The same day Udemy announced its three new management hires, lynda.com shared that itself made an important new hire. Andrew Wait becomes Chief Revenue Officer, overseeing the company’s strategic direction including, global expansion, marketing, customer experience and enterprise sales. Wait will report directly to CEO Eric Robison.
Before joining lynda.com, Wait was president at EF Englishtown from January 2012 to June 2014. During that period he doubled the company’s revenue, accelerated subscriber growth and opened new markets according to his LinkedIn profile.
During his time as SVP and GM at Ancestry.com from March 2006 - July 2010, Wait grew the company’s revenue by 24% and drove 70% growth in the US by the end of 2009 among other tasks, concluding in a successful $575 million IPO in November 2009.
In his new role at lynda.com, Wait is expected to prepare the company for an IPO similar to his work at Ancestry.com. In an interview with Pando Wait states that the two companies are similar. Both were growing nicely over a long period of time but hit the mid-stage blues.
“It was full of potential, but operating on infrastructure designed to get it to market – to support $30 million in revenue, not $100 million. The company definitely needed another generation of management and infrastructure.”
Nevertheless, lynda.com has maintained a stable growth rate since its investment round 20 months ago which would bring this year’s revenue to $200 million and 2015 to $300 million estimates Pando.
As a first step to get the company more lean and up to date with the latest technology and user experience, lynda.com is opening a new office in San Francisco to attract fresh talent in marketing, engineering, product management, and user interface and experience. The following step is going to be a more aggressive expansion into new markets with Asia being on top of the list.
Wait also plans to further acquire companies or products when it makes sense reports Pando. Earlier this month lynda.com acquired the video library of Interface Technical Training, adding more than 2,500 videos teaching business, technology and creative skills to its content list.
Further Reading
- Former Ancestry.com and EF Englishtown Executive Andrew Wait to Drive lynda.com Growth as new Chief Revenue Officer | Press Release
- lynda.com Acquires IT Training Video Course Collection From Interface Technical Training | Press Release
- Lynda.com levels up, hiring its first ever CRO while IPO rumors loom | Pando