When Stephen Nyabadza joined Redgate Software as a named account executive in 2023, he brought over 17 years of sales experience across SaaS and financial services.
While his career certainly prepared him to succeed, it also left him with preconceptions about what significant growth requires from both organizations and employees.
“I come from a gritty startup background where growth often meant sacrificing margin — but at Redgate, the longevity and profitability of the business have highlighted the importance of focusing on sustainable growth,” he said. “It’s apparent that when you are truly solving a problem for customers, the sales and profitability are certain to follow.”
From Nyabadza’s perspective, this clarity and alignment has been fostered by continuity and commitment by leadership and teams across Redgate Software as the company continues to develop DevOps solutions flexible enough to solve database challenges across any platform.
“The foundation has clearly been set at Redgate over a long period of time,” he said. “The steps the exec and product teams are taking supercharge this growth journey as the org focuses on cloud, cross-database and artificial intelligence while ensuring our products and messaging are enterprise-ready.”
Nyabadza’s role at Redgate involves connecting development teams, operations teams and IT leaders with solutions that will simplify their work by addressing the database challenges inherent in delivering software at speed. Based in Australia and with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region, Nyabadza works closely with Redgate’s largest customers, ensuring their satisfaction and success with the company’s “ingeniously simple” software.
Powered by this success, Redgate Software is experiencing remarkable growth and is hiring at scale to keep pace with that growth. Nyabadza pointed out that while the expansion of software engineering teams — such as those dedicated to the Redgate Monitor solution — is significant, the company’s growth across new regions, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the United States, is particularly noteworthy.
“I’ve been in the industry a while and have yet to see the pace of hiring Redgate is powering through whilst seamlessly onboarding their people without skipping a beat,” he said.
When asked about how Redgate’s growth aligns with his initial vision, Nyabadza expressed his astonishment at the company’s multifaceted expansion, as Redgate is not only growing into new markets with products like Test Data Manager but also deepening its reach within its existing customer base through cross-sell and upsell strategies.
“The total addressable market is expanding exponentially right before my eyes,” he said. “The irony is that it’s clear we are only just getting started — the upside is tremendous if we can continue to execute.”
“The upside is tremendous if we can continue to execute.”
Redgate’s commitment to its people is a key factor in its success, and Nyabadza highlighted the company’s emphasis on continuous improvement, training and collaboration.
“The training and development team provides a plethora of resources around product streams, sales methodologies and other relevant areas spanning legal, security and Ideal Customer Profile,” he explained. Redgate also collaborates with external consultants for specialist training, ensuring that the team is well-equipped to meet the changing needs of the business.
Nyabadza believes that now is the perfect time for Redgate to accelerate its growth, and he drew an analogy to the rapid growth of the company Nvidia. With the industry’s shift to cloud, adoption of multiple databases and focus on machine learning and AI, Redgate’s reliable and resilient database tools and standardized DevOps processes are in high demand.
“We are similarly in the unique position of being able to sell ‘shovels during a gold rush,’” he said. “Now is the time for Redgate to catch this wave and grow into a unicorn.”
“We are in the unique position of being able to sell ‘shovels during a gold rush.’”
Artificial intelligence is a major trend that Redgate is currently tracking. While many organizations are exploring AI and machine learning, Redgate takes a cautious and conservative approach while moving forward with its most successful solutions. The company has an Early Access Program for SQL Prompt, which incorporates AI named Prompt+, and is working on integrating AI into its Test Data Manager solution.
“The focus is on optimizing functionality while safeguarding data, consumer and business data rights and security,” Nyabadza emphasized.
Other trends include cloud adoption with a focus on hypercloud and cross-database usage, non-relational databases and enterprise-wide efforts to consolidate tool stacks and rationalize costs.
Nyabadza’s insights provide a comprehensive view of Redgate Software’s strategic growth, team development and adaptation to industry trends. As the Redgate team continues to grow, each employee’s expertise, experience and vision are instrumental in driving the company towards its ambitious goals in the ever-evolving tech landscape.
