The year ahead: Entrepreneur Scot Wingo

This essay is one of a series written by Triangle leaders and experts about their visions for a new decade.

One of my all-time favorite books is “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. In a nutshell, Collins researches companies to understand why some are just good while others are great. While Collins identifies many “great” characteristics, I think the best observation he makes is that “great” leaders set a B.H.A.G. — a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal.

So what’s our B.H.A.G. for the Triangle startup ecosystem in the 2020s?

I’ve been in the Triangle since 1995 and while the growth has been amazing, we still lag other technology centers in the US. What’s the one thing that would impact that the most?

I think the answer is more Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).

IPOs generate huge buzz, but more importantly for the Triangle, they then give a company a huge inflow of capital and ability to hire hundreds of people — generally while staying local. As a counterpoint, acquisitions are good for the area but often stop the organic growth of the startup.

If you look over the last decade: Red Hat, ChannelAdvisor, Bandwidth and other local tech companies that have made it to that $100 million per year level in revenue and gone public have been great wins for our area.

My wish for the next decade is that by 2030, the Triangle has 10 IPOs a year.

When we deliver on this, all of our startup needs will be met: capital and talent will flow in.

But let’s start with baby steps — two to three IPOs for 2020-2021.

Pendo seems to be on a path and there are several other companies that could be candidates. I keep a list of companies in the Triangle that are achieving scale. I welcome everyone to join me in celebrating these companies and rolling up our sleeves to help them move towards IPO so we can achieve our Triangle Startup B.H.A.G.!

Scot Wingo is the co-founder and CEO of Spiffy, a mobile car-servicing startup. He is also an angel investor and former CEO of ChannelAdvisor.