Paddle has appointed software industry veteran Jimmy Fitzgerald to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer.
Fitzgerald will help the London firm – a revenue delivery platform for B2B Software-as-a-Service companies – in its mission to ‘supercharge the growth of fast-scaling software businesses everywhere’.
Fitzgerald joins Paddle from ServiceNow, where he held a number of senior roles over a ten-year period, including Senior Vice President of Customer Outcomes and Vice President and General Manager of Asia Pacific and Japan, and where he led the company’s customer success, go-to-market and growth strategies.
Prior to ServiceNow, Fitzgerald was COO at SaaS price optimisation startup SignalDemand (acquired by PROS) and held senior leadership positions at customer relationship management (CRM) pioneer Siebel Systems (later acquired by Oracle).
As President and COO, Fitzgerald will sit on Paddle’s board and oversee the company’s commercial operations. With global and regional experience working in the B2B software space, Fitzgerald will also focus on guiding Paddle’s global growth, starting with the business’ US expansion.
“Now worth over $100bn globally, the SaaS industry is growing faster than any other sector and will continue to do so for years to come. However, despite the enormous opportunity, too many software businesses with great products still struggle to unlock their growth potential,” said Fitzgerald.
“Paddle is solving this problem and over 2000 customers now leverage its revenue delivery platform as a critical growth lever. It was Paddle’s ability to be a strategic partner for SaaS leaders, combined with the company’s global ambitions, that first attracted me to the business.
“Most important however, was the phenomenal team and culture that co-founders Christian and Harrison have built. The company is scaling rapidly and is about to enter a new phase of growth. It’s a great time to join and I can’t wait to get started.”
Christian Owens, CEO and co-founder of Paddle, said: “Paddle was created to help B2B SaaS companies grow revenue, while reducing the operational, regulatory and technical burdens of selling software.
“The last few years have demonstrated the market opportunity for this kind of revenue delivery platform and, as we enter the next phase of growth for the business, there is no one better than Jimmy to join our leadership team, given his track record leading some of the world’s most innovative software companies.
“This appointment is a key part of our ambitious hiring plans for 2021 and Jimmy will be leading a number of critical initiatives, including expanding our international presence and increasing our share of the enterprise market. We’re delighted to have him onboard.”