Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1541563
C T I N N O V A T O R S , 2 0 2 5 2 1 "If you have this external hard drive that you plug in and leave on all the time, it can slowly get the information to the cloud and you can make a quick backup locally because it's already right there," he said. "At the time, there were not any products that I could see that could do that." He ran the idea past a few people in the field, including some of his former RIT professors, but they weren't excited, dismissing it as neither innovative nor interesting. By then, however, he had already racked up significant credit card debt developing the device and felt compelled to push forward — knowing it would end either in success or, as he put it, "extreme failure." His first hint of which way things might go came aer he persuaded a tech blog to review the device — and the publicity generated his first wave of orders. Along with those early orders came inquiries from companies known as managed service providers, or MSPs — firms that handle IT needs for small businesses that prefer not to do so in-house. At first, McChord didn't see the need for a middleman, but aer the fourth such call, he had a lightbulb moment: this could be the key to scaling his business. "at gave us clarity of market," he said. "Rather than trying to sell to all small businesses, which there's a ton of noise, we could focus on this as a product for MSPs to resell." It also took away many of the questions that small businesses might have had about trusting their data to a device built by a 20-something in his parents' basement. e pivot worked, and he says the subsequent revenue curve was "insane." e first year Datto was in business, it brought in $180,000. By year five, it was making $25 million and employing 100 people. roughout this process, McChord continued to bootstrap the company, which, as it scaled, was a little frightening. "We never had more than … two or three months worth of cash in the bank," he said. " ere were some times when we couldn't make all of payroll. It was just intense." e true scale of what he'd built hit home in 2013, when he received a $100 million buyout offer from a firm he's never identified. It was, he says, an "unfathomable" sum of money. But McChord disliked the buyer's plan — which involved laying off staff and relocating the company from Norwalk — so he turned it down. Still, the offer opened him up to raising capital. at same year, he attracted his first outside funding — $25 million from venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners, a move that set him, he says, inevita- bly on a path to an exit. By 2015, Datto had reached the vaunted $1 billion valuation, and in 2017, he found a deal he could live with, selling to Vista Partners for $1.5 billion. is time, he felt he had more power to insist on a deal that would work for his employees — who by this point numbered almost 900 — preserving things like a gold-plated healthcare plan and the perks that went into making the company culture. "If you don't like the financial results, let's talk about it," he says of his attitude to Vista. " But don't get all in my shorts about how we do the minutiae — what makes this company great. And we won that battle, and that was really cool." Vista also bought California-based tech company Autodesk at the same time, combining the two businesses under McChord's leadership — and doubling his employee count. But he stayed just a year as CEO, stepping away in 2019 as Vista prepared to go public. 'Daunting' task McChord describes it as a selfish decision. Aer 11 years of building a business, and still only in his early 30s, he was ready for other things to happen in his life. One of those things was making time and space to meet his wife Allison. ey met online that year, and she says the subject of wealth came up right at the first date. "I was asking, well, how do you even deal with this? Like, what do you do? How do you live your life?" she recalled. ose questions did not become any easier when the two married in 2023 and began to really contemplate picking a major philanthropic project. "It becomes a little bit daunting because you want to make the right choice," she said. "You want to put the money where it's going to make the biggest difference. And it becomes a little bit overwhelming." "Giving away money is harder than you might think," McChord confirms. By 2024, the couple was ready to announce their pick. 'Horrifying' cost Manresa Island is a 125-acre peninsula at the mouth of Norwalk Harbor on Long Island Sound that for decades was the site of a coal- and then oil-burning power plant owned by NRG. e plant was damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and permanently closed the following year, although the massive turbine hall and smokestack remain, serving as a visible landmark for miles. e site is also heavily contaminated with coal ash, making a prime piece of Connecticut coastline wholly inaccessible to the public. e McChords first fully considered the project during a kayak outing in the Sound. "Something about the site is really magical, even from the water," Allison said. " And you're like, man, I wish I could get on there. is would be such a cool park." e idea crystallized, and the two formed a corporation to purchase the site and take on the monumental task of transforming it into a publicly accessible nature park. Initially, they planned to demolish all the existing buildings, but that changed once they toured the property and stepped inside the massive turbine hall. From the soaring interior to the sweeping views from the roof, they realized the structures themselves were remarkable assets worth preserving. While the final master plan won't be revealed until next year, the overall design could feature swimming pools, water slides, restaurants and event spaces, while the park will include walking paths, restored wetlands and a public beach. McChord describes the potential cost of the project as "horrifying," noting that environmental remediation alone could reach $100 mil- lion. Still, he and his wife say they don't plan to seek grants or public funding, believing that financing the effort themselves will give them greater control over the final outcome. It also gives them scope to innovate even during the remediation process. A forest has grown up on the coal ash deposits that connect the peninsula to the rest of the shoreline. e toxic coal ash must be dealt with before the site can be made safe, and the most straightfor- ward plan would be to clear-cut the trees and then pave over the area, something that McChord views as an "ecological tragedy." "We never had more than … two or three months worth of cash in the bank. There were some times when we couldn't make all of payroll. It was just intense." — Austin McChord Continued on next page