This blog is part of our ongoing ‘Why I joined ThoughtSpot’ series. In this blog, we will learn more about our recent hire Kelley Jarrett who joined us as SVP Strategy, Operations and Enablement
Kelley Jarrett recently joined ThoughtSpot as SVP Strategy, Operations and Enablement, and is based out of Charleston, South Carolina. In this role, Kelley will focus on setting and executing the go-to-market strategy, so ThoughtSpot can continue to meet growing customer demand. As we expand our reach into new and existing markets across products and segments, Kelley will play an important role in driving revenue growth, productivity, and operational effectiveness throughout the organization.
Outside of work, Kelley loves traveling and seeing live music with friends and family, spending time at the beach, and watching her daughters play competitive volleyball.
Here’s what she has to say about #LifeAtThoughtSpot.
How did you hear about ThoughtSpot?
I was lucky in that I was taking a broad look at my next career move, and I was committed to making sure that my decision was deliberate and strategic. Also, the role and company had to be something that I was passionate and excited about.
Honestly, I did not know much about ThoughtSpot when I was approached about the role. This is incredibly sad given that if I had known about ThoughtSpot, my professional life as a data-focused business and ops leader would have been so much more effective, and speed-to-impact in many of my past roles would have significantly improved. Once I knew a little about the company, I was eager to learn more, and every step I took with the company was more exciting than the next.
What were your top reasons for joining ThoughtSpot?
As I was evaluating options for my next career move, I had three ‘must haves’ in mind:
Work for a company that is an industry leader with products that change the game for customers. I wanted to be a hundred percent behind the products and feel confident in the level of impact we would have on the industry.
Work with smart and Innovative leaders. I’ve always wanted to work with a leadership team that is thinking about what’s next, spreading excitement about that future vision, and really leading with passion and enthusiasm for the road ahead.
Join and contribute to an open, supportive, and performance-driven work culture.
I was lucky enough to be evaluating a few roles that checked many of the boxes I was looking for, ThoughtSpot included. But once I saw the products and understood the value ThoughtSpot brings to business leaders across so many industries, I was just blown away. Immediately, I thought to myself that if I wasn't part of the movement that ThoughtSpot was leading—making data accessible to all—then I wasn’t doing justice to my career.
At ThoughtSpot, not only do I get to work with incredibly passionate people and leadership, but I can also be part of helping the industry and our customers do their jobs more effectively. The role itself is exciting because not many companies think about operations through the whole company experience. Typically, you find an operations group that cares about data paired with a separate enablement group that cares about training internal resources. Very few SaaS companies have the strategic vision to pull these forces together and use data to drive both the internal and external enablement strategy.
At the end of my evaluation, it was an absolute no-brainer for me to join Thoughtspot. I’m thrilled to be here.
How do you plan to use ThoughtSpot in your day-to-day work?
I am literally geeking out every day! Just a few days in, and I already use Thoughtspot daily—both as an ops leader and as a broader business leader. I believe data should not be a ‘report out’ for a board or an exec team, but rather a conversation tool that allows for more fruitful discussion, meaningful planning, better prioritization of limited resources, and faster, fact-based problem solving.
In the past, I led operations teams who were incredibly smart. However, they had to spend hours or days of their highly valuable brain power and time to create self-service analytics tools and dashboards. With ThoughtSpot, we’re able to optimize our teams’ time and effort while providing real-time access to analytics and insights.
What advice do you have for new Spotters joining the team?
Embrace the culture of data: Live it. Breathe it. Own it. Share it.
Not everyone in leadership has access or knows how to use data to prioritize decisions and work smarter. Given that ThoughtSpot is an industry leader in this space, my advice is to learn how to share what we do and what we have with others. Don’t take for granted the fact that we use ThoughtSpot every day to have real-time and ‘double click’ access to the data we need to run our business. It’s our job to share the news with the world—friends don’t let friends run their businesses without ThoughtSpot.
We’re at a defining moment of growth at ThoughtSpot. At a time when all of our customers—both current customers like Chewy, Wellthy, and The Modern Milkman and prospects—are looking to us to support their journey in applying AI in their organizations in the right way, we have a huge opportunity in front of us!
Want to join Kelley and work at one of the best companies in data? Check out the open opportunities on our careers page today.
