Recently, I did what I always thought would be unthinkable for me. I made the decision to leave Cisco and join ThoughtSpot.
Making the decision to leave a great company like Cisco was not easy. It was difficult to hold back tears for many days. Having been with Cisco for almost 23 years, my life, friends, work, and Cisco were all intertwined, woven together to make the fabric of my life for the better part of two decades.
It was also scary. I’d gone from leading a multi-billion a year business with a large team at one of the most legendary, respected technology companies to a startup in the data and analytics space, where we must build it all from scratch.
So, what crossed my mind here?
Before I share those reasons, I must convey how grateful I am to Cisco, the Cisco team, the Service Provider networking team, the people, and customers that I had the pleasure of working closely with for more than two decades You have shaped me, enriched me, and are solely responsible for the success of growing a software engineer from India into an SVP and General Manager who would lead an entire business line.
While the journey at Cisco included wins across product, technology, and business, what has been truly memorable about this company is its ability to reinvent and re-energize itself. The heart of that journey is the people. Cisco will always remain dear to my heart and I wish our Cisco people great success and happiness. And I am not bragging when I say that the IP networking team within the SP business is the best one on the planet.
So why ThoughtSpot? It comes down to two things: our mission and the opportunity to build.
A Mission That Matters
From buzzword to market reality, the age of digital transformation is upon us. Every sector of the world - whether private, public, and personal - is in the throes of this transformation. This transformation is driven by expanding usage of digital technologies which span connecting, automating, analyzing, and improving value chains. Data and analytics are the heart of this transformation.
This is where ThoughtSpot also comes in. Data and analytics is a key driver of this trend, unlocking new opportunities by personalizing products and services throughout these value chains. I’ve spent my career in networking, which covers the gamut of connecting value chains all the way to the end consumer. Now, at ThoughtSpot, I can tackle the analytics part. And do it in a unique way!
But there’s a bigger purpose for ThoughtSpot: building a more fact-driven world by empowering anyone with analytics. This isn’t just for data professionals with technical skills, or the executives they work for, but for everyone.
Imagine a world for everyone that helps us navigate through the information explosion happening all around us in an ethical, transparent, and trustworthy way? ThoughtSpot is a company built on this mission, and with a focus on the culture, the people, the team, customers, and the journey needed to make it a reality.
The Builders Mindset
In engineering at ThoughtSpot, we have the opportunity to build something beautiful. I must first say that I am humbled by the brilliant team here. They’ve created fundamentally differentiated innovation - it’s why our customers like Walmart, Verizon, Daimler, and Bank of the West have placed such big bets on the product.
Every interaction at the company is marked by a culture of selfless excellence, caring, and humility. As we grow, we have the opportunity to scale, add operational excellence, while maintaining the culture and strengths that brought us here.
There’s so much opportunity in front of us in areas like data, cloud, search, personalization, analytics, and presentation. Don’t get me wrong - these are hard problems. I’m excited by the challenge, and even more so, because we’ll get to solve them in a great team environment.
I truly believe, this is a great opportunity for all engineers to be part of a mission to be the best engineering team for BI and analytics in the industry. I for sure am excited to be a part of this mission to work together to build a great company with a great experience for all who cross our path. It will require us to combine all our strengths: innovation, operational excellence, and a culture of selfless excellence. Looking forward to the ride together!
