Our Enduring Identity: 10 Years of Okta

Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest

February 4, 2019

This email was sent to Okta employees this morning.

Hi Everyone,

This week, we’re celebrating a decade of Okta. Whether you’ve been with us for years or just joined last week, this week is about you. It’s about what you’ve built, and more importantly, what you’re building.

Leading up to the week, we asked what you love about Okta. The most common answer we heard was “the people.” We heard that you’ve met your best friends and even spouses (!) here. You’ve worked with the smartest people you’ve ever met, and were inspired by and grateful for your colleagues, and the customers you make successful. Nothing makes us prouder. Why build a company? Why spend so much of your life at a job? It has to be about the people.

We also heard some of your favourite memories. Our first big customer wins. Joining forces with companies like Stormpath and ScaleFT. The IPO, and what that milestone meant to you. Our CTO, Hector Aguilar, tearing it up on the dance floor every year at Oktane. Building offices around the globe in London, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, and our new HQ in downtown San Francisco. The growth of Okta for Good, and how important it is to give back to your communities. Shaking every new employee’s hand at All Hands (apologies for any mispronounced names).

What really drives us, is how motivated you are to build Okta’s future. You’re excited by our incredible opportunity, and foresee us having millions of customers and tens of thousands of employees. Freddy and I know that although it seems like we've done so much in 10 years (and we have!) that in truth we are just getting started — and to hear that same thing from all of you gives us so much confidence in our future. And ten years from now when we’re celebrating another decade, we’ll realise that our potential was even bigger than we could have imagined.

We wrote at the IPO: “We are Okta. We take pride in our identity, and the identities we protect. We’re just getting started.” It’s just as true today as it will be 10 years from now.

We are so proud of the work this team has done and to be part of this movement with all of you. Looking forward to celebrating together in 2029.

Todd + Frederic

Todd McKinnon

CEO and Co-Founder

Todd McKinnon is the CEO and co-founder of Okta, the leading independent Identity provider, which he co-founded in 2009 with Frederic Kerrest. Under Todd’s leadership, Okta has transformed the way millions of people access the digital world and put Identity at the forefront of security and business growth.

Todd’s experience as a leader and technology visionary spans more than 25 years, with deep roots in enterprise software and cloud transformation. Prior to Okta, he held leadership roles at Salesforce and PeopleSoft.

Todd earned his bachelor’s degree in management and information systems from Brigham Young University and his master’s in computer science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He is a husband and father, an advocate for equality and inclusion, an exercise addict, and a mountain bike enthusiast.

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Frederic Kerrest

Vice Chairman, Co-Founder and former Chief Operating Officer

Frederic Kerrest is the Vice Chairman and Co-Founder of Okta. He served as Okta’s Chief Operating Officer during his tenure where he was responsible for Okta's day-to-day operations and worked with employees, partners, and customers to deliver on the company's vision of freeing everyone to safely use any technology. As a key member of management, Frederic helped set corporate priorities to drive success for the company and its customers. He oversaw corporate strategy, corporate development, strategic partnerships, and Okta’s social impact arm, Okta for Good.

Prior to Okta, Frederic worked in sales and business development at Salesforce.com, and in venture capital at Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.

Frederic is the author of Zero to IPO, a WSJ Bestseller guidebook to building startups based on his own experiences and those of some of the world’s most successful and recognizable entrepreneurs. The book was an outgrowth of his award-winning podcast of the same name, which features Silicon Valley founders, investors, and entrepreneurs sharing insights from their experiences building businesses. He advises early-stage software companies and serves as a Member of the MIT Corporation Visiting Committee for the Sloan School of Management.

Frederic earned a B.S. in computer science from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he was the 2008 MIT Patrick J. McGovern, Jr. Entrepreneurship Award recipient.

Our Enduring Identity: 10 Years of Okta

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