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Snowflake Chairman Frank Slootman attends the Snowflake Summit 2022 in Las Vegas on June 14, 2022.
Snowflake | Through Reuters
Whereas the announcement prompted consternation on Wall Avenue, Slootman instructed CNBC that he is not anxious a couple of wave of Snowflake staff following him out the door.
“This isn’t a private cult, OK?” Slootman mentioned.
Slootman, 65, is being succeeded by former Google advert chief Sridhar Ramaswamy, who joined Snowflake in June by way of the corporate’s $185 million purchase of Neeva, a startup Ramaswamy co-founded in 2019.
Snowflake was the third enterprise expertise firm that Slootman shepherded by means of the IPO course of, following Knowledge Area in 2007 and ServiceNow in 2012. Snowflake marked his greatest monetary windfall. He managed roughly 6% of the corporate’s inventory on the time of the IPO, and owned 10.6 million shares as of Feb. 9, a stake that is at present value about $2 billion.
Moreover, Slootman’s complete compensation in 2023 amounted to $23.7 million, virtually fully from inventory and possibility awards.
Earlier than becoming a member of Snowflake, Slootman spent about six years as CEO of ServiceNow. He instructed CNBC that ServiceNow has continued to flourish since his departure. Annualized income has grown from $1.5 billion to virtually $10 billion.
“Some individuals are nonetheless there that I employed — fairly a couple of of them, really,” Slootman mentioned. “There’s additionally new ones, clearly.”
ServiceNow’s workforce stood at 23,668 by the top of 2023, in contrast with 603 in December 2011, months after Slootman had joined, based on regulatory filings.
“We put ServiceNow on the rails. We have performed that with Snowflake as nicely,” mentioned Slootman, who’s sticking round as chairman.
Taking three firms by means of huge and profitable exits is a uncommon feat in expertise, and has gained Slootman loads of acclaim. However he is additionally attracted consideration for moving into controversy on points just like the tech trade’s concentrate on variety. In 2021, as company America was wading by means of the fallout of the George Floyd homicide, Slootman famous that variety should not trump advantage. He later apologized.
In his 2022 guide “Amp It Up,” Slootman supplied recommendation leaders on find out how to increase requirements inside firms, citing Steve Jobs’ insistence on greatness at Apple. “Do not let malaise set in,” he wrote.
Based in 2012, Snowflake constructed a cloud-based information warehouse for storing and analyzing company data. Now the corporate desires to assist purchasers construct synthetic intelligence fashions and purposes on prime of the information.
Ramaswamy mentioned Snowflake has a transparent imaginative and prescient, with the information cloud on the heart and apps round it.
“Simply delivering on that at scale with velocity is what I will do,” he mentioned.
The problem can be to take care of the corporate’s momentum.
Snowflake generates about $3 billion in annualized income, rising at about 32% a 12 months, in contrast with underneath $200 million earlier than Slootman changed former Microsoft government Bob Muglia as CEO in 2019. Because it tries to proceed its speedy growth, Snowflake faces competitors from Databricks, valued at $43 billion final 12 months in an funding spherical that included Capital One, which beforehand backed Snowflake.
After Snowflake purchased Neeva, Slootman mentioned he made an effort to get to know Ramaswamy. The corporate put Ramaswamy in probably the most crucial position on the time, main its AI efforts. Slootman had a realization.
“Holy s—, that is the chance we have been ready for,” he mentioned.
Ramaswamy mentioned he is been spending quite a lot of time with Slootman. They’ve traveled collectively to London and Berlin, together with home journeys to Arizona and Las Vegas. Ramaswamy mentioned he is held conversations with over 100 purchasers, together with many with Slootman.
Now that he is on the helm, Ramaswamy has to cope with the naysayers.
“It’s little question regarding to see Mr. Slootman, who has a powerful observe document and is nicely regarded by buyers, step down after 5 years within the position,” Deutsche Financial institution analysts wrote in a word on Thursday, although they maintained their purchase suggestion on the inventory.
However no person has extra at stake in Ramaswamy’s success than Slootman, who stays one of many firm’s greatest buyers.
“Snowflake is in a particularly good place, having Sridhar on the helm,” he mentioned.
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