“You don’t have to build a Snapchat to be a billionaire. Instead you go after a product, do it 30% better, 10% cheaper and build an incredibly valuable business,” Austin McChord, Founder and CEO of Datto, told Forbes, and that’s exactly what he did. McChord is the chief innovator, major shareholder and driving force behind Datto, which he touts as the best backup and disaster recovery (BDR) and business continuity (BC) solution available. He led the Norwalk, Conn.- based Datto to incredible growth with 2014 revenues just under 100 million – up 32-fold since 2010. He’s grown the company to 400-plus employees who support 5 million clients worldwide, including a handful in Greenland. Datto has made the coveted Inc. 500 for three consecutive years, in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The company has also received numerous industry awards, for company growth, product excellence and technical support. More than the accolades, McChord is proud to have created a unique culture at Datto; to always look ahead, exceed expectations, and keep Datto Partners at the forefront of everything we do. McChord is passionate about the culture at Datto, so much so, that he declined a $100 million offer for the company because he didn’t want to see his company dismantled. McChord, who owned 100% of Datto at the time, said he wasn’t done. According to Forbes, he instead raised $25 million from General Catalyst Partners in the fall of 2013. A deal that brought onboard Paul Sagan (former CEO of Akamai) and Steve Herrod (former CTO of VMware), turning scrappy Datto into a billion-dollar business. He has a degree in Bioinformatics from Rochester Institute of Technology, and holds several patents. In 2014 McChord was named a Finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, as well as named a CRN Top 25 Innovator and a CRN Top 50 Midmarket IT Vendor Executive. He was also named to the 2015 Forbes 30 under 30 list. Austin sits on the Board of the Connecticut Technology Council.