‘The Speed of Thought’

Despite pleas from his staff, Pivotal Commware CEO Brian Deutsch says he’ll never do a TED Talk.

That’s a shame because Deutsch has a fully-formed management and leadership philosophy based around intense vetting during the hiring process and delegating key tasks to his management team.

It’s working. Pivotal, a Kirkland-based 5G high-speed wireless coverage business, has grown its headcount to more than 120 employees as the importance of secure and wireless connections took on outsize importance during the remote-work boom during the pandemic. The company last year made this magazine’s 100 Best Companies To Work For list for the fourth consecutive year.

Deutsch, who has served as CEO since 2016, says he values initiative and risk-taking within a defined structure that he calls “necessary” for a company with employees around the globe. He is a “walk-and-talk” CEO who’s wary of back-and-forth email conversations.

“Hey, our offices are right here. Let’s talk,” he says. “What do we have that [larger competitors] don’t? Nimbleness, our ability to work, think and act at the speed of thought. Let’s not lose that.”

According to employees, Pivotal’s work environment is casual and friendly. The firm has the requisite perks, including a ping-pong table, a “tinkering” lab for its engineers, and lots of free food and drinks. The occasional Nerf gun war also breaks out. 

One perk especially resonates with employees: the company doesn’t formally track vacation time or personal days. If anything, Deutsch says, it has the opposite effect and managers must often force workers to take time off.

“We have some heroes who are here all the time,” he says. “We have told people to go take time off. You just have to find a way to get out of here.”

Pivotal thrived during the pandemic as the need for reliable connectivity still balanced remote and in-person work. Deutsch notes, however, that many of Pivotal’s engineers don’t have the luxury of working from home, so it launched several robust Covid communications and educational efforts to keep employees informed.

Deutsch notes the company’s past success and future growth begin by “winning” during the hiring process. He admits that Pivotal demands a lot from its workers. One common question: Hiring managers often ask employees to defend their master’s theses.

“I always like to talk about this, and not as a cautionary tale because we welcome everybody to take a shot at being part of Pivotal,” Deutsch says with a laugh, “but I would not want to interview for a job here.” 

Lots of people do. Deutsch says there’s no reason Pivotal can’t become a major player in the world of 5G.

“We’re hoping to be that nucleus,” he says. “That’s the vision.”