As part of my quest to speak with tech experts about the definitive features of a startup, I spoke with Looker’s CEO Frank Bien. His views offered new insights and nuance about whether Looker should still be considered a startup and how Bien is trying to preserve the best parts of Looker’s startup culture as the business grows and expands. To Bien, startups can go through various phases — the definition of a startup is not always black and white. SaaS-based companies like Looker can thus be in a phase of startup growth and maturation for longer than companies in the past. For Bien, what defines a startup is less important than inculcating the values of the startup in the business as it grows.

Source: Forbes December 17, 2018 11:05 UTC