Andy Tryba

Follow me for tips on how to buy software companies and run them 100% remote. 6x founder, acquired 13 software companies, CEO of Ionic Partners

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

I've been CEO of 20 companies and have managed dozens of VP/GMs. Here are 4 of the most common mistakes I see when these senior leaders set annual goals:

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

@david_perell Great summary and ton of fun walking a bunch of those steps w you….

[EducationInvestor Global @EduInvestor]

Canada: Sparkrock acquires School-Day https://t.co/2JKXxuUne4 #education @Sparkrock365 @andytryba @IonicPartners

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

100% agree…. Furthermore - there will a AI disrupted enterprise software and AI enhanced. Investors need a strong point of view of each category.

[Aaron Levie @levie]

Driven by AI, we are entering a new era of enterprise software, ushering in systems of intelligence. 

In the mid 1980s, driven by the growth of the client/server architecture, we saw the dramatic rise of systems of record. These are the back office software applications that helped enterprises run their ERP, HR, CRM, and core IT workflows. These technologies were relatively specialized, and helped automate any of the most critical tasks in the enterprise. They were defined by structured data, back office automation, and leveraged by only by select users in an enterprise.

With the rise of cloud and mobile in the mid 2000s, we saw a new era of systems of engagement, as coined by Geoffrey Moore. In a world of much more dynamic and ad-hoc work in the enterprise, systems of engagement were tools for collaboration, communication, video, work and project management, social and intranets, and more. These tools dealt with all the messy, unstructured data in an enterprise - the conversations, collaborative docs, and media that began to drive a shift in how the entire enterprise worked. 

Now, in the mid 2020s, we are firmly entering a new era of enterprise software, which gives rise to systems of intelligence. Systems of intelligence combine enterprise data, workflows, and AI, to deliver insights and automation to an organization. Importantly, because of the ability for AI to process unlimited unstructured data - like documents, video, or communications - we also get the same benefit from this messy data as we did our structured data. We can query, synthesize, calculate, and automate all the work around thus unstructured data just as easily as we could query a database before.

Unlike systems of engagement that generally broke down the more information that goes into them, we see the reverse now with AI, where software can become more powerful and useful the more data it has access to.

And with AI Agents being a native property of systems of intelligence, these systems aren’t only leveraged by every employee, they dramatically expand the output of the workforce. Systems of record are where people work by largely themselves. Systems of engagement let users work collaboratively with other people. Now systems of intelligence let us work seamlessly with people and AI. 

These systems will also talk to each other in completely new ways. Instead of deterministic APIs and clear handshakes, with Agentic AI, these systems will communicate with each other much like a humans do. A user will make a request in one system, and it will fan out the ask to a variety of other similar systems relevant for the desired information. And if it didn’t get what it wanted, it will simply request again in a different way, just as a person would.

We’re going to see systems of intelligence in every domain of work - across every line of business and every vertical. Some of these technologies will be incumbents that evolve, and many offerings will be brand new startups that fill a new gap between existing systems. Wild times ahead.

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

As a CEO - the end of year is always a critical time to have your senior leaders spend time reflecting on what worked and didn’t - and setting the vision for the upcoming year.

Here are the 2 long form docs I always have my teams write (and I assess their capabilities with):

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

I currently manage 14 VPs of various divisions within 3 companies. These are the 2 most important documents they produce all year (with templates):

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

If you can teach your kids 1 thing - make it confidence…

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

Great opportunity for any aspiring entrepreneur or anyone interested in diving deep into the VC world. I’ve known several of Josh’s former CoS and all raved about the experience and learning.

Highly recommend.

[Joshua Baer ⚙️ @JoshuaBaer]

See everything, meet everyone, and launch your career to new levels as my Chief of Staff at @CapitalFactory.

Cash compensation is $125k the first year and $150k the second. The rest is priceless!

https://t.co/P9Dg32TJyq

(please repost – applications close on November 15)

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

This coaching is applicable for all managers

[Alex Brogan @_alexbrogan]

Holding team members accountable is simultaneously one of the hardest and most important things to do in business.

Here's how to do it in 3 easy steps:

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

Amazing visual…

[Colin McCarthy @US_Stormwatch]

12-hour timelapse of American Airlines, Delta, and United plane traffic after what was likely the biggest IT outage in history forced a nationwide ground stop of the three airlines.

[Hemant Mohapatra @MohapatraHemant]

In 2 pages @JeffBezos teaches you more about high standards than you'll learn from reading 2 books. The art of summarising that which resists summary is critical to achieving greatness. The world will forget you, except what you've written down, then what you've written down well

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

Great example of understanding something at the atomic level - then making decisions on it. All managers have something to learn from this answer.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

If you want a detailed explanation of why I switched Starship from carbon fiber to stainless steel

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

@rogerdickey The CC theory isn’t actually the bad part. But you need to teach kids how to linearly organize their work on the paper first - since so much of it relies on independent steps later added together. And most kids write all over the paper and can never bring it back together.

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

Nothing brings me more joy than unteaching my 13-year-old common core math…

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

Honored to ‘be’ the humble stewards…. Sorry for the typo :)

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

We were honored to the humble stewards of @rogerdickey & @dolaoseb amazing @trygigster vision for 2.5yrs under @IonicPartners. Thank you & I hope we helped advance the cloud vision...

Ionic Partners Completes Sale of Gigster to Virtasant https://t.co/7QbHgu6mSM via @ein_news

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

@VijarKohli Very interesting thesis…

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

After 46 years - I finally did the math. I was actually born a day earlier due to timezones. Curious debate - should birthdays be celebrated based on the calendar day or the exact moment we entered the world (considering where we were born)?

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

@AdamSinger Heh heh - thanks Adam.

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

Excited to bring together 2 world-class organizations.

Ionic Partners unites Edsembli and Sparkrock to forge a new powerhouse in Canada's K-12 EdTech space ⁦@IonicPartners⁩ ⁦@Sparkrock365⁩ ⁦@edsembli⁩ ⁦@DonaldxPark⁩ https://t.co/QSqxMiwNgM

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

301 Reshaping Leadership for the Remote Revolution: AI Integration, Motivating Dispersed Teams, and Scaling Through Change with Veteran Tech CEO Andy Tryba | Partnering Leadership Global Thought Leader https://t.co/mulokz1vgt

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

7). Don’t try to force them to accomplish - they will do the goals that they’re passionate about. This exercise is more about them learning how to set annual goals than tiger-dad execution management. Best if they drive accomplishment on their own.

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

Teaching your kids to set annual goals is a life skill that will change their lives forever. I’ve tried various methods over the years and continually failed. Until I finally cracked the code. Here is what I painfully learned:

[Andy Tryba @andytryba]

6). Post on the fridge - and keep the goals visible throughout the year. Use family dinners to ask about how they are going. Celebrate any incremental accomplishment.