Looker, Google, and Now…Omni: A Quest for the Next Big Startup
Formed in Santa Cruz in 2012, Looker was a startup that revolutionized business intelligence (BI) with its intuitive platform. Seven years later, Google came knocking, and in an acquisition deal worth a staggering $2.6 billion, Looker became part of the tech giant's ever-expanding empire. Celebrations erupted, but after a while, a new chapter was beginning to emerge.
Whispers started swirling around about ex-Lookers reuniting, their minds abuzz with fresh ideas. Intrigued, we embarked on a mission to uncover their next act. Our search led us to Diego Jara Simkin, a former Senior Enterprise Account Executive at Looker who now spearheads the founding sales team at Omni, a startup brimming with ex-Looker talent. What follows is a glimpse into their world, a tale of transition, reinvention, and the audacious vision driving Omni's journey. Check out our interview below.
Santa Cruz Works: Let’s start from the very beginning..What brought you to Looker and where did your journey with Looker begin?
Diego Jara Simkin
Diego: I was born and raised in Santa Cruz, but in 2014, I was living in L.A. I came back to visit for a wedding and my brother Rafael, who was one of the first 20 employees at Looker, suggested I interview with Looker. Initially, I was hoping for a role in customer success. Lambert Billet, Looker’s VP of Sales at the time, said “I just need a seller right now, can you sell?.” And I replied, “Oh… sure, I think I can do that”. Then, I started in sales.
Santa Cruz Works: What was it like working on the team? Was it big?
Diego: The Sales team was small at the time with about 10-12 people. Many people on the team were fresh out of college and some weren’t. Even early on, some of us realized what a great culture Looker had and how special and fantastic it was. Since then, many of us have been looking for the next Looker.
Santa Cruz Works: Okay, and then the big day came when you, probably under confidentiality, were told that Google wants to buy you. How did everybody treat that news?
Diego: Most people were excited about the news that Google had acquired Looker. I think the general sentiment was that if there was going to be any company that would acquire Looker, Google would be the company.
I heard the news at 6 am while at the gym before my class was about to start and was very excited about it. And so that was probably the most energetic gym class I ever had, finding out that Looker after all those years was being acquired. I think most people were thrilled about the news and just looking forward to what it would be like to work with Google.
Santa Cruz Works: Okay, and that's the honeymoon. Then the marriage starts at about six to 12 months in. Did most people stay for the first year to see how the integration of the two companies would work?
Diego: Most people stayed for a while. Unfortunately, our first week officially at Google coincided with the first week of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of the big benefits of Google are their on-campus experience, that’s what they've always been known for. There were 1,000 employees when we were acquired. We got on campus, we got our laptops, and then they closed down all offices and we all started working from home. Google was one of the first companies to take COVID-19 seriously. So, none of us got to go on-site and experience those benefits. I think that was a big shock for a lot of Looker because we were all so close, especially in the Santa Cruz community. We had about 500 local employees. We were so close, and then we never saw each other again. Since then, some people have stayed, but a lot of people ended up trying to find the next Looker.
Santa Cruz Works: What was it like to shift from, you know, amazing, offices downtown, hanging out culture to inside and sheltering in place?
Diego: It was tough. I imagine many companies with close office cultures felt similarly. Before Covid, every Thursday at 3 p.m. Lloyd Tabb, our founder, would lead the mountain biking group, and help folks new to mountain biking get started. Our Santa Cruz culture felt very different than you would expect in Silicon Valley or San Francisco. I really appreciate that Lloyd wanted to build a company in Santa Cruz with such a community-focused culture. I’m proud of the culture we built in Santa Cruz, and I think that was really hard to lose with Covid.
Santa Cruz Works: Can you describe Omni in layman's terms or for someone who is not as tech-savvy?
Diego: Omni is a business intelligence tool. In layman's terms, Omni allows people to see their data and consume it easily. We have customers that span various industries from healthcare to logistics and trucking to financial services. For example, every company has data. And, especially nowadays, think about how a person may use Instagram or TikTok to see how exciting stuff about impressions and how often people view things. Understanding those sorts of are also what's important to businesses. And so when it comes to either B2B or B2C businesses, they do want as many people in their company to have access to data to understand what’s going on. And sometimes, that can be a really big challenge. So that's what Omni does, we help people see and understand their data.
Santa Cruz Works: Can you tell us about the spawning of Omni?
Diego: Omni is 23 months old, so we’re still early in the tech space. But there's 22 out of 30 of us who came from Looker. Many former employees of Looker were hoping to find the next great startup with a great product and a great culture. Co-founders Colin Zima and Jamie Davidson went to college together and had founded a company before that ended up being acquired by HotelTonight. They both eventually joined Looker, and after years at Looker they saw an opportunity to take on an ambitious project, incorporate learnings and major improvements, and carve a new path for themselves and eventually ex-Looker employees. They teamed up with our third co-founder, Chris Merrick, also a BI & data veteran (and college friend) to start Omni.
The team utilized past customer experiences and input to double down on what customers love, adapt quickly, and build something great. At Omni, we actually have a good number of customers already, and some of them were Looker advocates who came to Omni because they trusted the team, they believed in the vision. A lot of people who join Omni are passionate about what they are building, enjoy the fast-pace environment, and are hungry for the unknown.
Santa Cruz Works: It sounds like you guys have a leg up there because you have that direct experience with your customers and what they're using, what they need, what more they need, you know, and it just sounds like a perfect formula for success.
What makes Omni different from other competitors?
Diego:
Performance. The reality is most BI tools out there are at least 10 years old, and we’re building Omni with modern technology plus the benefits of being in the industry for up to 12 years. We understand and can keep up with the latest and greatest technologies. We've been able to move incredibly fast because our team is so familiar with what customers want to be able to do, and we’ve paired that with the latest and greatest technology. Colin Zima, our CEO, places a big emphasis on the performance of the product and speed of development. Whenever an engineer has a change, Colin asks, ‘how does it affect performance?’. Because that is a really big deal to him. We do engineering demos every Friday and post them on YouTube because we want to be very transparent about what we're building.
Another thing we prioritize at every level is the customer experience. We learned a lot from DCL, Looker’s Department of Customer Love, and want to deliver an exceptional experience. Our customer-facing teams work directly with our customers, but so do our engineers. And I think it makes a big difference on the experience and also on the product because it connects the people who are building Omni to the people they’re building for.
Santa Cruz Works: That's cool. So performance, speed of development, customer love, all of that. You haven't mentioned the secret, the magic word of 2023/2024. That's AI. Is there any AI integration?
Diego: Within tech, in general, you have to have an AI strategy. It's almost like a checkbox. We have an AI strategy, and we're excited about the opportunities it opens up but we also believe it’s important to be thoughtful. Because in the space there are limitations, such as hallucination, where AI can confidently deliver a wrong answer.
And part of why people usually will partner and buy Omni is for accurate data.
With AI, it's not known for being 100% all the time, so that's the balance that we're trying to strike is ensuring that, we're able to provide a faster-accelerated experience for our customers with AI, but also ensure that there is accuracy with the data that they're viewing so they don't make a business decision based on inaccurate data. That's the last thing that we would want a customer to experience. So our strategy involves incorporating AI with our data model and transparency in the AI. Our data model can ensure the AI is using the correct vocabulary and then a human is in the office to check and iterate on the results, because questions in data always lead to new questions. II’s iterative. My favorite new feature of the product that is AI-powered is the ability to come up with suggestions for our Calculations, which are Excel-style calculations directly in Omni. I’ve become better at Excel functions from AI within Omni!
So as a less technical user myself, I can click on a button and it will just recommend a list of Excel formulas for me that I probably would have never known before.
Santa Cruz Works: I think that was our last question. Before we end, is there anything else you want people to know?
Diego: I recently joined the Board of Directors at the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Cruz County. Especially now as a parent of two, that's something I'm personally excited about as they support over 1,600 kids here in Santa Cruz with three clubhouses. There's a great group of people working together here with the Boys and Girls Club. I was a club kid growing up here in Santa Cruz so I'm excited to help with that organization for the kids of Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz Works: Wonderful, we are stoked for you! Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us!
Diego: Thank you so much. Appreciate the time and the interview!
About Omni
Omni gives businesses one place to easily analyze all their data. Built by the teams that brought you Looker and Stitch, it brings together data models, a point-and-click UI, spreadsheet-style formulas, and powerful visualizations to help everyone access and use data. Omni is trusted by companies across industries and regions because it’s the only analytics solution that unifies every team across your business in a single platform.
Our team uses experience and customer empathy to build the analytics product we’ve always wanted to use. We believe in staying curious to learn new ways to do things, taking ownership of our work, and collaborating — with our customers, partners, data community, and team.