I was worried because I didn't come from that kind of pedigree at all. I was really concerned I might not hold up, but they were so respectful and incredibly open. It was something that just really struck me. These guys started a company, a culture, a movement where you didn't have to be a genius; you just had to have something to contribute. The fact is that the founders were humble and smart (in fact, I coined the term “humblesmart” to describe Tableau people). At the same time it meant they really wanted people to bring their “A games.” They wanted to give opportunities to people of all kinds who could contribute.
So even if you were not from some hot company or didn't fit the typical hot startup profile, their attitude was: You can add to this. You could be part of this. We want your opinion. We want your thoughts. We want your contribution.
Alexander: Not so long ago, data analytics, dashboards, and reports were considered boring work done by experts. Many questions could only be solved with heavy SQL knowledge. The visual output of course was not fancy and not interactive. How did you manage to create a culture where working with data was cool and inspiring? Which role did this culture play in shaping Tableau's brand?
Elissa: Using data makes you smarter and makes you more curious. I was an English major in college, so I didn't think of myself as a numbers person at all. Then I realized I really liked data, but I knew nothing. I became a bad Excel user, breaking all these rules, not knowing what I was doing. But with Tableau, it was different. With Tableau, people could start thinking of themselves in a different way.
But to your point, one of the most important things we had to do was get people to give it a shot — to get people to experience it. You have to be convincing that you're worth the time or effort to try. That's hard, especially when you have no brand or no image.
Because we did convince a few people along the way, they could convince more people. So enabling them and getting them to share their experiences rather than us talking was critical. That was the huge thing: people connecting with other people who might join the family, become customers, and be part of the community.
We spent a lot of time and energy on cultivating customers who could come forward and show what they accomplished and what they did. And in a lot of ways, that was the beauty of Tableau Public.5 Because that was a public forum that allowed people to showcase what they accomplished with Tableau. It was a passion project a lot of times and that, I think, did a lot to help us make it easy for people to convince other people.
Alexander: People also meet and share their ideas at Tableau Conference.6 This is also an opportunity for people who know each other via Tableau Public and Twitter to catch up face to face. Besides the Tableau Conference, what role did social media play? How were you building a social media community that is so active and well connected?
Elissa: When I joined back in 2007, it existed, but not widely. I thought, “We don't have a lot of money, so we've just got to leverage every angle.” But I also saw that it gave a lot of people a voice — that they could start or participate in a conversation on any topic locally or globally with anyone. It's crazy to think back to what it was like when you first came upon Twitter or Facebook.
Social was something we cared about pretty early on, and it also is a great way to carry your brand and your voice, because it's somewhat casual and very temporal. You could have a little more fun with it, which of course was a huge part of our brand.
But you also have to be respectful and responsive. When people complained or needed help, you had to help.
Alexander: How did the culture and brand evolve over time from pre-IPO startup to public enterprise with $1 billion+ in revenue? How did you feel the change?
Elissa: When we started, we were very personal — we were much about the rogue data analyst or the casual data enthusiast. Data to the people, we'd say. Our brand was very much about individuals embracing their inner geek and sort of breaking the rules. Or, getting around the old ways of how people use data. But then as we got bigger and more accepted, we also realized so much more the importance of IT, of governance, and the possibilities of large numbers of people sharing and using data. I think we became as much about democratizing data for one person as democratizing data for groups of people and then making sure that we adhered to and helped with the organization of that in a governed way.
Through this, we never wanted to lose the soul of Tableau that data geeks identified with. But it had to be expressed in a way that was, as we grew, and our customers grew in number, congruent with their vision and their ideas of how to use data within their organizations. I think we got more sophisticated and smarter about that.
Alexander: Besides the customer-facing brand, Tableau also had a unique culture among its employees. Customers describe Tableau employees as freakishly friendly. How important is this for the company's culture and brand?
Elissa: The employees are super important. We couldn't have done it without all those employees. They are who most customers interact with and so it's just so important that they feel that passion. They are just so fundamental to representing Tableau, expressing Tableau, and carrying the Tableau brand. But it's a circular thing. Employees impact that brand, modernize it, and keep it going.
Alexander: And how did you achieve this? How to hire the right people? Would you say this is because cool people hire cool people?
Elissa: We definitely had a huge number of employees come through referrals. So yes, cool people hire cool people, but in Tableau's case it was maybe more that data geeks hire data geeks. I look at the management team and the executive team, and most of them were referrals. (For the record, I wasn't. Sometimes you need to break out of your own circles.) I think when you are hiring, you are looking for passion, and you are looking for attitude. If they don't have passion for data and they don't have the attitude of work hard, work smart, and always be learning, then I don't care about [the] CV because [they're] not going to work here.
I think the company did a really good job of having the referral network and then really understanding how to hire for passion and attitude.
People went through the wringer on interviews. But the thing about a great culture is not only does it attract the right people, sometimes it helps people understand when they need to move on or move out.
That's why we would put cultural aspects in performance assessments. And it wasn't just checkbox. You had to assess if the employee was living our cultural values. Tableau put a lot of energy into all those hiring and onboarding aspects to ensure the right people were on the bus and had the tools to be successful.
Alexander: Onboarding is a very good topic. Tableau's onboarding process is well known in the software business for featuring a two-week bootcamp organized by Nate Vogel7 and his team. Bootcamp happened almost every month, and cofounder Christian Chabot used to welcome every new hire. How much does such an extensive onboarding shape the culture within the company?
Elissa: I think it was huge. People came from all over the world for two solid weeks. That was not common at the time. And it just spoke volumes: you chose us, and we chose you, and this is an investment for both sides.
This is a relationship we're investing in from the ground up because we believe in you and you believe in us. So, we want you to be as smart as possible as fast as possible.
And then, of course, the