Forbes_USA_June_13_2017

TECHNOLOGY
FAST TECH 25
of Salesforce’s platform. Settling on the $1.6 trillion
life-sciences industry, Gassner tapped Matt
Wallach, a Harvard M.B.A. with a background in
tech sales to big pharma, to cofound Veeva, maintaining
dual offices in Pleasanton, California, and
Philadelphia, a life-sciences hub.
Veeva’s core customer-relationship management
software struck a chord and propelled
the company through a successful public offering
in 2013. At the time, Vault was just “a glimmer
of hope” for Gassner & Co. and the challenge
of building it was considerable: It didn’t share a
single line of code with Veeva’s core product. To
make matters worse, a year later Veeva hit some
turbulence as it failed to meet Wall Street’s overoptimistic
growth expectations. It bottomed out
in May 2014, when its stock fell to 59% off its
first-day highs.
The work on Vault pushed Gassner and his
team out of their comfort zone and into building
their own applications for the pharma industry.
While the Vault applications have none of
the bells and whistles you’ll find on popular consumer
apps, they facilitated tasks across the industry.
They bear names such as Electronic Trial
Master File, which provides templates to log patient
types and results for trials of new drugs.
“When Johnson & Johnson does that with thousands
of people, they’re not going to do it by
email,” Gassner says. The result, he says, could
separate wasted investment from FDA approval.
Vault sales reached $174 million this past year
and are on pace to overtake the core business in
upcoming years. They’ve helped Gassner regain
the trust of investors, who have pushed Veeva’s
market capitalization past $7 billion.
Far from celebrating, Gassner is thinking
about act three. The company recently launched
its first app outside of pharma, providing quality
control tools to two top-30 chemical companies.
Analysts, such as JPMorgan’s Sterling Auty,
are raising their price targets for Veeva again. “We
think this can be a big opportunity,” Auty told investors
recently.
Gassner remains cautious. He says he learned
years ago from PeopleSoft’s billionaire founder,
David Duffield, not to get ahead of himself with
ambitions or ego. Veeva may have the healthy
gourmet catered lunches that are hallmarks of a
successful tech company, but Gassner still rides
his bike to work. “I feel we are on to something,”
he says softly. “But it’s too early to know.”
FINAL THOUGHT
“It’s the next work, still to be written, that
offers the second chance.” —CYNTHIA OZICK
48 | FORBES JUNE 13, 2017
JON ORINGER : SLAVEN VLASIC/GETTY IMAGES; LARRY PAGE: TIM MOSENFELDER/GETTY IMAGES; KEN XIE : KIM WHITE/BLOOMBERG
The Fast
Tech 25
Our list of
America’s
fastest-growing
tech companies
screens for
superior growth
(past and
projected) and
a solid earningsquality
score from
Value Line. For
growth investors,
these are some
of the hottest
names—some
well-known,
others not so
much—in one of
the most dynamic
sectors of the
economy.
TRAILING 3-YR
SALES GROWTH
3-TO-5-YEAR
EST EARNINGS
GROWTH RATE
GrubHub
Food delivery from 50,000 restaurants in 500+ cities
Facebook
Nearly 2 billion social networking users; Instagram; WhatsApp
Arista Networks
Networking equipment
Paycom Software
Software for payroll and HR
Ellie Mae
Software for mortgage applications
Stamps.com
Internet-based mailing and shipping services
NetScout Systems
Application and network management software
Veeva Systems
Software for Big Pharma
Gigamon
Network management solutions
Shutterstock
Marketplace for stock photography, video and music
Fortinet
Cybersecurity software, appliances and services
EPAM Systems
Software services
Salesforce.com
Cloud-based enterprise software
LogMeIn
Connectivity software for remote collaboration
Total System Services
Credit card processor, acquirer and issuer
CoStar Group
Commercial real estate information provider
Ultimate Software Group
Software for HR management
Athenahealth
Cloud-based health care data management software
Amazon.com
E-commerce; cloud computing
Virtusa
IT consulting services
Vantiv
Credit card processor
Alliance Data Systems
Loyalty and marketing campaigns
PayPal Holdings
Digital payments
Red Hat
Open-source software
Alphabet
Computing conglomerate
10%