Chris Taylor grew up in Pinch, West Virginia. And yes, it’s
as rural as is sounds. He attended Carnegie Mellon University, both because it had
one of the top Computer Science programs in the country, and more importantly,
it had a diverse student base with excellent schools for art, design and
architecture as well.
That broad base of knowledge made him interesting to
Trilogy, which recruited him down to Austin in 1995. When he finally left in
2005 he had 10 years of experience in enterprise software and a little money in
the bank, the perfect time to start a company!
All he was lacking as the killer idea. By performing
analytics and strategy projects with large customers, he as able try and test
various ideas, finally coming up with CoEFFICIENT, performance engagement
software for large enterprises, in 2009. Almost immediately knew that it was
the big idea that he had set out to find four years earlier.
From Trilogy Chris adopted the paradigm
that data is a tool that should be leveraged to make better business
decisions every day. Square Root’s platform, CoEFFICIENT, analyzes large
amounts of data to help retail organizations reduce operational complexity and
find opportunities to maximize performance.
As he was building the software Chris was also building his
company. He realized that “Company culture can make or break a startup. Think
about what kind of culture you would like your company to have, then start
building it immediately. By the time you've hit 10 people, it's too late.”
Square Root is built around four core values; Thrive, Think
Big, Do Bigger, Be Customer Inspired, and Partner. Says Chris, “Of the four, I think my favorite
would have to be Thrive. It’s important to me that the team feel empowered to
find the work-life balance that suits them best. We believe it is everyone’s
responsibility to make their work environment motivating and fulfilling.”
“This takes communication from the C-level all the way down
to our interns. Every Friday we get together for a company lunch, this alone has
helped us build a strong report. We have announcements where everyone hears
from the executives talk on the progress toward business, and one employee
gives a presentation on something he or she is currently working on. It's a
great way to make sure everyone is on the same page about our goals as a
company, and it makes for a strong team.” says Chris.
Chris says that his goal at Square Root is to have “a
positive work environment where ideas can flourish. I want to be excited to
come to work every day, I want that for everyone at Square Root.” One way
Square Root encourages this is their office environment. Occupying three
neighboring houses, and soon to be four, the offices at Square Root could be
confused with someone’s home, except in place of couches and chairs there are
stand-up desks.
To date Square Root has been completely bootstrapped. But
that hasn’t slowed its growth. Finishing 2013 at 20 employees, it’s currently
at 40 and plans to be at 70 by the end of 2015. Says Chris, “Bootstrapping a
software company is not easy. I’m glad I had to work hard to get where I am
today. My upbringing gave me the grounding to truly appreciate the ups and
downs of being a CEO, genuinely value the team at Square Root, and be thankful
to be raising my family in Austin.”
And Austin has infused the culture of Square Root. They hire
UT graduates, sponsor HI-B Visas, and in the last year have tripled the
training budget. Says Chris, “Right now Austin has the balance between being
too laid back and having no life other than work. There is so much to look
forward to at Square Root. We are doing something awesome and doing it with
balance.”
