SmartBear Software is an American-based IT company that went through several folds of acquisitions since 2003. Jason Cohen, a successful entrepreneur and also an author, founded SmartBear and sold the company in 2007. The SmartBear company that we see today is the result of multiple acquisitions that took place between 2007 and 2009. SmartBear Software is known for delivering products for software development and testing, API testing and management, etc. Currently, the company is based in Somerville, Massachusetts, US and it operates under the leadership of CEO, Frank Roe.
About SmartBear Software
SmartBear is an information technology company that focuses on developing quality software for its clients. The products and solutions of SmartBear encompass a wide variety of options from test automation to code collaborator. SmartBear develops its products in such a way that it is not only affordable but also easy to try and integrate into your current system. So, the company makes sure to provide quality solutions at affordable pricing. More than 24,000 organizations have used the products of SmartBear including some famous brands like Adobe, Microsoft, FedEx, etc. The SmartBear tools are used by more than 15 million users in over 194 countries for different purposes.
History of Today’s SmartBear Software
Jason Cohen bootstrapped SmartBear for seven years and turned it into a success. The company started generating profit in millions and then he sold the company in 2007. Insight Venture Partners acquired SmartBear Software during that time along with two other companies, namely, AutomatedQA and Pragmatic Software. These three companies became a single entity and operated as AQA Holdings which in 2010 became SmartBear Software.
Automated QA was a software company founded in 1999 in Nevada. The company was well-known for building automated software testing tools. The company, before the acquisition and merger, was featured in the SD Times 100 list in the software development field. Born in 2005, Pragmatic Software became the first Microsoft Certified Partner software company in Albania. As the three companies started working together as a single brand, it acquitted another business called Eviware in 2011. A series of companies was acquired by SmartBear in the next few years including AlertSite, Lucierna, Swagger, and many more. The acquisitions led to some of the founders joining SmartBear which uplifted the quality of the team. In 2017, SmartBear was further acquired (major stake) by Francisco Partners.
SmartBear During the Pandemic
Frank Roe recently became the CEO of the company which was two weeks before the lockdown started due to COVID-19. A situation of sudden shutdown and shifting to a completely online mode of work became a new challenge for each and every company. So, being the new leader of SmartBear, Frank tried to maintain a very strong communication line among the employees, not only meeting but also virtual social gatherings. Most of the employees at SmartBear are very young, so their enthusiasm and curiosity helped the company move swiftly to the WFH environment without such amendments. Frank also believes that one of the most important reasons that SmartBear has successfully stayed strong during COVID-19 is because of the entrepreneurial spirit in the team. As the founders of the business acquired by SmartBear have come on board and joined the team, it has created a diverse team bonded with the same spirit of passion.
Awards and Recognitions
The new SmartBear Software has won many awards in the past years and still continues to thrive. Some of them include becoming the best medium-sized company to work in 2014 which was awarded by Glassdoor. Boston named SmartBear as one of the ‘50 on Fire’ companies in 2019 and the next year it was in the list of 100 Best Places to Work in Boston 2020 by BuiltIn.
Frank Roe – CEO of SmartBear
Frank Roe joined SmartBear with 25 years of rich experience in the business world. He started off his career by working as a strategy consultant and slowly moved up the ladder. Frank worked for multiple companies including Deloitte Consulting, Incentive Systems, Progress, Oracle, RSD, etc. He joined SmartBear as the Chief Revenue Officer in 2018 and became CEO in February 2020.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more