Nikesh Arora became the CEO of Palo Alto Networks with no cybersecurity domain expertise and has grown the company from $18B to nearly $100B in under 6 years. In the episode, we discuss some of the greatest learnings from revolutionizing Palo Alto Networks into a powerhouse, his celebrated M&A strategy, and stories from his wide-ranging career path.
Prior to Palo Alto Networks, Nikesh was Chairman and COO of Softbank, working alongside Masa to make investments. Before that, he spent time scaling T-Mobile in Europe as CMO then spent a decade at Google as CBO. Hear how Nikesh has consistently succeeded in each new role and built a prolific career across industries.
(0:00) Intro
(1:13) The Benefits of Being a Generalist
(2:20) Acquiring Domain Expertise
(4:05) The Constant Learning Curve in Cybersecurity
(5:07) Understanding the Cybersecurity Industry
(9:19) Nikesh's 3 Rules For M&A
(20:04) The Role of Marketing and Storytelling in Tech
(24:57) Leadership and Management in Large Companies
(35:49) The Challenge of Scaling and Managing People
(36:43) Transitioning Roles and the Importance of Skill Sets
(38:01) The Art of Making Successful Career Choices
(38:36) The Journey from Analyst to Tech Entrepreneur
(43:44) The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Business
(50:43) The Importance of Product Obsession in Tech Leadership
(52:52) The Journey from India to the U.S. and the Pursuit of Education
(1:01:04) Venturing into the World of Investment and Venture Capital
(1:05:54) The Mission-Driven Aspect of Cybersecurity
(1:07:21) Romanticizing the Past: A Perspective on Life and Career
Produced: Rashad Assir & Leah Clapper
Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky
Executive Producer: Josh Machiz
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About the Show
Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.