Domo 'starting to crank' with across-the-board analytics tool, exec says

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Josh James wants you to have the latest information about his data analytics startup, Domo. “We’re starting to crank,” he said today at VentureBeat’s DataBeat/Data Science Summit.

These days, the company is selling $3 million per month in new annual contracts, said James, its chief executive.

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And in introducing James, VentureBeat founder and editor-in-chief Matt Marshall said Domo has 350 customers.

Such adoption is good news for Domo’s investors, such as Benchmark Capital and Greylock Partners, who have poured $125 million into the Utah-based startup.

But it sounds like investors see a lot of potential for the sort of technology Domo is offering — a tool for bringing together a company’s data from many typically disparate sources and only sending out alerts when results fall outside preset parameters.

James characterized his interaction with one investor as something out of “a Hollywood movie.”

A $10 million investment is for wussies, and $20 million is “just screwing around,” James recalled the investor saying.

“This is the best part,” James said. “‘You’re Josh Effing James. You need $30 million effing dollars, and we’re going to effing give it to you.’ I was like, ‘OK.'”

Without doubt, that experience reflects James’ stellar background. He’s taken Omniture public and saw it acquired by Adobe.

But more generally, investor appetite for backing James’ technology indicates that investors think more businesses could start using simpler, more real-time systems for understanding what’s happening. That situation could surely benefit Domo as well as other startups.

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The company is not completely transparent about its product. Companies have to sign nondisclosure agreements before becoming Domo customers. But once it opens up more, it stands to appeal to many more companies. Surely competitors will want to take note, too.