Building on Significant Q1 Growth, Imperative Appoints New CTO to Further Accelerate Technical Innovation and Growth

The peer coaching platform startup hires technology veteran J.R. Jesson to shape its technology vision and support its next growth stage.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Imperative, the enterprise peer coaching platform, announced J.R. Jesson has joined the executive team as Chief Technology Officer.

Jesson's hiring caps a momentous Q1 for the company. Over the last twelve months, Imperative has grown annual recurring revenue (ARR) by over 400%. In 2022, the company launched their new executive dashboard to track the ROI of the platform and reported 10% month-on-month customer conversation growth. This momentum reflects the broader trend of organizations investing in social capital solutions that support employee retention, inclusion, and ongoing development. The new CTO will be responsible for owning and driving the technical vision, team, and technology needed to address this growing need.

"We are thrilled to have J.R. join the team and lead the development of our platform," said Aaron Hurst, Founder and CEO of Imperative. "As we invest in our leadership team to support scaling, J.R. brings a rare combination of technical vision, people-first management, customer insights, and a passion for the impact we are making at Imperative."

Jesson is a visionary technology leader who has been at the forefront of digital transformation. He has led engineering and product for six start-ups, including two he founded, and has had multiple successful exits. Most recently, as an Affiliate of the Feld Group Institute, Jesson helped clients such as Southwest Airlines and American Century Investments build leadership capacity for business and technical agility.

J.R. noted, "Imperative invented the enterprise peer coaching platform to make coaching accessible to every employee in a company for the first time through its science-backed model," shared Jesson. "This innovation has unlocked the ability to address the most critical need I have seen over the last decade working in digital and business transformation for large employers—building agile cultures and employee networks that can embrace change.”

Imperative has disrupted the $20 billion coaching industry by using technology to enable peers to coach each other with no training or need for professional coaches. Unlike expensive outsourced coaching, Imperative builds long-term relationships inside companies and helps break down barriers. The technology is quickly being adopted by enterprises seeking to build more agile and high performing cultures that attract and retain top talent in the new workplace.

About Imperative

Imperative is the enterprise peer coaching platform that combines A.I. technology and behavioral science to manage, scale, and measure peer coaching programs that address the needs for social connection and learning in the new world of work. Imperative is powered by its employee purpose profiling technology that enables the platform to accelerate trust between employees and enables everyone to serve as a coach for each other - reducing turnover by 35%. Since its launch in 2020, large and quickly growing companies like Microsoft, Hasbro, Accolade, GSK, Boston Scientific, Airbnb, and Zillow have adopted the platform to break down barriers within their organizations and empower their employees to align their purpose with their daily work. Imperative is a B Corporation founded by workplace entrepreneur Aaron Hurst and funded by Voyager Capital.