This week, TigerEye launched a new AI Analyst that brings quick, data-driven insights to go-to-market teams with a super simple chat interface. It’s like having an on-demand business expert that can answer complex questions about forecasts, customer metrics, and revenue trends — no spreadsheets or SQL skills needed. Ahead of the launch, we sat down with Tracy Young, CEO of TigerEye.

Initialized: Let’s begin with a brief explanation of TigerEye. Can you share a little about what inspired you to create the company?

Tracy: TigerEye is an AI business analyst for everyone in finance, sales, marketing and customer success. Our company launched in March 2024 after building a platform in stealth for close to two years. I previously led PlanGrid to $100M in ARR, and have always created tools to improve my past jobs. PlanGrid was my dream as a construction engineer; TigerEye is what I needed as a founder to drive and predict growth. 

Initialized: How does TigerEye’s new AI Analyst make complex data insights more accessible for go-to-market teams, and what sets it apart from traditional business intelligence tools?

TigerEye’s AI Analyst allows anyone in GTM and leadership teams to answer complex questions and generate reports on demand.  Best part, companies can fact-check our sources, see the specific fields it’s pulling from, and view the math behind our analysis with just one click. 

Most of our competition requires data engineers to set up and administer and maintain their AI solution. Whereas TigerEys is a turnkey solution, we can deploy in days not months or years and are ready to help teams today.

Initialized: Switching topics a bit here. I know core values are extremely important to you. What is your personal definition of core values, and why are they important to TigerEye?

Tracy: Core values are a shared set of fundamental beliefs on how a company works and builds together. These values are the foundation upon how the team interacts, how they approach challenges, how they make technical decisions, and how they strive to achieve their goals.

The biggest challenge I encountered as a first-time entrepreneur was that I didn’t hire or fire according to our core values at PlanGrid. We had them, but we didn’t live by them. Here’s an example: we had a core value that said “No jerks,” yet I hired them and, worse, kept them. This signaled to the team that if you performed for me, you could get away with anything.

This is just one example of what we’re doing differently at TigerEye. With a decade of experience, we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t when it comes to core values. This time, we’ve ensured that our values are ones we live by both personally and professionally.

These core values are non-negotiable, and we share them with candidates during our first phone call. Our values are clearly defined, with a document of commitments to one another that outlines them in black and white. These ten commitments keep us focused on what truly matters. For instance, one of our commitments is to never speak negatively or destructively about anyone, especially behind their back.

Initialized: What were the ‘first’ core values that TigerEye established, and how did you prioritize and select these specific values? How did you ensure they were specific to TigerEye and not just generic platitudes?

Tracy: Our first core value at TigerEye, documented in our employee handbook, is wholeheartedness and I am copying it below:

Wholehearted: Life is hard even for the most fortunate of us. Building a company while living life will be challenging.  The best we can do is to be wholehearted in everything we do. Be wholehearted in our personal lives.  Be wholehearted when we are working. When we split our hearts into multiple pieces in multiple directions, we will get overwhelmed and be mediocre at everything.

So it’s all about participating 100% and being present in whatever we’re doing at the moment.

Initialized: How were these core values developed? Did you gather feedback from your team or other stakeholders before finalizing them, and how did their input influence your decisions?

Tracy: The interesting thing about being married to my co-founder and exiting a company in March 2020, right into a global lockdown, is that we had plenty of time to reflect on every mistake we ever made. Our core values were developed through thoughtful reflection and discussion after PlanGrid, with my co-founder, CTO, and husband, Ralph Gootee. We took long walks, thinking about what had worked and what hadn’t, identifying the qualities in people we wanted to work with again and those we didn’t. These reflections revealed common patterns that guided our vision for the culture we wanted to build.

We distilled these takeaways into our core values after about five super focused conversations. The process was straightforward and took just 10 minutes to write down the final list of core values. 

Initialized: How were the core values applied during TigerEye’s product and operational processes? 

Tracy: Our core values, especially Simplicity and Kaizen, play a crucial role in shaping TigerEye’s product and operational processes. I’ve witnessed intense technical debates end in agreement when an engineer pointed out, “this is the simpler solution.”

Initialized: What were some of the key challenges of adhering to the core values, especially during the early stages of TigerEye’s development? How did you overcome those challenges?

Tracy: Early on at TigerEye, we faced a challenge when we discovered that an employee, who was highly respected and close to us, was secretly working multiple full-time jobs—a trend known as being “overemployed.” Our initial instinct was to issue a warning rather than let them go, but a teammate reminded us, “He’s broken two of our core values: wholeheartedness and trust.” In the end, we made the difficult decision to part ways, ensuring our core values remained at the center of our actions, even when it was tough.

Initialized: Have any of the core values changed or been updated over time? How has TigerEye’s growth influenced this evolution?

Tracy: While our core values have remained the same, we’ve updated our “commitments to each other” document to reflect our evolving understanding of what’s important.

We recently let go of a competent and experienced employee who was a poor listener—something critical for communication within our fully remote team.

When we reviewed our core values, we realized “active listening” wasn’t explicitly included. So, we added it to our commitments. Active listening means making a conscious effort to understand and engage, ensuring that both the listener and speaker are fully present and compassionate in every conversation. This change reinforces our commitment to fostering a culture where everyone feels heard and understood.

Initialized: What is something you’ve learned since developing TigerEye’s core values that you wish you knew at the start, and do you have any advice for other founders who are establishing their own company’s core values for the first time?

Tracy: Fight for your company’s core values. Clearly define them, and hire, fire, and make strategic decisions based on them. At TigerEye, we were intentional about the culture we wanted to create, especially as a remote company. Our culture is vital because we aren’t physically together every day, making it even more important to stay aligned on values.