Federico Larsen of Copado
An exclusive Tech Tribune Q&A with Federico Larsen (founder and CTO) of Copado, which was honored in our:
Tell us the origin story of Copado – what problem were you trying to solve and why?
After 11 years in the software delivery space, I saw a need for a solution that increased the efficiency of complex manual releases on the Salesforce platform. I teamed up with a fellow release engineer, Philipp Rackwitz, to build a management system for Salesforce deployments.
The past few years have been really exciting for Copado and we are doing very different things than we were from the early days. We are now a leading DevOps platform powering the world’s largest digital transformations. The company now natively supports all native Salesforce platform solutions, non-native platforms including Mulesoft and Heroku, and cross-platform testing across any platform. Copado supports all Salesforce platforms including Slack, Marketing Cloud, and the Commerce Cloud, and all major ERP applications that integrate into modern digital customer experiences with SAP and ServiceNow.
What was the biggest hurdle you encountered in your journey?
The biggest challenge is to keep everyone aligned and working together. We went fully remote in March 2020 with 100 employees because of the pandemic, and today we are nearing 700 employees and still on remote first policy. Fortunately, now that traveling and gatherings are open and getting back to normal, we are able to meet in person and build those relationships with our colleagues, customers, and partners.
What does the future hold for Copado?
We are looking forward to a great year, keeping an aggressive growth rate on three fronts: our best seller “CI/CD for Salesforce”, “Testing for Any Cloud” and a new “CI/CD platform for Any Cloud” as well.
What are your thoughts on the local tech startup scene in Chicago?
The tech/startup scene in Chicago is very vibrant. Chicago has a rich history of great companies that were founded here, but also large tech companies come to Chicago to find talent. In the last quarter, Chicago tech hiring was higher than New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, an indication that Chicago is a place that companies are continuing to invest in.
What’s your best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?
You need to be very optimistic. Once you truly believe that you can make the world a better place by solving a problem you are passionate about, then you will find the will and the means to follow through every step of the way. It’s never too late or too soon to start your own business – you should try it at least once.