Who is Peter Gassner CEO and Founder of SaaS Leader Veeva Systems
Peter Gassner has established himself as a significant figure in enterprise software, particularly through his leadership at Veeva Systems. His journey into technology leadership emerged from a strong technical background – he began his career as a software developer and gradually moved into executive roles.
Why Peter Gassner Built The Most Important SaaS Company You’ve Never Heard Of — And Turned It Into a $30B+ Vertical SaaS Cloud Giant
Before founding Veeva, Gassner’s experience was marked by significant positions at major software companies. At PeopleSoft, he served as Chief Architect and Vice President of PeopleTools Technology, where he played a crucial role in developing the company’s technology platform. Following PeopleSoft, he joined salesforce.com as Senior Vice President of Technology, where he gained valuable insights into cloud computing and the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model.
Let’s break down how a technical founder with enterprise DNA built one of the most successful vertical SaaS plays ever:
The TL;DR:
- Founded Veeva in 2007 after senior roles at Salesforce and PeopleSoft
- Spotted the massive opportunity in pharma/life sciences when everyone else was doing horizontal SaaS
- Built to $1B+ ARR with best-in-class margins and negative churn
- Proved vertical SaaS could be bigger than anyone thought
5 Key Learnings From The Veeva Playbook:
- Go Deep In One Vertical Gassner didn’t try to boil the ocean. Instead of building generic enterprise software, he went all-in on life sciences. While others chased broad horizontal plays, he deeply understood one industry’s pain points and built specifically for them.
- Start With The Hard Problems Rather than building basic CRM, Veeva tackled complex regulatory and compliance challenges that kept pharma CIOs up at night. They earned trust by solving the thorny problems others avoided.
- Land and Expand Like Crazy The initial Veeva CRM product was just the wedge. They expanded into quality, regulatory, clinical and more – capturing more and more of each customer’s tech stack. Classic vertical SaaS expansion.
- Focus on Customer Success Obsessively Gassner built a culture of extreme customer focus. When you’re selling mission-critical software to life sciences companies, you can’t afford to drop the ball. This focus turned customers into evangelists.
- Think Long-Term Unlike many founders, Gassner didn’t optimize for a quick flip. He built methodically, focusing on sustainable growth and profitability. The IPO in 2013 wasn’t an exit – it was just another milestone in building an enduring company.
The Numbers That Matter:
- 90%+ retention rates
- 30%+ EBITDA margins
- $2B+ in revenue
- Every top 20 pharma company as a customer
The Key Insight: While everyone else was building horizontal SaaS tools, Gassner recognized that some industries had such specific needs that they’d pay premium prices for vertical-specific solutions.
He proved that going deep in one industry could build a bigger company than going broad across many.
What’s Next: Veeva continues to expand its footprint in life sciences while selectively entering new verticals. The playbook they created has inspired a whole generation of vertical SaaS startups.
The Bottom Line: Peter Gassner built one of the most successful SaaS companies of all time by zigging (vertical) while others zagged (horizontal). His playbook of deep industry focus + methodical expansion + customer obsession has become the template for vertical SaaS success.
More Detailed Bio Here:
In 2007, Gassner founded Veeva Systems, identifying a crucial opportunity in the life sciences industry.
His vision was to create specialized cloud software for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, recognizing that these industries had unique regulatory requirements and complex business processes that weren’t well-served by generic software solutions. This focus on industry-specific solutions proved to be highly successful.
Under his leadership, Veeva developed key products like Veeva CRM (for customer relationship management) and Veeva Vault (for content management), which became industry standards in life sciences. He led the company through its successful IPO in 2013, which was one of the most successful public offerings for an enterprise software company at that time.
Gassner’s leadership style is known to be product-focused and customer-centric. He has emphasized building software that solves specific industry problems rather than creating generic solutions. This approach has been fundamental to Veeva’s success in becoming a leading provider of cloud-based software for the global life sciences industry.
In terms of education, Gassner holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Oregon State University. He’s known for maintaining a relatively low public profile despite his company’s success, focusing primarily on product development and customer satisfaction rather than public appearances.
One of Gassner’s notable achievements has been maintaining high customer satisfaction rates while growing Veeva into a multi-billion dollar company. His emphasis on customer success and product quality has helped Veeva maintain strong relationships with many of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
And a deep dive on Veeva’s latest metrics here:
(bio in part from Cohere)
