Visionaries
Therese’s Retirement Plan B
How Therese Tucker’s Retirement Plan didn’t go exactly as...planned.
{Woodland Hills, California}
By Tadd Wooton
Over the past few years, BlackLine Systems has been racing to the top of many lists, particularly in technology and accounting fields. Already three of the “Big 4” accounting firms have recognized the value and need for their technology by having representatives from each firm earn BlackLine Implementation Certifications through a proprietary program developed by BlackLine.
Recently, SAP recognized BlackLine as a Pinnacle Award Finalist – Software Solution Newcomer of the Year; technology industry research firm Lead411 named BlackLine to its list of the “Hottest Technology Companies in Southern California” for 2011.
This software company, founded by Therese Tucker, has not gone unnoticed by other prestigious listers such as Deloitte Technology Fast 500, Inc.; Magazines 500/5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies (3-years in a row); and Red Herring Global 100. Ms. Tucker’s achievements were honored by E&Y’s Entrepreneur of the year program twice; the San Fernando Valley Business Journal credited her as one of the top 10 Business Women of the Decade.
Such a track record leaves little doubt that this small woman-owned business is going places…fast.
Sometimes you make plans and sometimes you have to change your plans. Still other times, a plan or idea pops into your head that manages to trample all the other competing thoughts and agendas in your mind. Eventually, that despotic set of brain cells will not rest until you’ve done something about it.
Speaking of rest, that’s exactly what Therese Tucker had “planned” when she retired from her CTO position at SunGard Treasury Systems roughly 10 years ago. Shortly after her five-year-old daughter told her “you’re stressing me out, Mom,” Therese retired for all the right reasons.
She was looking forward to a leisurely life of parent-teacher involvement, taking care of her health and kids, and basically enjoying the fruits of a hard-worked career. That is, until she got bored after twelve months. About a year into retirement when the kids were ready for Mom to go back to work, new “plans” began to flutter around in the mind of the tech- savvy Ms. Tucker. Ironically, Therese’s big idea was spawned by one of the most ordinary experiences that we all have on a regular basis; the contemplation of filing her annual tax returns.
What Are My Options?
Therese had some basic questions about the tax impact of certain stock options she had earned as an executive at SunGard. Those questions and calculations seemed straight forward to her, but after talking to tax experts and surveying the market for an easy-to-use tool, she was unable to find succinct and adequate answers. Therese was in disbelief that she (and the experts) did not have an easier way to run the numbers; that was her “Are you kidding me?” moment. So, naturally, she decided to invent a Wealth Management Software.
Two years later that software was in use by First National Bank of Nebraska and the market was demanding more: more functionality, more users, more layers of access, more integration, etc. The needs of her earliest big customers (Health South, Allegheny Energy, Dana Corporation, and others) demonstrated the market was craving a high tech solution to the growing abyss of manual labor involved with accounting and reconciliation processes at large companies.
Roughly 10 years into this endeavor that she had dreamed up in her accountant’s office, Therese’s initial concept has evolved into BlackLine Systems, a state- of-the-art software company providing high tech accounting solutions for some of the largest companies in the world such as AT&T, Costco, and United Airlines…to name but a few.
BlackLine Systems started out serving the niche of corporate accounting departments looking to close the monthly books more efficiently. As it turns out, large corporations waste an incredible amount of human energy adjusting, closing, consolidating, and analyzing the books every month using methods that are shockingly manual. BlackLine Systems discovered that most large corporations merely replaced stacks of paper with servers full of spreadsheets and broken formulas. The premise of BlackLine’s enterprise software is to use intelligent rule-driven technology to perform and monitor monthly tasks that are commonly initiated, printed, reviewed, analyzed, revised, duplicated, and filed by humans (insert exasperated sigh here).
Non-accountants ignore this section: For all the accountants out there, BlackLine’s software aims to streamline many of the steps involved with balance sheet account reconciliations, bank recs, P&L account analysis, preparer & reviewer sign-off, tracking monthly close procedures, task monitoring, and consolidation. Imagine a world where you can accomplish all the same tasks you currently perform with 80-90% fewer spreadsheets and an automated review of zero balance accounts or accounts with no net change for the period. Pinch yourself…this isn’t a dream.
Other Options
While it is fun starting an incredibly successful technology venture in a market where customers are starved for answers and solutions, that hasn’t stopped this CEO from also becoming a certified yoga instructor this past year. That’s right, in true new-age-software-company style there is plenty of space in BlackLine’s ever-expanding premises dedicated to social and recreational activities such as a yoga session in the middle of the work day lead by none other than Therese Tucker, CEO.
Perhaps when she retires from BlackLine Systems, she may decide not to retire again and start up some sort of high tech Yoga franchise. If that’s even possible, she’s the type of person that will figure it out.
When you sit down with someone like Therese Tucker who oozes passion for her software and radiates with satisfaction in growing her idea into a successful business, all you can really do is sit back and admire her achievement and imagine what the future holds. And if you’re smart, you’ll ask a question or two with the hope that maybe some of her passion, ingenuity, and luck might germinate your next entrepreneurial “plan.”
With that in mind, I posed the following question to Therese that applies to everyone in a matter of time:
Question: What advice do you have for folks contemplating retirement?
Therese: Doing something you LOVE keeps you young, happy, and productive.
Thirty plus years of expertise is a terrible thing to waste because there are unlimited opportunities to put those skills to work for people much less fortunate locally and around the globe. If you need some help getting started, check out DreamCenter.org.
For those readers further from retirement (i.e. the young’uns), find a mentor, work like a dog, and have a dream.
Enough said.
