Datto: Tim Weller Named CEO To Succeed Founder Austin McChord

Datto has appointed Tim Weller as its new CEO to replace founder Austin McChord, who in October 2018 said he was stepping down from that role .

Weller joined Norwalk, Conn.-based Datto in mid-2017 as CFO and was then promoted to company president and chief operating officer. He takes over as the MSP-focused storage and operations platform developer is seeing strong growth organically and via key acquisitions including the late 2017 acquisition of professional services automation platform provider Autotask.

In his new role, Weller will combine the functions of CEO and president, he told CRN. There are currently no plans to seek a new president, he said.

[Related: Datto CEO Austin McChord Stepping Down]

McChord, who in 2007 founded Datto in the basement of his family's home, in 2017 sold the company to Vista Equity Partners for an unspecified sum but which industry sources said was over $1 billion as a prelude to Datto's acquisition of Autotask.

McChord still remains on Datto's board of directors, Weller said. "We meet every week," he said. "Before, I used to advise him. Now he advises me."

Going forward, McChord will focus on helping what Weller called "other young Austin McChords" with advice and investment while still helping at Datto.

"He certainly is in regular touch with our engineers," he said. "He also has his own lab down the road where he does everything from building go-carts and robots to testing our products."

Weller declined to discuss specific plans for Datto for 2019 until a meeting with MSPs later this quarter.

In general, he said, Datto will continue to deepen its MSP relationships while improving the company's sales, support and services to make the Datto and Autotask businesses look like a single entity. The company will also build out its global channels, particularly in Europe, and invest in its technology, he said.

"We are a tech company at our core," he said. "You'll see a lot of new technology. We tended to launch new technology at the two DattoCons we hold each year. But we're a bigger company now. You can expect new releases every quarter."

MSPs can also expect Datto to continue acquiring companies that, rather than add size, provide new technical expertise, Weller said.

"We've always got our eyes open," he said. "We're a tech company. We either build technology or acquire it. But we're not talking anything specific now. Our lens will be what's useful for our partners. And we have terrific backers with the resources to help us."

Datto finding its new CEO from within is a good move, said Dave Seibert, CIO at IT Innovators, an Irvine, Calif.-based MSP and Datto channel partner.

"Datto is a force in the industry," Seibert told CRN. "And it's at a size where it has so many good senior managers that whoever goes in at CEO will do well."

Seibert said appointing an experienced insider like Weller is important to keep Datto's momentum going.

"Datto has strong investor backing, so there's no struggle for financing," he said. "That empowers the company to grow. It has a strong management team, and momentum in the market. When you put those three things together, Tim can easily step in ready to help grow the company."