a deep knowledge of the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ActiveCampaign is one of those overnight success stories that has been almost two decades in the making. Most of our growth has come in the past few years and that\u2019s necessitated me handing off a lot of operational responsibility to my leadership team and taking more of a big picture view. Being grounded for a lot of last year made it a bit tougher to stay across our international operations but, as economies and societies continue to open up this year, I\u2019m looking forward to getting back among it. Spending time with our people and talking to customers about the challenges and opportunities they\u2019re facing post-COVID and how we can help them will be my priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What advice would you offer to someone aspiring to obtain a C-level position in your industry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My advice is not to obsess over title. Instead, focus on what you find interesting and pursue that aggressively. Success from title, compensation, influence will all come. Don\u2019t narrow yourself down too soon \u2013 seek out a variety of experiences because that\u2019s actually helpful in any type of leadership role. It might lead to a non-traditional career path but it can also make for a more interesting and joyful journey to the top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the lighter side of things, we ask Jason VandeBoom, Founder and CEO of ActiveCampaign, about what makes him tick. What would you describe as your most memorable achievement? Closing my first customer in 2003 was a super-impactful moment. Back then, I was a solopreneur, selling a piece of software via a free directory listing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":6058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,40,44],"tags":[1968,155,1969],"class_list":["post-6057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-get-to-know","category-software","category-top-stories","tag-activecampaign","tag-get-to-know","tag-jason-vandeboom"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6062,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6057\/revisions\/6062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/apac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}