Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, watch the video interview with Rob Bernshteyn, Coupa’s Rob Bernshteyn Is That Rarest of CEOs Who’ve Multiplied Their Company’s Value by 1000xLinks to an external site..
Rob Bernshteyn is an American businessman known for being the CEO and Chairman of Coupa Software, Inc. He has served as Vice President of global product marketing and management at SuccessFactors, Inc., and has an estimated net worth of US $88 million.
Bernshteyn was born in the former Soviet Union and migrated to Brooklyn, New York, in the 1970s. He got his Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
After graduation from the State University of New York, he worked at Accenture and then at McKinsey & Company in their SAP line of business. Later, he served in product marketing at Siebel Systems. and was the Vice President of global product marketing and management at SuccessFactors, Inc. He led SuccessFactors’s growth from a private SaaS provider to its listing on NASDAQ in 2007. It is now acquired by SAP SE.
Bernshteyn joined Coupa Software in February 2009. He guided the start-up through its IPO in 2016. Under his leadership, the company has reported 26 consecutive quarters of subscription revenue growth. As of June 2020, the company has a market capitalization of 17 billion USD.
Bernshteyn has served on the board for Entelo and Medallia; and is also an advisor to Waggl. He is a guest lecturer at both Stanford and Harvard business schools. (EverybodyWiki, n.d., paras. 1–5)
Please watch the interview with Rob Bernshteyn, CEO and chairman of Coupa Software, Inc., and answer the following questions:
- Based on this interview what are the four fundamental entities that all companies need to manage, and what is Coupa’s priority of the four?
- Bernshteyn touched on ways companies could have prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic with technology. How has his company embraced technology before the pandemic to ensure their survival? Share your thoughts on what Bernshteyn touched on to live in a virtual world and how the company is making changes to embrace this new way of operating.
- In the interview Rich Karlgaard asks a question based on Bernshteyn’s book about the power of community in which he commented “where the economy is headed and the benefits you get when you give your data, and you receive something in return.” Share what you gained from Bernshteyn’s response to this statement.
- Bernshteyn described the leadership style used at Coupa in the interview. Share what you gained from his comments and how his leadership style contrasts with the leadership style at a company you have worked for in the past. What elements could you take from this interview to help your own leadership style continue to develop?