Sean Barry has taken the CEO seat at Kobiton, a growing startup in Atlanta looking to improve the way companies test their mobile applications.
While moving into the user testing space, Barry is bringing his tried and true method for leading hyper-growth companies and managing them through change. He most recently worked as COO of Rent.com (previously Atlanta-based RentPath, a giant in the property rental space). He’s also been on both sides of M&A transactions over his twenty year career while working across the enterprise landscape.
That will be valuable as Barry steps in at Kobiton. The startup acquired another Atlanta-based company, Mobile Labs, in 2020 and Barry says one of his focuses at the start of 2023 is to fully integrate and scale the two teams together.
“It’s about really making sure that the team has a clear definition of who we are as a company, what are our core values, and what are the systems and processes we have so we can deliver a fantastic mobile app experience,” he told Hypepotamus.
What’s Next For Kobiton
Mobile testing comes with its own unique set of challenges. There are hundreds of different types of mobile devices, meaning there are hundreds of different tests that have to be carried out to ensure that all customers can navigate through an app successfully. Mobile problems can lead to a huge loss in business, particularly for enterprise companies.
Founded in 2016, Kobiton has made a name for itself in the mobile and usability testing space, earning enterprise customers across verticals like travel, fintech, consulting, and consumer products.
Atlanta-based investors in the startup include Panoramic Ventures, Fulcrum Equity Partners, and Service Provider Capital. Kobiton has raised just over $34 million to date, most recently closing a $12 million venture round in 2021.
It was Barry’s enterprise-heavy background that caught the eye of Kobiton’s investors and board members.
Jim Douglass, Partner at Fulcrum Equity Partners, said in a press statement that “Barry’s ‘client centric’ leadership coupled with his ability to unlock talent and empower his teams have helped Sean deliver results to customers and investors for over two decades. We are confident in Sean’s ability to drive growth at Kobiton in a similar fashion.”
Looking into 2023, Barry told Hypepotamus that he is focused on bringing the team together to help their customers – overworked and very stressed testing teams.
“For an automation engineering or testing team, Mondays suck,” he said. “They are usually the least in the last considered in the whole SDLC (software development life cycle) process. Our product gives people their Mondays back. We’ve helped them go from manual to automated. We run three times as fast as any of our competitors. And we are way better at getting you the answers on where the brakes are.”
