Indy-based tech exec on joining global firm, being remote-only leader

Darin Brown is an executive for a global software testing firm with hundreds of employees and a roster of some 80,000 freelancers. But to do his job, he doesn’t have to leave his home in Westfield, Indiana. The firm, known as Testlio, is one of an increasing number of companies that don’t have physical home bases and instead let employees work entirely remotely. Brown recently had the same arrangement when he worked for Zoom, the company virtually synonymous with remote work. In 2022, Zoom acquired a startup that Brown co-founded in central Indiana which led to him being named Zoom’s head of product for productivity applications. He left Zoom earlier this year to be Testlio’s chief product and technology officer. Brown boasts a distinguished career in the Indianapolis area tech community as a project manager and developer. The list of companies includes ChaCha Search, ExactTarget, Salesforce and then Angie’s List, where he was chief technology officer. There he found a problem that he was inspired to solve by co-founding the startup Docket, which then led him to Zoom. In this week’s podcast, Brown discusses his new position with Testlio, his tenure with Zoom and how he made the transition at mid-career from supervising team members in the office to being an online-only leader.