CEO switch signals change of pace at Intacct

On-demand ERP vendor Intacct has a new CEO at its helm today, its third in three years. Mike Braun has taken over from Bob Jurowski, who held the post for just under two-and-a-half years, and has now "decided to pursue other interests," according to the company's press statement. Jurowski joined in August 2004, taking on the job from founding CEO David Thomas who had also left "to pursue other interests." Thomas subsequently became executive director of software at the SIIA trade association.

I spoke to Braun at 8am PST this morning, which he pointed out to me was "the first minute of my first day in this job." I'd arranged the call because I wanted to find out what the change of CEO meant for Intacct. The company has always been a solid presence in the SaaS landscape, but has never commanded the visibility and attention of brasher names like Salesforce.com and NetSuite. And while other vendors are being talked of as potential IPO prospects (NetSuite, Successfactors, Rearden Commerce see disclosure), Intacct is still not at that stage. Was the decision to change CEOs one more time a sign of impatience on the board or among investors?

While paying tribute to what Intacct had achieved under Jurowski's leadership — "I don't what to be critical in any way of what's been done," he told me — Braun made it clear that he has a brief to get Intacct more noticed. "The awareness level of Intacct has to be be higher for us to grow faster."

Braun is already chairman of Callidus Software, an enterprise incentive management vendor, and while Callidus maybe can learn some SaaS tips from Intacct, there may be more crucial learning traffic flowing back to Intacct about selling to larger enterprises. Braun also has long-term experience at IBM — including an involvement in the launch of the original IBM PC — so he certainly knows the mainstream computing industry.

Another feather in Braun's cap is as a co-founder of The Interim CEO Network, which provides short-term chiefs to Silicon Valley companies. But he was quick to scotch any notion that his appointment to Intacct is an interim move: "Definitely not. I'm here for the duration."