Stepping into the CEO role: How I got here

[shaownhasan]

In my case, it starts with a first-generation israel business email list immigrant experience and the good fortune of being raised by incredibly hard-working and value-driven parents. With a dad who was a technologist (from working the night shift monitoring servers, to CIO and COO) and a mom who was an early childhood educator who ran a daycare, there was a healthy set of behaviors that were imparted on me. Their style—which was both demanding and supportive—was instrumental in helping me develop into a leader with high expectations and the appreciation that you need to win both the hearts and minds of your team. The unwavering dedication and love from my wife and two daughters (ringing the bell with them at Sprout’s IPO will forever be one of the greatest moments of my life) has rounded out the wonderful support system that has enabled me to do my best work.

Ryan Barretto with his wife and two daughters at Sprout Social's Nasdaq bell ringing ceremony in December 2019.
From that strong familial foundation, there were a series of choices, hard-work, amazing teammates and mentors, great timing, and luck that brought me to this point.

The most important choice early in my career (more luck than by design) was landing at Salesforce in 2006. Over the next decade, I was afforded some incredible opportunities to take on a variety of new roles, open new offices and run newly acquired products—all while getting to watch and learn from Marc Benioff and a legion of amazing leaders along the way.

In early 2016, I got a call from Justyn to meet for dinner, where I learned that we lived in the same neighborhood, our kids played at the same park, we were both SaaS nerds who were wildly focused on winning, and our personalities and skill sets were a perfect complement for each other. That dinner changed my life.