It’s no secret: company culture is everything. But what makes a company culture? And how does that company culture make Ternary the best FinOps platform available? We spoke with Ternary’s Head of People and Talent, Danny Kornreich, to learn more.
Danny and Ternary: An origin story
Danny’s own Ternary story started before Ternary had even been founded. He first met Ternary co-founder Joshua Kwan while working at the then-startup Arbor. Shortly after Arbor was acquired by LiveRamp, he met CEO and co-founder Sasha Kipervarg, and they worked together to scale LiveRamp’s Infrastructure team. After his time at LiveRamp, Danny joined Rippling, a Human Resources startup. Danny spent what he called a “master’s program” year at the company, as an early hire on their recruiting team as the company experienced hypergrowth. As Rippling continued to grow, Danny knew that he wanted to return to his roots and help build a company from the ground up. When he learned that Sasha and Joshua had founded Ternary, he saw a unique opportunity to take his learnings to another early-stage company.
His favorite part of being a member of the Ternary team? Being exposed to so many different areas and departments. Danny emphasized the unique ability to learn from other people and wear new hats on a small team. That ability to grow with a group is, in Danny’s opinion, what makes Ternary shine.
A culture based on experience and efficiency
Danny immediately defined having many experienced people in the new field of FinOps as a core component of Ternary’s culture. Ternary leaders are among the first FinOps practitioners; many employees initially worked at first-generation tooling vendors, and collectively, they possess decades of experience in the DevOps space. For context, the FinOps Foundation itself was only founded in 2019!
In Danny’s words, “It’s not the customer’s job to be Ternary’s product manager.” Our experience allows us to identify root problems rather than have a one-solution approach. You may have high spending, but is it an anomaly? Is it from one specific platform? What patterns can we change to make a real impact? Ternary has the knowledge needed to find what fixes matter for your team.
Another huge focus at Ternary is automating away problems. This encompasses features ranging from anomaly detection to forecasting, enabling teams to operate across silos. This functionality can only come from a team that’s full of people who’ve used tools just like you do.
Dot-connecting: The Ternary way
Our dedication to understanding our clients defines Ternary’s culture. Danny sums it up: “Being able to live in the shoes of the customer, not just because you were on a call with them, but because you were actually the customer makes such a big difference.”
When asked about his hiring philosophy in the FinOps space, Danny emphasized the importance of being a “dot-connector.” He defines this as a person who is passionate about the field, can identify patterns, anticipate needs, and can work well across all teams. Danny approaches recruiting by considering not how a candidate will “fit in” to Ternary’s culture but how they’ll add to it.
A prime example is the collaboration between Ternary’s sales and engineering teams. If the sales team hears users consistently bring up a pain point in their cloud spend tracking, they will let engineering know so they can start creating a solution. This flow of communication is the very heart of Ternary innovation. Danny also emphasized the necessity of a winning mindset as a major component of the company’s culture.
Learn more about the Ternary team.
