Covertly tucked into one of the top floors of a shiny high rise in Manhattan’s Financial District, there is a tech company on a mission to shake up big data.
When it comes to big data, or more formally business analytics, we think algorithms, statistical analysis and Excel on steroids. Sisense, the aforementioned business analytics software company, is putting a human element back into big data by allowing non-technical users to join and analyze large data sets from multiple sources.
Founded in 2010, Sisense is unique in that it’s the only business analytics software that lets you easily prepare, analyze and visualize complex datasets using its patented ‘in-chip’ technology. Ultimately, the company helps businesses eliminate the costly data preparations that typically accompany business analytics tools by providing a single, complete tool to break down big data.
Leading the charge at Sisense is the company’s CEO, Amir Orad, a long-time leader in business analytics. Previously, Orad served as CEO of Actimize, a financial crime analytics company, where he led the company to reach $200 million in 2014. Before that, Orad was the co-founder and EVP/CMO of Cyota, a cyber analytics company acquired by RSA Security in 2005.
After he was named Sisense CEO in 2015, the company announced a $50 million round in January. Today, the company’s software is used in 49 countries and has over 1,000 clients, which run the gamut from small pizza shops to NASA. To top it off, the company is growing 100 percent year over year and hires a new employee every 36 hours.
While half of Sisense’s operation is based out of Tel Aviv, where most of the company’s engineers sit, Orad is growing the company in New York City in a strategic move to be close to the market for enterprise software.
“I truly believe that the business dealership and product dealership should be next to the customers,” said Orad. “So why are we in New York City and not California? The real buyers are in a real market and not in a place that’s all about tech. With enterprise software, you want to be next to the enterprises that are full of doubt and don’t have time to talk to you. This is what ultimately makes you better.”
As such, Orad has built a company culture that’s fanatic about customer success. This starts with every person Sisense hires, from employees in sales to engineering.
“We want people who are young, talented, hungry for success, willing to work hard and who want to have fun while making an impact,” said Orad. “Because if you have the right direction, happy employees and happy clients, the rest just happens.”
According to Orad, Sisense’s culture is collaborative, transparent, accessible, and places an emphasis on individual career development.
“When you’re in that mentality, everyone impacts the result of the company,” said Orad. “We’re collaborative, open and our people can see the results of what they do.”
Sisense currently has about 250 employees and is on track to have 300 employees by the end of the year.
“Overall, we solve business problems. We make operations more efficient, we make HR managers hire better, we help marketing give better service to its customers, we help people’s product be better,” said Orad. “And we do that across industries. We have clients in healthcare, manufacturing, education, communication, finance and tech. It’s quite rewarding when you can have a business impact —when you can take a person and make them successful by taking this complex data and making it powerful.”
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