Looks like Looker is stopping in Philly for its JOIN 2019 tour. Here’s why it matters

Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Looker, makers of a business intelligence and data analytics platform, will be in town on Thursday for a half day of conferences and sessions with local customers.

The company, a staple among business-focused data analytics companies, is visiting over a dozen cities as part of its second annual customer roadshow — titled JOIN: The Tour — and Philly’s one of them.

The event is happening at Center City coworking space Convene, and will feature a lineup of speakers from the West Coast company:

• Dillon Morrison, senior product manager
  
• Troy Anderson,VP of inside sales
• Erik Kuld, product marketing manager

The event will also feature a handful of local speakers, including Sam Wilson, the CTO and cofounder of healthcare startup Bainbridge Health, as well as folks from Guru and Comcast.

Cari Goodrich, Looker’s senior director of global marketing programs, said in a blog post the tour would allow Looker users to connect with other customers, interact with execs and offer feedback to the company.

“As our customer community has grown, we’ve noticed that the way people use data varies across regions and continents,” Goodrich said. “Not only does JOIN: The Tour give us the opportunity to meet with the growing Looker community, but it is a great way to get to hear from you — our valued customers — so we can continue making our platform suit your data needs, no matter what region you reside in.”

Founded in 2012, Looker has around 1,600 customers and about 600 employees, per its website. Gartner, Inc. added the company’s name to its 2019 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Analytics and Business Intelligence Platforms, a ranking of in-demand names in data analytics companies.

Why is this tour stop of note? First, that a company with its standing can highlight a handful of local customers like the aforementioned Guru, Bainbridge and Comcast speaks to the maturity of the Philly market, which stands alongside London, New York, Paris and Boston in the lineup of stops.

In turn, hosting an open user engagement event is evidence that Philly is a desirable market, especially given the budding lineup of data-driven startups — think now-exited companies Stitch and RJMetrics, but also research-focused data analytics company Blackfynn.