4 minute read
SOFTWARE
SourceDay Tackles Challenge of Supply Chain Communication
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SOURCEDAY IS AN AUSTIN-BASED SOFTWARE COMPANY THAT AUTOMATES AND MODERNIZES COMMUNICATION BETWEEN BUYERS AND SUPPLIERS. FOLLOWING A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR OF GROWTH, THE COMPANY RECENTLY CLOSED A $31.5 MILLION SERIES C ROUND OF FUNDING. BASED ON EMPLOYER BENEFITS AND EMPLOYEE SUBMITTED COMPENSATION DATA, TECH COMMUNITY “BUILT IN AUSTIN” NAMED SOURCEDAY ONE OF THE 100 BEST PLACES TO WORK IN AUSTIN 2022.
#57 Best Places to Work 2020 • Inc. Magazine
KIELEY FIGURES
SourceDay’s co-founder and CEO, Tom Kieley, grew up in Austin and now lives in Williamson County. He met co-founder Clint McCree when the two were working in sales for Pervasive, another Austin-based software company. With a degree in Industrial Distribution Engineering from Texas A&M, Kieley’s professional focus tended toward sales. He says while he has an “engineering brain,” always questioning how things work and why things are the way they are, he is also an active, outgoing person who enjoys collaboration and being part of a customer-facing team. He adds that Industrial Distribution Engineering provided him an excellent preparation for a career path supporting manufacturing and tackling supply chain challenges.
Kieley admits, as a child, he wasn’t the best student because he was often in trouble for talking too much. He says, “I have always exhibited an intense work ethic. I knew my entire life that I wanted to operate my own business.” Dissatisfied with corporate philosophies that overvalue the status quo, Kieley says he has never been afraid of taking on tough challenges in a quest to do things better. “Determination and persistence have been critical components of my entrepreneurial path.”
Kieley started his first company at age 25, and it failed, but his second company succeeded. He recalls SourceDay was not an overnight success and he and McCree worried they would never land enough customers and wondered if they should just stop investing their money. Kieley recalled a difficult business experience where he and McCree worked for two and a half years to prepare for an important trade show event. They introduced their product, returned home, and waited patiently for three months, during which none of the show leads converted a sale. Kieley said, “Blood, sweat, and tears, and then, nothing.”
They made the tough decision to keep going and described this time as “digging deeper, pushing harder, learning, asking questions, calling everyone.” For four years, Kieley and McCree worked full time in a salaried job while building SourceDay from 10 pm to 4 am. He says, “If you have an idea you are passionate about and believe it has market viability, success requires this type of commitment. During those months, I reminded myself I had to be able and willing to run through walls.”
THE WINNING COMBINATION
Based on extensive feedback from current and prospective customers, SourceDay’s developers rebuilt the product’s architecture and landed on their eventual formula for success. Kieley said this type of pivot is common for software companies because the best products are created through customer feedback and multiple iterations. Kieley and McCree began with a vision to solve multiple broad supply chain sourcing and procurement problems, but customers emphasized their biggest pain point was managing changes to active purchase orders.
ON THE INSIDE
Kieley looks for a flexible mindset when evaluating prospective new hires. He says SourceDay is very intentional about hiring employees who align with SourceDay’s culture of collaboration, problem-solving, and creative thinking. SourceDay employees aren’t afraid to break something to make things better, explaining, “If you aren’t breaking something, you aren’t trying to improve a current, existing process.”
Kieley says his greatest challenge as a business leader was to learn to delegate. The result was burnout, a condition he says is probably inevitable in tech startups. On a reassuring note, he says; “It isn’t permanent unless you make it permanent.” His recommendations: Hire great people you can trust, disconnect sometimes from screens, spend time in nature, exercise, and enjoy time with friends and family. He puts a premium on time with his wife, Autumn, and their three children, ages 10, 8, and 5. He credits Autumn with supporting him as he built SourceDay, and says one secret to entrepreneurial success is, “Marry the right person.”
As Kieley approaches the milestone birthday of 40, he aims to continue SourceDay’s ambitious rate of growth. He says, “I believe- we have the opportunity to be the size and scale of any other SaaS company that serves a global market.” He hopes to double the company’s size in sales and revenue in the next year; “Everyone is busy talking about supply chain issues and the archaic processes driving the pain we all feel today. Meanwhile, SourceDay is solving those problems … to continue driving our disruption to a more digital and connected supply chain.”
