'I love the chase and pitching to VCs, but I'm a coder and nerd at heart'
Barricade’s David Coallier says he’s looking forward to going back to his roots after his company was acquired.
AFTER SELLING HIS latest startup to security giant Sophos, serial entrepreneur David Coallier doesn’t see himself upping sticks anytime soon.
Earlier this week it was announced that Barricade, a startup developing security systems that use artificial intelligence to detect suspicious behavior, had been sold to Sophos – a UK security firm that floated on the London Stock Exchange last year in a deal that valued the company at £1 billion.
This is the second acquisition for one of Coallier’s companies in the last few years. In 2011, a cloud application platform he co-founded, Orchestra, was bought by Engine Yard in a multimillion-euro deal less than a year after it was set up.
Coallier, who was also an angel investor in Intercom and Pat Phelan’s Trustev, stayed at Engine Yard after the acquisition to work as director of engineering for a few years before moving on – but in the case of Sophos, he sees himself as in for the long haul.
“My guess is I will stay for at least five years. If things go well I see myself staying here for a long time,” he told Fora.
“But again, I try not to plan ahead too far because I don’t know what is going to happen in the future, but yeah I am here for the foreseeable future no doubt.”
David Coallier
Other suitors
Before the decision to commit to the acquisition, Barricade was on the verge of closing a new round of funding, according to Coallier.
Earlier this year, Coallier revealed that after raising the initial seed round, he had problems raising more finance.
He told a crowd at an event in Facebook’s Dublin offices that a venture capital firm had promised to commit to a $2.5 million investment deal only to pull out at the last minute. This forced Coallier to dip into his own pockets in order to keep the company going before it eventually raised more money.
There were two other bids made to acquire Barricade in the last eight months, according to Coallier.
He said that one of the companies courting Barricade was bigger than Sophos, but he didn’t see his team fitting in well with the other suitors’ visions.
However, before he made his mind up about whether to do the deal or not, he asked the 10 employees at the startup what they wanted to do.
“Ultimately what we did was discussed with the team in the office here, so it has been a very open and transparent acquisition process for the whole team. We discussed the pros and the cons and we ultimately came up with the decision.
“I told the team, this is the vision of Sophos, this is what we’re going to be building, this is what we would be doing with the other ones and what do you folks want to do. It was my decision ultimately, but their feedback was very important.
“I think that is one of the main reasons we are such a high performance team is because we work very openly on both sides, so it’s not only me managing down, it is them managing me upwards very well.”
No disappointment
As part of the acquisition, Coallier will take up a new role as director of engineering for security analytics at Sophos. He said it doesn’t annoy him that he couldn’t finish what Barricade started on a solo basis.
“It’s absolutely not my baby. A lot of people get emotionally attached to technology, software and businesses they build, I’m attached to the longer vision and that is the only reason why we’re joining Sophos.
“People might say I’m entrepreneurial, but I think I am a serial problem solver. When I really get my teeth into a problem, I just want to solve it. With Sophos there is no difference. I will still be working on that vision with the same team.
“It’s always more about the vision rather than whether or not I have my own business, or whether I work for someone or anything.”
He also said this acquisition will let him go back to what he really enjoys, coding, and leave behind the need to be constantly pitching to venture capital firms.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love the chase and love meeting VCs, because you are consistently and constantly interviewing for a new job. It’s enjoyable.
“But I’m a software engineer by heart first and foremost and also a nerd at heart. All the quality stuff we can bring to Sophos is what we’re all looking forward to.”
