On the Record with Marc Stevens, CEO & CoFounder of Row64
Hometown: Worcester, MA
Hobbies: health, nutrition, and training
Three ways to describe yourself: thoughtful, approachable, open-minded
To start off, we’d love to hear about the evolution of your career. You started in large, multinational companies like Microsoft and Autodesk, can you talk more about your transition from large companies to a start-up and what that experience has been like?
It’s funny that I ended up at large companies because my initial interest was in startups over 20 years ago. I began my career at a computer graphics startup out of graduate school that was acquired by Microsoft two months after I joined. So, my startup experience was short! From that point on, it was larger organizations. Nevertheless, I kept an entrepreneurial spirit throughout my career working in multi-national companies, often leading innovative technology development projects and new business opportunities. I was fortunate to sponsor several startup acquisitions. That time helped prepare me for my next steps as a startup CEO. Finally, after growing 200M+ industry-leading product portfolios and building out 300+ person worldwide teams, I accomplished what I had planned and was ready for a new set of challenges. I always wanted to create a company from the ground up that made a difference, and Row64 was the right opportunity at the right time.
How has the sales and GTM process changed during your career?
There is an enormous difference in doing GTM for an established product in an established company versus launching a new product and a new company. Of course, with the former, you benefit from years of learning from those who came before you. However, starting from scratch, you need to figure it out fast!
As with software development processes, GTM has become much more iterative over the years. In the past, we did extensive planning sessions to lay out the next 3 to 5 years. Today it’s all about fast iteration. You test, see what works, and adjust. That can happen in a week. You keep doing that until you hit something that works. Also, today, with all the social media channels, it's much easier to reach your audience. There were many more face-to-face physical events in the past, so it was longer iteration cycles by design.
So after your transition away from Autodesk, how did you end up creating Row64?
In many ways, leaving Autodesk was a return to where I started. Before I started working at Autodesk, I had worked creating software for the animation, Gaming, and visual effects industries. That is where my cofounder Michael and I met. I was leading the teams developing and building next-generation animation software, and Michael was leading the special projects team helping film and game studios implement our software in production. We worked on many historic projects like animating the first ever CGI dinosaurs for Jurassic Park or creating some of the first 3D animated characters for Electronic Arts, Nintendo, and SONY.
When I decided to leave Autodesk, I had just experienced a major business model transformation with Autodesk that renovated its whole data backend to become a more data-focused company for the future. In addition, Michael, his wife, June—our other cofounder—were experiencing how challenging it was to work on large data projects for Fortune 500 companies with their current tools and workflow.
We brainstormed how we could leverage our combined past experiences in gaming, CGI, and data science to revolutionize how people work with data. We saw firsthand how the GPU revolutionized film and game production in the '90s. So we set out to do a similar thing for today's data analysts and data scientists.
What does the name Row64 mean?
The Row64 name and ethos were inspired by the "direct to hardware" coding style of the 1970s and 1980s. To achieve a scale over 1 billion records, our early spreadsheet prototypes required a port to uint64. So the name Row64 arose from that effort, and the idea of a "special" row in a spreadsheet would give the user superpowers. Also, it was inspired by hit products from that era in computing: the Commodore 64 & Nintendo 64
What has been your biggest or most unexpected challenge building the company?
We created a platform that is a bit like a swiss army knife used to solve various problems. It has broad horizontal applicability (like a spreadsheet), so it is applicable across different markets and use cases. It also has incredible technical depth and can solve complex technical problems given the speed and scale that it can work. Finding product market fit even with a very innovative product is challenging. Along with technological innovation need show value and economic impact for a business to adopt your solution. Narrowing down choices, finding the balance with the technology, and delivering business value get most of our attention.
Throughout this process, what keeps you motivated?
I find what motivates me has evolved. Earlier in my career, I was focused on what project I wanted to work on, what title I had, or what salary I would make. Today I get more motivation from the success of the company, the team, and individuals growing and thriving. I guess it's a bit like a pro athlete who becomes a coach and then a general manager. Your point of view is different, and your satisfaction and motivation come from other places. Doing this in a dynamic space changing rapidly and working on a groundbreaking product is a fantastic opportunity.
You’ve mentioned working with good people, but it seems like Michael, June, and you have never been in the same place at the same time! Can you tell us about the decision to be a distributed team and your thoughts on this as Row64 grows?
Michael and I worked remotely for many years when he was mainly on the west coast, and I was on the east coast. We had developed a way of working that worked for us. Add on coming out of COVID, which amplified the importance of needing to work from anywhere. So, it was never really a question for us. We always planned to have a virtual setup. We emphasized finding and working with the best people for our company, regardless of their location. It’s worked out well for us so far! Life happens, and if a team member needs to move around, it's a non-issue. We won’t lose good people over the location, and we don’t preclude ourselves from getting someone because they are not in one of our physical locations. That is critical at this stage as you don’t have the bench strength of a large organization, and if a key individual leaves at the wrong time, it can be devastating.
Tell us more about the team—do you have a particular leadership style or company culture to which you adhere?
One thing I've learned is that no one leadership style works for every situation or with every person. Being adaptive is the key. Some situations need more autocratic decisions, while others require consensus. Sometimes telling works best, and other times coaching others to find the answers is best. It’s a delicate balance.
We’ve tried to create a culture where we give people the space to explore, grow, and do great things in areas they are passionate about. That's why it is so important to choose the right people, smart, committed to learning, and motivated to solve problems in the space we are working in.
What excites you most about the work you’re doing? How does leading a startup differentiate from leading a large team at a big corporation?
Innovating products in a fast-moving space. Every week brings a new set of challenges and learnings. It’s never dull. Depending on the day, I may need to be the CEO, CFO, or HR. At this early stage, you don’t have dedicated departments for different functions behind you. You appreciate the depth that goes into those functions when you don’t have the depth of an organization behind you.
Any books, podcasts, or publications that you recommend?
We’re at the very early stage of a startup. I encourage everyone to learn from experiences and build from them we don't need to reinvent the wheel. No two situations are the same—ventures succeed and fail for many different reasons—
In no particular order, here are some readings I have recommended:
The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company - by Steve Blank (Author), Bob Dorf (Author) - a must for any founder
Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success - by Phil Jackson, many parallels with successful leadership in sports.
SuperLife: The 5 Forces That Will Make You Healthy, Fit, and Eternally Awesome - being health and fitness-focused this was a must read for me
Ted talks are a great source of inspiration for many different things
Fundamentals of Data Engineering: Plan and Build Robust Data Systems - if you in the data space this book just came out and is a must-read.
Lastly, are there any life lessons you live by?
I lost my mom very young, so that lesson taught me to make the most of what I have. That motivated me to take on challenges, do different things, and surround myself with people who want the same. Live in the moment and enjoy every day doing what you love don’t leave with any regrets.
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