{"id":50357,"date":"2021-12-15T16:14:45","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T00:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"\/us\/en\/blog\/?p=50357"},"modified":"2023-11-03T13:54:13","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T20:54:13","slug":"ringcentral-connect-vlad-fireside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/us\/en\/blog\/ringcentral-connect-vlad-fireside\/","title":{"rendered":"Our plans for the future, explained by CEO Vlad Shmunis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When RingCentral was founded in 1999, we were just a few engineers with a vision for connecting people. Back then our tiny team was like a family, down to Founder Vlad Shmunis\u2019s wife bringing in lunches for the crew.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Times\u2014and communications\u2014have changed in the two decades since. And like many companies, we\u2019ve been through a few iterations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2b50 <strong>What is UCaaS?<\/strong> \u2b50<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Everything you need to know about unified communications. For beginners.<\/p>\n<p><center><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"download-form-widget enterprise-download-form\" data-url=\"https:\/\/netstorage.ringcentral.com\/documents\/unified-communications-as-a-service.pdf\" data-id=\"6a0f4f8aceeaa\" id=\"6a0f4f8aceeaa\">\n\t\t<button tabindex=\"on\"  on=\"tap:6a0f4f8aceeaa.toggleClass(class='open')\" class=\"open-modal-download-action download-form-button\" type=\"submit\">See the guide<\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"download-form-modal\">\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-body\">\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-content\">\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-title\">What is cloud communications? Here's our complete guide.<\/div>\n<form class=\"download-form ENTERPRISE\" method=\"post\">\n<div class=\"download-form-part\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"download-form-input\" aria-label=\"Full Name\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" type=\"text\" name=\"fullname\" placeholder=\"Full Name\" data-dl-events-hover=\"true\" data-dl-element=\"text\" data-dl-additional-info=\"enterprise download form\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"download-form-part\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input class=\"download-form-input\" aria-label=\"Email (please enter a work email address)\" aria-required=\"true\" aria-invalid=\"false\" type=\"email\" autocomplete=\"on\" name=\"email\" placeholder=\"Email (please enter a work email address)\" data-dl-events-hover=\"true\" data-dl-element=\"email\" data-dl-additional-info=\"enterprise download form\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"popup_form\" value=\"1\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"Asset_ID__c\" value=\"ODAM-02215\" class=\"download-form-input\"><\/div>\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"Lead_Entry_Source__c\" value=\"RC Blog Enterprise\" class=\"download-form-input\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"download-form-part\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"download-form-submit\" type=\"submit\" data-dl-element=\"button\" data-no-auto-dl=\"true\" data-dl-additional-info=\"enterprise download form\" data-dl-name=\"Download Now\">Download Now<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<button on=\"tap:6a0f4f8aceeaa.toggleClass(class='open')\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\"  class=\"download-form-modal-close\"><\/button>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"download-form-modal-thank\"> Enjoy!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t<\/span><\/center><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We started as a phone company selling deskphones and carrier services to small businesses. In the last two decades, we shifted to the cloud, secured key hardware and telco partnerships, and received major investments that have helped us grow and the world&#8217;s best talent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now we\u2019re a billion-dollar enterprise, and we hit record earnings in Q3. And through it all, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/vladshmunis\/\"><b>Vlad Shmunis<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, our Founder and CEO, has been at the center of everything we do.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rc-post-content-cta rc-post-content-cta_orange\">\n<div class=\"rc-post-content-cta-columns\">\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-img\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1898\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Vlad.png\" class=\"responsive-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-copy\">\n<div class=\"headline-copy\" style=\"text-align:left;\">How RingCentral went from startup to a $1 billion company<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"rc-post-content-cta-footer\">\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-logo-container\">\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-logo\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg width=\"154\" height=\"34\" viewBox=\"0 0 154 34\" fill=\"#000\" role=\"img\" aria-labelledby=\"cta-ring-logo-788959183\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<title id=\"cta-ring-logo-788959183\">Ring Central Logo<\/title>\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path d=\"M154 3.89618H150.386V26.9657H154V3.89618Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M141.313 11.6299C137.976 11.6299 135.388 13.2501 134.95 16.5546H138.504C138.754 15.3082 139.675 14.5591 141.313 14.5591C143.214 14.5591 144.086 15.6499 144.086 17.3647V18.1444H140.438C137.078 18.1444 134.593 19.6411 134.593 22.697C134.593 25.7529 136.619 27.3411 139.55 27.3411C141.826 27.3411 143.323 26.3721 144.133 24.8145H144.288V26.9529H147.716V17.4802C147.702 13.8276 145.833 11.6299 141.313 11.6299ZM140.58 24.5675C139.177 24.5675 138.303 23.8809 138.303 22.7339C138.303 21.4233 139.238 20.7383 140.921 20.7383H144.069L144.086 20.9549C144.088 23.2232 142.777 24.5675 140.58 24.5675Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M128.187 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\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.6302 16.6477V16.5017C13.8424 15.8905 15.339 14.4051 15.339 11.0684C15.339 7.64031 12.782 5.14423 8.04169 5.14423H0V26.9657H3.73931V18.3H8.29354C10.4143 18.3 11.4746 19.3604 11.4746 21.4811V26.9817H15.2139V21.4811C15.2139 18.3946 13.9033 17.1482 11.6302 16.6477ZM7.84117 14.9329H3.73931V8.51618H7.83956C9.86562 8.51618 11.4233 9.35998 11.4233 11.7277C11.4233 14.0955 9.85119 14.9329 7.84117 14.9329Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M19.7329 9.60219C20.2077 9.60219 20.6729 9.46262 21.0676 9.19794C21.4638 8.93485 21.7718 8.55948 21.9531 8.11994C22.1359 7.68039 22.1824 7.19754 22.091 6.73233C21.998 6.26552 21.7702 5.83721 21.4333 5.50194C21.0964 5.16506 20.6697 4.93727 20.2029 4.84423C19.7361 4.75119 19.2532 4.79931 18.8153 4.98219C18.3758 5.16506 18.002 5.47306 17.7373 5.86769C17.4742 6.26231 17.333 6.72752 17.3347 7.20235C17.3298 7.67879 17.4694 8.144 17.7325 8.54023C17.9956 8.93646 18.3726 9.24446 18.8137 9.42412C19.1041 9.54604 19.4169 9.6054 19.7329 9.60219Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M16.9769 0.548269C16.101 0.914019 15.307 1.44981 14.6364 2.12196L16.332 3.81756C16.7764 3.37 17.3041 3.01548 17.8865 2.77325C18.4688 2.53102 19.0928 2.40429 19.7232 2.40269C20.3537 2.40108 20.9777 2.523 21.5616 2.76362C22.1439 3.00264 22.6749 3.35556 23.1225 3.79991L24.8181 2.10431C23.8106 1.1001 22.5289 0.415123 21.1333 0.139206C19.7377 -0.139919 18.2907 0.00285184 16.9769 0.548269Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg><\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-link\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/ev.ringcentral.com\/Connect\/agenda\/session\/655388\" class=\"view-all view-all-brown\" data-dl-name=\"Watch the session\" data-dl-element=\"button\" data-dl-additional-info=\"bottom cta banner\" data-no-auto-dl=\"true\">Watch the session<span class=\"svg-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"#000\" role=\"img\" aria-labelledby=\"cta-ring-arrow-788959183\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<title id=\"cta-ring-arrow-788959183\">Ring Central Logo<\/title>\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<path d=\"M0 11.5C0 11.2239 0.223858 11 0.5 11H21.6797C21.9559 11 22.1797 11.2239 22.1797 11.5V12.5C22.1797 12.7761 21.9559 13 21.6797 13H0.5C0.223858 13 0 12.7761 0 12.5V11.5Z\" ><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t\t<path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M21.1718 12.0001L15.8086 6.63691C15.6134 6.44165 15.6134 6.12506 15.8086 5.9298L16.5157 5.22269C16.711 5.02743 17.0276 5.02743 17.2228 5.22269L23.6467 11.6465C23.8419 11.8418 23.8419 12.1584 23.6467 12.3536L17.2228 18.7775C17.0276 18.9727 16.711 18.9727 16.5157 18.7775L15.8086 18.0704C15.6134 17.8751 15.6134 17.5585 15.8086 17.3633L21.1718 12.0001Z\" ><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t<\/svg><\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At <\/span><b>RingCentral Connect, 2021<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Vlad sat down with <\/span><b>Zeus Kerravala<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Founder and Principal Analyst at ZK Research, to answer questions about our biggest focuses for the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Speakers:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/vladshmunis\/\"><b>Vlad Shmunis<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Founder and CEO at RingCentral<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/zkerravala\/\"><b>Zeus Kerravala<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Founder and Principal Analyst at ZK Research<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>What was your inspiration to start RingCentral?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Vlad:<\/strong> It was really the confluence of a few major trends that were taking place. Mobile phones and early smartphones were coming about. Wide availability and <\/span><b>proliferation of broadband<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, where you could actually have relatively reliable and relatively efficient data connections regardless of where you were.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And on the human aspect, the fact that the world was going distributed. It used to be that people and businesses would work out of a desk in a particular location. We saw cracks in that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>So what&#8217;s after MVP for RingCentral and how do you stay ahead of the curve?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Vlad:<\/strong> Here&#8217;s a tip about RingCentral: TIP stands for <\/span><b>Trust, Innovation, and Partnerships<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/office\/how-it-works.html\"><b>MVP<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is just one corner of this pyramid. But there is quite a bit more to that, including closer <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/effortless-customer-engagement.html\"><b>Contact Center<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> integration, digital Contact Center, and digital lightweight Contact Center. This speaks to the innovation part.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But don&#8217;t forget trust and don&#8217;t forget partnerships\u2014because without those, innovation falls flat. First and foremost, that\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/in-a-work-from-home-world-service-level-agreements-for-cloud-communications-take-center-stage\/\"><b>uptime<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Corporate enterprise communications is a mission critical capability. People simply do not react well to where there is no dial tone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"rc-post-content-cta rc-post-content-cta_yellow\">\n<div class=\"rc-post-content-cta-columns\">\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-img\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"930\" height=\"700\" src=\"\/us\/en\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/99999.png\" class=\"responsive-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-copy\">\n<div class=\"headline-copy\" style=\"text-align:left;\">What 99.999% uptime really means for your business<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"rc-post-content-cta-footer\">\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-logo-container\">\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-logo\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg width=\"154\" height=\"34\" viewBox=\"0 0 154 34\" fill=\"#000\" role=\"img\" aria-labelledby=\"cta-ring-logo-1341322382\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<title id=\"cta-ring-logo-1341322382\">Ring Central Logo<\/title>\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path d=\"M154 3.89618H150.386V26.9657H154V3.89618Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M141.313 11.6299C137.976 11.6299 135.388 13.2501 134.95 16.5546H138.504C138.754 15.3082 139.675 14.5591 141.313 14.5591C143.214 14.5591 144.086 15.6499 144.086 17.3647V18.1444H140.438C137.078 18.1444 134.593 19.6411 134.593 22.697C134.593 25.7529 136.619 27.3411 139.55 27.3411C141.826 27.3411 143.323 26.3721 144.133 24.8145H144.288V26.9529H147.716V17.4802C147.702 13.8276 145.833 11.6299 141.313 11.6299ZM140.58 24.5675C139.177 24.5675 138.303 23.8809 138.303 22.7339C138.303 21.4233 139.238 20.7383 140.921 20.7383H144.069L144.086 20.9549C144.088 23.2232 142.777 24.5675 140.58 24.5675Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M128.187 26.9657V19.2047C128.187 16.8979 129.623 15.4317 131.896 15.4317H133.321V12.0036H131.854C130.14 12.0036 128.893 12.6581 128.114 14.1243H127.988V12.0036H124.591V26.9753L128.187 26.9657Z\" 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0.548269C16.101 0.914019 15.307 1.44981 14.6364 2.12196L16.332 3.81756C16.7764 3.37 17.3041 3.01548 17.8865 2.77325C18.4688 2.53102 19.0928 2.40429 19.7232 2.40269C20.3537 2.40108 20.9777 2.523 21.5616 2.76362C22.1439 3.00264 22.6749 3.35556 23.1225 3.79991L24.8181 2.10431C23.8106 1.1001 22.5289 0.415123 21.1333 0.139206C19.7377 -0.139919 18.2907 0.00285184 16.9769 0.548269Z\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg><\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"bottom-cta-link\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/in-a-work-from-home-world-service-level-agreements-for-cloud-communications-take-center-stage\/\" class=\"view-all view-all-brown\" data-dl-name=\"Read the blog\" data-dl-element=\"button\" data-dl-additional-info=\"bottom cta banner\" data-no-auto-dl=\"true\">Read the blog<span class=\"svg-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"#000\" role=\"img\" aria-labelledby=\"cta-ring-arrow-1341322382\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<title id=\"cta-ring-arrow-1341322382\">Ring Central Logo<\/title>\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<path d=\"M0 11.5C0 11.2239 0.223858 11 0.5 11H21.6797C21.9559 11 22.1797 11.2239 22.1797 11.5V12.5C22.1797 12.7761 21.9559 13 21.6797 13H0.5C0.223858 13 0 12.7761 0 12.5V11.5Z\" ><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t\t<path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M21.1718 12.0001L15.8086 6.63691C15.6134 6.44165 15.6134 6.12506 15.8086 5.9298L16.5157 5.22269C16.711 5.02743 17.0276 5.02743 17.2228 5.22269L23.6467 11.6465C23.8419 11.8418 23.8419 12.1584 23.6467 12.3536L17.2228 18.7775C17.0276 18.9727 16.711 18.9727 16.5157 18.7775L15.8086 18.0704C15.6134 17.8751 15.6134 17.5585 15.8086 17.3633L21.1718 12.0001Z\" ><\/path>\n\t\t\t\t<\/svg><\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have the absolute unique record in the industry of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/in-a-work-from-home-world-service-level-agreements-for-cloud-communications-take-center-stage\/\"><b>12 quarters of Five 9s availability<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which is a few minutes of downtime per year, including scheduled downtime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond that, there is data privacy protection, not dealing with questionable actors, not selling our customers\u2019 data <\/span><b>under any conditions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and being vigilant. We recently introduced <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/what-is-end-to-end-encryption-and-why-it-matters\/\"><b>end-to-end encryption<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. And three out of top five incumbent PBX manufacturers selected RingCentral as their go-forward exclusive cloud UCaaS partner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Customers&#8217; needs have changed quite a bit over the past 18 months. They\u2019re becoming more mobile, more remote. How are you seeing your customers evolve?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Vlad:<\/strong> Enterprises are vocal. SMBs are vocal. We&#8217;re very close to the 5G revolution, and communications\u2014and certainly business communications\u2014is not going to be the same. Once 5G is here, we expect to be on the forefront.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>We&#8217;ve had a big rise in this concept of composability. How do you see that driving the next wave of growth for RingCentral?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Vlad:<\/strong> Well, we&#8217;ve pioneered <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.ringcentral.com\/\"><b>open platforms<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, open APIs. At this point we have 50-60,000 developers who have written to the platform. We have hundreds of apps in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/apps\/\"><b>App Gallery<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. We have a fairly rich API tool set, sandboxes, etc. We are about enabling custom workflows and custom plugins to and from our environment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One that we just recently announced is the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/developers.ringcentral.com\/api-products\/add-ins\"><b>DocuSign integration<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. You now will be able to digitally sign your documents without ever leaving our environment. That joins our Google, Microsoft, Microsoft Teams, Salesforce integrations, and many others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Looking in your crystal ball, what does the communications industry look like in 5-10 years?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Vlad:<\/strong> There is another major mega trend coming about, which is going to be as transformational as the internet itself: <\/span><b>5G<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. You are going to be always connected at extremely reliable, extremely high-bandwidth connectivity, more or less anywhere in the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what does that mean? Immersive experiences, VR, lots and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringcentral.com\/us\/en\/blog\/ringcentral-mvp-meeting-ai\/\"><b>lots of AI<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It&#8217;s drawing inferences from data at hand. It&#8217;s emotional analysis, it&#8217;s keyword spotting, things like that. I think it&#8217;s going to be fun.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When RingCentral was founded in 1999, we were just a few engineers with a vision for connecting people. Back then our tiny team was like a family, down to Founder Vlad Shmunis\u2019s wife bringing in lunches for the crew. Times\u2014and communications\u2014have changed in the two decades since. And like many companies, we\u2019ve been through a &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":50362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17901,18885],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-leadership","category-ringcentral-newsdesk"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.3 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Our plans for the future, explained by CEO Vlad Shmunis | RingCentral Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When RingCentral was founded in 1999, we were just a few engineers with a vision for connecting people. 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