Meet Trailblazing Partner Eric Wu of Bracket Labs

Eric Wu is a co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Bracket Labs, a company Salesforce-famously known for TaskRay and other popular AppExchange solutions. Located outside of Boulder, Colorado, Eric co-founded the company specifically to build apps for the AppExchange. All of Bracket Labs’ solutions are built 100% native to the platform, and so Eric has held true to that mission for over eight years.

Eric is an early adopter of Salesforce. He listens to customers and takes action on their ideas and challenges with technology. Eric may be product focused, but his other passion is helping others. “Helping others is good for everybody," said Eric in a recent interview with Holly Rushton on the AppExchange team. Eric believes in collaboration, conversation and working together for the greater good of the Salesforce ecosystem. Here’s a look at more from that interview, which truly showcases why Eric is a trailblazing partner.

You co-founded Bracket Labs a while ago. How do you keep innovating?

Eric: It's going to be eight years in June, the longest I've ever held a job. Haha! We’re seeing new opportunities with Salesforce for brand new applications of operations and process management. Continuously challenge yourself to leverage multiple opportunities, such as Communities, Quip Live Apps, and developing on the platform. Then, bring that to life for customers.

Bracket Labs has multiple AppExchange apps. What is your most successful app?

Eric: We've had up to three apps in the past, but the one that has really driven our growth and the one that we focus on most is project and process management app TaskRay.

What do you love about your job and how does it fulfill your career passions?

Eric: My passion for product is around delivering an experience that people don't have to think about. It removes friction. It’s changing how customers do their work. That’s what gets me quite excited.

How do you continue to learn and grow?

Eric: I also love learning about our customer's businesses. I talk to different customers with different businesses, and learn all kinds of fun things that I never knew existed. That's probably one of my favorite aspects of the job.

Eric: Interacting with the community is so meaningful to me. Be present. Listen to what other people are up to. Always have the mindset of how you might be helpful. Share experiences. Having this community around us has always felt really good to me, and it turns out, it's also really good for business.

How do you respond to a major challenge?

Eric: After being introduced to a challenge you realize you learned some new things. You get some new muscle. I'm not scared of what might have felt scary before because I lived through it.

Eric: There’s no perfect recipe for success. There are no established patterns or playbooks that give you the perfect answers. All of our peers are trying to figure it out. With collaboration, we can share best practices and learn.

What advice do you have for other Trailblazers?

Eric: I can't over-emphasize the importance of technology knowledge. It’s changing so rapidly, even over the past eight years I’ve been involved. New tech, and the way people think about their business, changes quickly. You've got to keep up. You've got to be technical. That doesn't necessarily mean slinging code, but that does mean being comfortable with what technology is doing. So keep up with the emerging trends. Be interested in learning.

What does being a Trailblazer mean to you?

Eric Wu: To me, blazing a trail is like swinging a machete through uncharted, wild brush and leaving behind a path that’s a little bit easier to walk on. That's how it resonates for me.

Check out Bracket Labs' solutions TaskRay, Campaign Calendar and more on AppExchange, and connect with Eric on the Trailblazer Community.