how many times can you spot the letter s in:
the ceo of durham startup buystand has left to become an executive at avalara, a washington-based company whose cloud-based software is used by online retailers to automate sales tax payments to the 50 states.
but joe davy, 24, isnt leaving the triangle.
he has been named general manager of avalaras certcapture business, which is based in raleigh. certcapture, which automates for companies the process of collecting sales tax exemption certificates for transactions where collecting a sales tax isnt required, has 20 employees locally and 30 overall, davy said.
davy, who was at the helm of buystand for about 18 months, said he is leaving the business in good shape and it is now time to bring in someone with more of a consumer products background. the buystand website matches consumers who say theyre willing to pay a specified price for a product with retailers and brands willing to sell it at that price.
i felt like we had accomplished all the goals i set out to accomplish, davy said. we signed up 25,000 members. we sighed up 400 brands. buystand has about 10 employees.
davy said he will continue to serve as an advisor to buystand.
buystand was conceived by a principal at durham-based 8 rivers capital, which has invested an undisclosed amount in the business.
8 rivers spokesman walker diming referred questions about davys departure and plans for naming a successor to buystand. buystand officials werent immediately available for comment.
davy called avalara a mature startup with about 400 employees.
i like the idea of running a small entrepreneurial (team) that has the resources of a larger company, he said.
before joining buystand davy was the co-founder and first ceo of evoapp, a business software company that generated plenty of buzz and expanded rapidly before collapsing. at avalara, he said, hes returning to his roots.
i feel like my background is in enterprise sales and enterprise software, he said. thats what gets me excited.
user
In that passage, there are one hundred and thirty-one occurrences of the letter "s."
assistant