By Kathy Gibson – Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey is retiring from the company he founded 11 years ago and built into a $1,6-billion organisation.
Pandey landed in the US with $900.00 to his name before forming the hybrid cloud software and services company.
“Co-founding and leading Nutanix for the last 11 years has been the single most rewarding experience of my professional career,” he comments. “Guided by a vision of making IT infrastructure so simple that it becomes invisible, our team has built Nutanix into a leader in cloud software and a pioneer in hybrid cloud infrastructure solutions.”
Nutanix board member Ravi Mhatre commented on news of Pandey’s retirement: “Silicon Valley’s history is filled with storied founders and legendary visionaries and Dheeraj Pandey has earned a place among them.”
Talking to South African IT journalists, Pandey reminisces: “It is a poignant moment to think about the last 11 years.
“For me it is about starting the discussion of a succession plan and the new talent leadership that will come in.
“But it is a great opportunity to look back over the last 11 years,” he adds.
“The word anti-fragile resonates with me. This is about building systems that gain from disorder – they are not just resilient but they really improve. You want the software to be like that.
“For humans and organisations to be anti-fragile is probably the most important notion that I learned in the last 11 years.
“The most successful companies don’t make their customers walk to them: they walk to where their customers are – and then they walk with them. And they think about making their customers more delighted.”
Pandey plans to step down once a successor has been found and appointed.