- il y a 10 heures
Founder's Story The Power of Mentorship
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TechnologieTranscription
00:15Hello everyone and welcome to stage 3 here at Viva Tech 2023, I'm Nadia Sharby and I'm delighted to be
00:23your host.
00:23Now, our next session is entitled Founders Story, The Power of Mentorship and this one is going to feature the
00:32renowned John Chambers, former Cisco CEO and current CEO of JC2 Ventures, as well as Umesh Sashdev, co-founder and
00:41CEO of Unifor.
00:43That's a conversational automation platform that's headquartered in Silicon Valley. I'll let you welcome them both to the stage.
01:14We want to welcome you to a session today that I've been excited about for several years to do here
01:20at Viva Tech.
01:21Very often with startups, one of the key ingredients that can make a difference in startup success or not is
01:28how comfortable the CEO is in having a mentor, a strategic partner that can help them on more than just
01:34one or two areas,
01:35that can look across the entire gamut of their business, help increase their probabilities of success, how they handle problems,
01:43how do you deal with situations with your board and lessons learned in a unique way.
01:48Today, Umesh and I will share that with you. If you agree with everything we say, we will fail miserably.
01:54So I want to make you a little bit uncomfortable. I want to challenge you in terms of thought processes,
01:59etc.
02:00And Umesh, let me turn to you for just some initial thoughts before we jump into the Q&A.
02:04John, first of all, it's always fun to be with you and do these sessions with you on stage.
02:08You've been my mentor for seven years and I'm very excited to share our lessons learned jointly with this audience
02:13today.
02:14Sounds great. So as you think about mentorship, I had the opportunity to have some great mentors.
02:20Literally heads of state, people like Thomas Friedman for the New York Times, Bill Clinton as a head of state,
02:28teaching me an awful lot, business leaders.
02:30But all of them had specific topic areas.
02:33The goal, I think, of mentors in the future is can you go across an entire gamut.
02:37So today, we'll deal with a number of these areas.
02:40One of the most important things a mentor can do is work with the CEO.
02:43No matter how strong their communication skills are, how do you take it up a level?
02:48And how does the CEO literally become the face of the company and potentially the face of an industry like
02:53AI?
02:54So let's start at the very beginning.
02:56If you were to do your two-minute elevator pitch, what is Unifor?
03:00How do you focus on this?
03:02And what have we worked together on the years and continue to do in terms of how you position your
03:07company?
03:07So Unifor is an AI-native company.
03:10We're in the area of conversational AI.
03:12In many ways, in the B2B conversational AI space, John, we're one of the biggest in the world today.
03:18We service 1,500 enterprises in 20 different countries.
03:22And we started this 15 years ago in a university incubation in India,
03:27where we started building the technology of doing speech-to-text recognition in multiple languages,
03:33which this was prior to the Apple Siri coming out and Google coming out with their speech technology,
03:38and then doing speech in natural language back in the day before anyone else I thought was a hard technology.
03:43Over time, we evolved into not just focusing on human speech,
03:47but adding AI to pick up human emotions and tonal changes, etc.
03:51As we speak, we change our tone.
03:54More recently, Unifor's platform today has become one of the largest implementers of generative AI
04:00across enterprise use cases at scale that hasn't been done before.
04:04We have 725,000 end users and clients within enterprises who use generative AI from Unifor today.
04:13The company was last valued at $2.5 billion.
04:15We're the first company in AI to have crossed $100 million off ARR with our customers
04:22and still growing extremely strongly.
04:25But as you would remember, John, all of this started seven years ago when you and I first met,
04:29and the company was transitioning from an India company to being headquartered in Silicon Valley in Palo Alto,
04:34and that's when you and I first met, and since then, you've been my mentor.
04:38You know, the fun part, and we called it a guru originally,
04:41is that when we both started, I bought 180 companies at Cisco.
04:45I knew how to mentor CEOs as part of a larger company,
04:49but mentoring a company and saying,
04:51how do you grow was a learning experience together.
04:54At that time, their valuation in the market was $30 million.
04:58As Umesh just told you, it's $2.5 billion today.
05:02They are the largest AI player in business-to-business today, growing at 100% per year.
05:08What were you looking for originally with a strategic partner, a mentor, beyond the money?
05:13And I know money was part of it.
05:14But what were you really after?
05:16And then you know where we're going to go with this.
05:17We're going to talk about how this evolved over time.
05:20John, I want to share a story with this audience.
05:23The first time you and I met, and you probably don't remember, it was seven years ago,
05:26I was starstruck.
05:28It was a conference like this.
05:29It was sponsored by MIT,
05:31and they were picking the eight topmost innovative startups in India.
05:35I was one of the eight.
05:36And you were keynoting that conference, and I was in the audience.
05:39I was starstruck.
05:40I had never seen a CEO like yourself,
05:42who communicated and connected with the audience.
05:44You walked the aisle.
05:46You delivered the message.
05:47And for me, that was an inspirational moment.
05:50When I looked at you and said,
05:52someday, when I grow up as a CEO,
05:54when my company becomes big,
05:55I want to be like you, connecting with the audience.
05:57Little did I know that, you know, as your keynote ended,
06:01we got a call that you wanted to meet the eight of us,
06:03who MIT had picked as the top innovators,
06:05and you offered to mentor us.
06:07That was game-changing for me,
06:09to have John Chambers mentor somebody, you know,
06:12like me who's just starting a company in a deep tech area,
06:15where the company hasn't yet broken big scale,
06:18was game-changing.
06:19What I was after was really your muscle memory
06:22of having been a public CEO for 25 years.
06:25To me, that's an evidence of grit.
06:28Most of the CEOs, even today in Silicon Valley,
06:30my peers who are in my position,
06:32think about a three- to five-year gig,
06:34iterating over, getting an exit,
06:36thinking about the next venture.
06:38You were the first CEO who was telling me,
06:40that, Amish, you can go all the way,
06:42you can take a company public,
06:43and stay a CEO for 20 years beyond.
06:45So that was game-changing.
06:47That was what I was after, John.
06:49Your muscle memory, your knowledge,
06:50of all the mistakes made,
06:52and the lessons learned,
06:53in your years of building Cisco,
06:55from when you joined,
06:56which is about $70 million of revenue,
06:58to when you retired,
06:59when it was $49 billion of revenue.
07:02That's something that I'd love to emulate.
07:04Well, you know, it's interesting.
07:05One of the things, say,
07:06a coach or mentor brings,
07:08is both the things you've done well,
07:09which we love to talk about,
07:11but the mistakes made,
07:12and I've made a number of them along the process.
07:15At that session,
07:16with the eight top startups,
07:18at least in MIT's opinion,
07:20for all of India,
07:21they were all really good.
07:22But he stood out.
07:24He stood out,
07:25because he was really good on his communications.
07:27He was a good listener.
07:29He understood his differentiation,
07:31and he talked about how AI
07:33was going to be a platform for the future.
07:35So he had me at hello,
07:37but based on how nice he just said,
07:38I probably should have negotiated a better deal,
07:41in terms of ownership for it.
07:43but going from $30 million to $2.5 billion,
07:45on our way to $10 billion,
07:47isn't bad.
07:48What did you originally look for in a mentor?
07:50You said,
07:51here were your observations,
07:53but this is the first time you've done it,
07:55and then how did that,
07:55more importantly,
07:56change over the last seven years?
07:58Well, you see,
07:59today we work together on common problems.
08:01We have a really healthy give and take.
08:04We have fun together.
08:06We, last night,
08:07met with one of the top customers here in France.
08:09We had a dinner together,
08:11and we almost could finish each other's sentences,
08:13but we did a trust transference,
08:15from that CEO,
08:16who I know very well,
08:18to you,
08:18and looked about a strategic partnership.
08:20So,
08:21what combination of things,
08:22did you look for originally,
08:24and how did that change,
08:25over the last seven years?
08:28When John and I first met,
08:29I was the CEO of a $30 million company.
08:31Today,
08:32I'm the CEO of a $2.5 billion company,
08:34and, you know,
08:34hopefully,
08:35my hope is to be the CEO of $10 billion and beyond.
08:37John,
08:38you've helped me unlock the power,
08:40and grow as a CEO.
08:42As you write in your book,
08:43the role of CEO is to set the vision for the company,
08:46define the culture of the company,
08:48build a team,
08:50and communicate all of the above,
08:52over and over.
08:53It's those lessons.
08:54A lot of CEOs like myself,
08:56who come from the engineering background,
08:57who come from the product world,
09:00go underweight on communication.
09:01We under-emphasize the value of good communication,
09:04or setting culture in a company.
09:06And so,
09:07in the early days,
09:08some of the things that you and I spoke about,
09:10you've always been my coach and mentor and business partner,
09:13on business strategy,
09:15etc.
09:15But one of the key things you've helped me with,
09:17is something that's very close to your heart,
09:19which is around people topics.
09:20I remember in the early days,
09:22that was my first cycle,
09:25of not just recruiting,
09:26but exiting a senior executive.
09:28I had never exited a senior executive before,
09:31and I was hesitating,
09:32because of loyalty and communication.
09:35And you and I spoke several times,
09:37that we back and forth,
09:39and your coaching to me was,
09:40Omesh,
09:40write the press release,
09:42of what you want this exit to look like,
09:44what you want the message to look like.
09:46And at the end of the day,
09:47you're exiting for a business reason,
09:49but you want to do it with grace.
09:50You want everyone to recognize the value.
09:53Those were key lessons early on.
09:55Over the years,
09:56over the last seven years,
09:57I've grown as CEO,
09:58I've done many of these cycles,
10:00of building my team,
10:01changing execs as necessary,
10:02and so your role in my life,
10:04as a mentor,
10:06has evolved now,
10:07to be truly a strategic business partner.
10:09We speak still,
10:10several times a week.
10:11Yes.
10:12If it's okay to share,
10:13we still speak probably,
10:14two to three times a week.
10:15You're always accessible to me,
10:17over a text message,
10:18or a phone call.
10:19You shared with me,
10:20that in 2001,
10:21when Cisco went through,
10:22the first bump in the road,
10:24or 2008,
10:25that leadership was very lonely for you.
10:27But having a mentor like you,
10:29in my life,
10:29the CEO's job hasn't changed,
10:31it's still very lonely at the top,
10:32but having a mentor like you,
10:34makes the job much easier.
10:35Because today,
10:36I can bounce off all strategic issues.
10:39Most of the time,
10:40I have a good idea in my head,
10:41of what I want to do,
10:42but it's always important,
10:43to have somebody else,
10:45bounce it off.
10:46And I can't do it,
10:47with my leadership team,
10:48I can't do it,
10:48with my board first up,
10:49so I come to you.
10:50And so the role of you,
10:52as a mentor,
10:52has evolved over the years for me.
10:54You know,
10:54there are a couple of key takeaways in there.
10:56How many in this room,
10:57are a part of startups?
11:00What's the number one mistake,
11:01you're going to make,
11:02as a leader of a startup?
11:04Every one of you,
11:05is going to keep people,
11:06who are working hard,
11:07who are good people,
11:08that aren't able to do their job,
11:11their peers know it already,
11:12and you'll keep them,
11:13in that position too long.
11:15And it's hard for me,
11:16to say that,
11:17because my attrition rate,
11:18at Cisco voluntarily,
11:19only ran 5% per year,
11:21for 20 years.
11:23But you have to deal,
11:24with those issues,
11:25and when you do,
11:26you have to go through,
11:28and realize loyalty's important,
11:29but it isn't your loyalty to them,
11:32it's their laying down,
11:33their peers and their team,
11:34that you drive it through.
11:35Then secondly,
11:36leadership is lonely.
11:38Shimon Perez taught me that,
11:39many years ago,
11:40and I said,
11:41lonely?
11:41You know,
11:42I've got 40,000 people in the company,
11:44they love us,
11:45et cetera.
11:462001 was lonely,
11:47and let me tell you,
11:47what lonely is like.
11:48For 10 years in a row,
11:50we never missed a forecast,
11:51ever.
11:52We were the most valuable company,
11:54in the world.
11:54Best place to work,
11:55in the world.
11:56Top corporate social responsibility.
11:58When we got knocked down,
11:59and surprised in 2001,
12:02critics came out,
12:03of the woodwork.
12:04And it is very lonely.
12:05Once you've been through that,
12:06you can share,
12:07with the mesh,
12:08what is it like,
12:09how do you prepare for this,
12:10perhaps how you even avoid it.
12:12Let's talk vision,
12:13and strategy for a moment.
12:16Number one job of a CEO,
12:17is vision and strategy.
12:19What elements,
12:20you had a great vision,
12:22for where AI was going to go.
12:23But your strategy,
12:24to get there,
12:25in terms of go to market,
12:26et cetera,
12:28was,
12:29be informed.
12:31Because you'd never managed,
12:32or worked for a large company,
12:33in that area.
12:34Let's go to acquisitions.
12:35How many in this room,
12:36think now is a great time,
12:38to do acquisitions?
12:39The market is terrible,
12:41you haven't got any money,
12:42your own evaluation is down.
12:44Not to influence your answer.
12:45How many of you,
12:46think it's a good time to do it?
12:48How many of you,
12:49think it's not?
12:51It is the best time,
12:53in my career to do it.
12:55And I would not have said,
12:56that five years ago.
12:57That's where I'm learning.
12:59With zoom,
13:00and the ability,
13:00to do things remotely.
13:02With evaluations now,
13:03where people can't get the money.
13:05Where all of a sudden,
13:06you can acquire,
13:07with your own currency,
13:09of your prior evaluation,
13:10you can do it.
13:11And you can do it,
13:12in a way I never,
13:13would have recommended,
13:14which is doing it,
13:15not only remote,
13:16from your headquarters,
13:18or India,
13:18where your original headquarters were,
13:20but doing five,
13:21in the last two years,
13:23all over Europe,
13:24and the Middle East.
13:26How did we work,
13:27through that together,
13:28and what were some,
13:29of the key takeaways,
13:30that allowed you,
13:31to do this successfully,
13:32in a way,
13:33that I had to learn too,
13:34about it being remote?
13:36John,
13:36this is a fun one,
13:37and where you're leading me,
13:38is Unifor,
13:39has done five acquisitions,
13:40in the last two years,
13:41and I'm emulating,
13:43the playbook,
13:44that candidly,
13:44you wrote at Cisco,
13:45with 180 acquisitions,
13:47during your tenure.
13:48Our first one,
13:49was right as COVID hit,
13:53many CEOs,
13:54including myself,
13:54are still figuring out,
13:56the direction,
13:56the company would take,
13:57what will happen,
13:58to our customers,
13:59etc.
13:59but one big shift occurred,
14:02Unifor's technology,
14:03had so far,
14:03until COVID,
14:05was mostly,
14:06predominantly used,
14:07in the contact centers,
14:08where phone calls occur,
14:09we use AI,
14:10to help call center agents,
14:11etc.
14:12We saw major processes,
14:14in business shift,
14:15to video meetings,
14:16over Zoom,
14:17over Webex,
14:17sales,
14:18HR,
14:19legal,
14:20etc.
14:20which were,
14:21you know,
14:21traditionally,
14:22in person,
14:23in office type,
14:24of functions,
14:25were happening,
14:25over video,
14:26and we recognize,
14:27that as part of conversation,
14:29AI,
14:29as a company,
14:30that wants to lead,
14:31the definition,
14:32of what this space,
14:32would look like,
14:33it wasn't enough,
14:34that our technology,
14:36was just recognizing,
14:36human words,
14:37and human tone,
14:39the aspect,
14:39of watching each other,
14:41looking at facial emotions,
14:42during a conversation,
14:43when I make a sales pitch,
14:45to 15 people,
14:46is there confusion,
14:47should I slow down,
14:48should I respond to you,
14:49in an in person,
14:50set up like this,
14:51it's easy to watch,
14:52each other's facial reaction,
14:53and adjust,
14:54what we are saying,
14:55on a Zoom meeting,
14:56or a Webex meeting,
14:57that's really hard,
14:58because everyone's,
14:59is a small window,
15:00so we look to partner,
15:02with somebody,
15:02who was already working,
15:03on a computer vision,
15:05area,
15:05which was able,
15:06to pick up,
15:07facial emotions,
15:08over computer,
15:09cameras,
15:10etc,
15:11to combine,
15:11with our technology,
15:13and in our search,
15:14we found this,
15:14young startup,
15:16in Valencia,
15:17Spain,
15:17we are headquartered,
15:18in Silicon Valley,
15:19we have no presence,
15:20in Spain,
15:20we find this young startup,
15:22I get on the call,
15:23with the CEO,
15:23a very bright female CEO,
15:25building a tech company,
15:26we first talk,
15:28about partnership,
15:28and during the second,
15:30or the third meeting,
15:30she tells me,
15:31that Amesh,
15:32one of the things,
15:32we recognize,
15:33is because of not being,
15:35in Silicon Valley,
15:36our go-to-market motion,
15:38hasn't scaled up,
15:38that ecosystem,
15:39doesn't exist,
15:41so I offer to her,
15:42would you be open,
15:43to us exploring,
15:44something bigger,
15:45like an acquisition,
15:45she said yes,
15:47long story short,
15:48we moved at lightning speed,
15:49in COVID,
15:50when many people,
15:50are still figuring out,
15:51what to do with,
15:52their core business,
15:54we were going organic,
15:55and inorganic,
15:56and in nine months,
15:57from that acquisition,
15:59we launched,
15:59a net new business line,
16:01why did this happen John,
16:03you have always taught me,
16:04to be always prepared,
16:06and when the right opportunity,
16:07presents itself,
16:08we move with speed,
16:10this fast forward itself,
16:12we did five,
16:12over the last two years,
16:13but two of them,
16:14happened earlier this year,
16:16we were working,
16:17and pursuing two opportunities,
16:19one was in UK,
16:20as an AI company,
16:21we wanted to take control,
16:22of the data layer,
16:23so we wanted to gain access,
16:25to the data,
16:25that customers give us,
16:27from an enterprise channel,
16:28and the second one,
16:29was right here in France,
16:31a Straussberg,
16:31headquartered company,
16:33once again,
16:34a very bright team,
16:35of data scientists,
16:35working on behavioral AI,
16:38which is very complimentary,
16:39to what Unifor has built,
16:41our data scientists,
16:42felt they could do it,
16:42but would have taken time,
16:43and this was a speed,
16:45to market issue,
16:45so we were pursuing,
16:46these two opportunities,
16:47at the same time,
16:49and you know,
16:50my team would have preferred,
16:51us to do an,
16:52over a couple of months gap,
16:54but as getting,
16:55regulatory approvals,
16:56with between France,
16:56and UK,
16:57and US,
16:58occurred,
17:00both of them,
17:00happened within,
17:01two days of each other,
17:02so it's hard enough,
17:04for a starter,
17:05to acquire a company,
17:06but because of,
17:07our muscle memory,
17:07of having done three,
17:08prior to this,
17:09we did two acquisitions,
17:10within the same week,
17:12I had got my board,
17:14prepared for it,
17:14my M&A committee,
17:15was all set,
17:16my integration team,
17:17was all set,
17:18we had two separate channels,
17:19ready to take in,
17:19the two companies,
17:20welcome them,
17:21and start the product integration,
17:23so it goes back,
17:24to being very prepared,
17:26putting the strategy in place,
17:27and when the opportunity,
17:28is there,
17:29we move with speed,
17:30so as you think about it,
17:32Amesh was kind enough,
17:33to say John,
17:33why did you select us,
17:35and I have a playbook,
17:36and I'm a huge believer,
17:37playbooks,
17:38are something you can do,
17:39again and again with speed,
17:40whether it's acquisitions,
17:42whether it's crisis management,
17:43whether it's leadership,
17:45and my playbook is very simple,
17:46a business model,
17:47in transition,
17:49enabled by a new technology,
17:50nothing bigger than AI,
17:52even though we're finally,
17:53back in vogue,
17:54where for six years,
17:55people said,
17:55kind of interesting,
17:56but the second thing,
17:58that I look at,
18:00is the CEO,
18:01and I look for somebody,
18:02who's wicked smart,
18:03who truly wants to be coached,
18:05who knows what she or he knows,
18:07and does not know,
18:09and wants that process to work,
18:11then I go straight to customers,
18:12and say,
18:13what do you think of this company,
18:14this technology,
18:15and then I look at how close they are,
18:17to crossing the chasm,
18:18in terms of the opportunity,
18:20one of the things we talked about,
18:21is crisis management,
18:23what are your key takeaways,
18:24from crisis management,
18:25and how did you manage,
18:26through this economic downturn,
18:28including deciding to lay off,
18:30if I remember right,
18:3015% of your workforce,
18:32even though you had the capital,
18:34but it was the right thing,
18:35to do at a given point in time,
18:36kind of your thoughts process,
18:38on how do you handle crisis management,
18:39and how much do we learn together on it,
18:41absolutely John,
18:42this is one from once again,
18:45your playbook,
18:46and I'll give the examples,
18:47of Jennifer,
18:48but if it's okay,
18:48I'll come back to you,
18:49because I've learned,
18:51from you over these years,
18:51but I'd like this audience to learn,
18:53so a couple of times,
18:54that in the recent past,
18:55that come to mind,
18:57January of 2020,
18:58we are hearing about,
18:59this health disease,
19:01striking somewhere in Asia,
19:03in China,
19:04etc.,
19:05you and I were traveling,
19:06with an investor conference,
19:07in Australia,
19:08and my co-founder,
19:09who lives in Singapore,
19:10also happens to be at the conference,
19:12and my co-founder tells both of us,
19:14that he's beginning to see,
19:15for the first time,
19:16our order book,
19:17which was very strong,
19:18from Malaysia,
19:19to Thailand,
19:20etc.,
19:20where the customers,
19:21were ready to sign,
19:22are beginning to slow down,
19:23and say,
19:23let us think about it,
19:25and John,
19:26you were the first one,
19:27when you heard Ravi,
19:28my co-founder say that,
19:29you said,
19:30Omash and Ravi,
19:31I've seen this movie before,
19:32if I'm connecting the dots,
19:33I'm reading about the disease,
19:35you're beginning to say,
19:36for the first time,
19:36in your history,
19:37your customers are pulling orders,
19:38right from the signature stage,
19:40this might be a huge issue,
19:43coronavirus struck the shores,
19:44of US in March of 2020,
19:46because of your playbook,
19:47we had a two month head start,
19:49to get prepared,
19:50we knew it's likely,
19:52to be a major disruption,
19:53in our customers,
19:54in our business cycles,
19:56etc.,
19:56and it allowed us,
19:58to be fully prepared,
20:00with both the potential,
20:01big negative side,
20:03that if our customers,
20:03were going to be impacted,
20:05how to make sure,
20:05our financial status,
20:08remains stable,
20:08through that process,
20:09but on the other side,
20:10if the demand,
20:11was actually going to shoot up,
20:12like it did,
20:13because people wanted more AI,
20:15more automation,
20:16when human employees,
20:17were being disrupted,
20:18away from office,
20:19we were still prepared,
20:21the other example,
20:22is more recently,
20:24we were once again,
20:25Unifor became,
20:26one of the largest rounds,
20:27to close in 2022,
20:29we raised 400 million dollars,
20:30in our series E,
20:31in March of 22,
20:33that was our 2.5 billion dollar round,
20:35and by March of 22,
20:36by the time the round was closing,
20:38and we were going,
20:39to the press release,
20:41the stock market,
20:41was showing us,
20:42a very different picture,
20:44from the time,
20:44that I had started,
20:45to raise the round,
20:47and it was very clear to me,
20:49that the business environment,
20:50was going to shift dramatically,
20:52my customers,
20:53were beginning to say that to me,
20:54some of the largest telcos,
20:55the largest banks in the world,
20:57who work with Unifor,
20:58were beginning to say,
20:59they are worried about,
21:00the economic downturn,
21:01and recession,
21:02and so think about it this way,
21:04as a CEO,
21:05when you raise 400 million,
21:07you're likely to celebrate,
21:09with your team,
21:09you're likely to party,
21:10that's a huge race,
21:11but I was really worried,
21:14because oh shit,
21:15we had given a sales pitch,
21:16and a projection,
21:16to our investors,
21:17which did not take,
21:18into account the recession,
21:20so I had to,
21:21very quickly,
21:22go back to the new investors,
21:23go back to my board,
21:24and say,
21:25I'm going to revise,
21:26my projection,
21:27we do not believe,
21:28you're going to grow,
21:29at 80 or 100%,
21:30like we were projecting,
21:31we ended up growing,
21:32at 60% that year,
21:33which was still high growth,
21:35and that meant,
21:36that we had to cut back,
21:37some of the expenditure,
21:38or the head count,
21:39that we had put in place,
21:40for that growth to happen,
21:42and once again,
21:43the playbook of,
21:45you've taught me this,
21:46year over year,
21:47that when you want to do a cut,
21:48do one big deep cut,
21:50emphasize on being,
21:51very clear on communicating,
21:53with the team,
21:53with the board,
21:54etc,
21:54on what is external,
21:56what is internal,
21:57internal, etc,
21:58and why are we doing this,
21:59and this was a particularly,
22:00hard situation,
22:01for even my team,
22:02the company had just,
22:04raised 400 million dollars,
22:05and we're doing,
22:06a 15% head count reduction,
22:08so yet again,
22:10lessons learned,
22:11from a CEO,
22:12who's been at,
22:13all of these situations,
22:15and putting that playbook,
22:17in work,
22:19but John,
22:19back to you,
22:20as my mentor,
22:22you've had this crisis playbook,
22:23for many,
22:25many years,
22:25and you've had to use it,
22:26with Cisco,
22:28one of the,
22:28at one point,
22:29Cisco was the most valuable,
22:30company in the world,
22:31and yet,
22:31you've had to bring,
22:32out this playbook,
22:33many times in your career,
22:34what are the key aspects,
22:36of this crisis playbook,
22:37and this is one of the things,
22:38maybe the biggest takeaway,
22:40from today's session,
22:41is one thing,
22:41a mentor can do,
22:43or a strategic partner,
22:43coach can do,
22:44is teach you,
22:45how do you use playbooks,
22:47and replicate them,
22:48whether it's on acquisitions,
22:49crisis management,
22:50etc,
22:51the playbook,
22:51and crisis management,
22:52is very simple,
22:53never lose track,
22:54of the North Star,
22:55it's about profitable growth,
22:57it's about free cash flow,
22:59it's about,
23:00how are you differentiated,
23:01versus your market,
23:02then look at,
23:03when you have a problem,
23:04how much is self-inflicted,
23:05how much is external,
23:06you have to deal with both,
23:07at the same time,
23:09develop five to seven key programs,
23:11you're going to run,
23:12part of them in relation to customers,
23:14part of them is cash preservation,
23:15part of it is,
23:16what's the big bet,
23:17you're going to make,
23:18during the middle of crisis,
23:19that others would not make,
23:20and you run this playbook,
23:22with tremendous speed,
23:23and you come through it,
23:24in a way,
23:24that probably,
23:2640% of the unicorns,
23:27today,
23:28will never see that status again,
23:30never see the status again,
23:32and yet you watch,
23:33how Mesh has positioned himself,
23:35and hopefully,
23:36out of my nine other unicorns,
23:38they've done equally as well,
23:39well,
23:40you act before,
23:41most of them,
23:42better position,
23:43for how we go forward,
23:44we're running out of time,
23:45a little bit,
23:46but if you were to share with the room,
23:49one key lesson today,
23:51that you wish you knew,
23:52seven years ago,
23:53when we first met,
23:54or a decade ago,
23:55what would it be,
23:56today?
23:58Well John,
23:59there's a lot of key lessons,
24:00in building a company,
24:02making it a unicorn,
24:03and keep scaling it,
24:04mentors like you,
24:05play a big role in it,
24:06but one of the things,
24:07that today,
24:08I'm being very thoughtful about,
24:11that you know,
24:11when there's economic downturns,
24:13when things are not as easy,
24:15when growth is not,
24:16you know,
24:16coming from every quarter,
24:18there's tremendous clarity,
24:20it gives tremendous clarity,
24:21to CEOs,
24:21and leadership teams,
24:22in terms of what needs to be done,
24:24and for us,
24:25one of the things,
24:25we've always said in our culture,
24:27is that results,
24:28above all else,
24:30and I think it's really important,
24:31for me,
24:32even as this economic cycle,
24:34shifts back in the coming years,
24:35and we go back to growth,
24:36becoming easier,
24:37than it is today,
24:39today we have to fight,
24:40for every dollar,
24:41and yet we are growing at 100%,
24:42as a company,
24:43which is doing 100 million of ARR,
24:44but it's really important,
24:46for me to always remember,
24:47and remind my leadership team,
24:49and my colleagues,
24:51around the world,
24:53that even in good times,
24:54we have to stay focused,
24:55on results above all else,
24:56like you've taught me,
24:58top line growth,
24:58can hide a lot of sense,
25:00but the sense become very visible,
25:02when the economic cycle turns itself,
25:06but let me ask you this,
25:08on the reverse John,
25:09okay,
25:10if there was one thing,
25:12you know now,
25:12that you wish you knew,
25:1310 or 20 years ago,
25:15about two decades ago,
25:16and you would play things differently,
25:18what would that be?
25:19It might surprise you,
25:21I think learning,
25:22how to use play bucks earlier,
25:24is so important,
25:26and to really do it,
25:26with tremendous speed,
25:28the second thing is,
25:30I was criticized,
25:31for dreaming too big at times,
25:33and trying to do too many things,
25:35I actually would reverse it,
25:37I don't think I dreamed big enough,
25:39and took enough risk,
25:41and so if you do the combination,
25:43of good focus on profitability,
25:45very careful prioritization,
25:47I would say to this audience,
25:49take more risk,
25:51get a mentor on your wing,
25:52that can help you navigate through it,
25:54would be my key takeaway,
25:56bring us home,
25:57and close the session for us,
25:58so in closing John,
25:59it's always an honor,
26:00to do this with you on stage,
26:01and you and I,
26:03have covered a lot of topics,
26:04I've constantly learned from you,
26:05over the last seven years,
26:07I'm looking forward,
26:08to the future with you,
26:09as my mentor,
26:10I want to share one story,
26:12to leave this audience with,
26:14a few months ago,
26:15John and I were both,
26:16at this investor conference,
26:17as John was speaking,
26:18they were launching,
26:19their new office in Palo Alto,
26:20you spoke at their conference,
26:22yeah,
26:23as starstruck as I was,
26:24when I first saw you,
26:25is exactly how I felt,
26:27a month ago as well,
26:28you owned the audience,
26:29after your session,
26:30other people came on stage,
26:31and referred back,
26:32to the points you were making,
26:33so once again,
26:34I'm still learning,
26:35and I will keep learning,
26:37we spoke about three big things today,
26:39the power of a key mentor,
26:40in your life as a CEO,
26:42the role of the mentor,
26:43keeps evolving,
26:45over the journey,
26:45and as long as,
26:46there's openness on both sides,
26:48there's value to be had,
26:49and it's not so much,
26:50about agreeing with each other,
26:52as long as there's respect,
26:53and understanding that,
26:54we might have different points of view,
26:56you as a mentor,
26:58is giving me a point of view,
26:59but as CEO,
27:00I need to make my own decision,
27:01and there's respect with each other,
27:02so John,
27:03thank you for everything you've done,
27:05thank you for your mentorship,
27:06thank you for this conversation,
27:08and I'm looking forward,
27:08to the next seven years with you.
27:10friends and partners for life,
27:12thank you all.
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