What does Okta do?

The TL;DR

Okta is an enterprise-focused identity provider: they take care of managing usernames, passwords, and permissions so you can focus on your apps. 

• If you’ve ever used “sign in with Google” to log into an app, you’ve used Single Sign On (SSO) - a way to outsource identity to third-party providers

• When you build SSO into your app, you use Identity Providers (IdPs) like Google or Okta to take care of the actual authentication

• Beyond just basic authentication, Okta also helps with provisioning user accounts, mobile device management, and directory sync

• Enterprises (really big companies) have tight security requirements – they’re often not allowed to sign contracts with vendors that don’t support SSO

Okta’s share price has grown by almost 15x (1,500%) to $270 since their late 2017 IPO. As more enterprises move to cloud apps, Okta has been printing money – 50% YoY revenue growth over the past few years, to be exact.