I’m really proud of my friends at Rally Software. Their business continues to grow very rapidly and they appear to have nailed the intersection of a couple of key trends – the growth of the Agile software development combined with the trendy but important reality of SaaS (“Software as a Service” for those of you living under a rock or in Alaska, like I like to do occasionally.)
Last week Rally closed an $8m financing led by Vista Ventures – this should fund them through profitability. Earlier this week, Ryan Martens – Rally’s founder and CTO – was named a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Rocky Mountain region. While I don’t usually put a lot of stock in awards, I’ve been a judge for the Rocky Mountain region in the past and recognize the high level of quality among the various nominees for this particular award.
I’ve said this before, but I don’t think I can say it often enough. If you develop software for a living, take a look at Rally’s stuff. A wide range of companies, from venture-backed companies (such as several of mine like NewsGator, Oxlo, Return Path, and Gold Systems) to large ISVs are now using Rally’s products. I’ve watched the adoption of Rally’s products spread through other VCs portfolio’s – such as my friend Scott Maxwell’s at Insight – it’s pretty fun to see the enthusiasm that Rally’s products coupled with the Agile methodologies can create.