At the end of 2019, I did something few senior leaders ever do: left my comfortable corporate job at a global, multi-billion dollar software organization to join a little known Series E analytics startup called ThoughtSpot.
Today, we announced our Series F funding at ThoughtSpot, valuing the company at $4.2 billion. As the Co-founder and Executive Chair, it’d be customary to write a post that celebrates this milestone, shares lessons learned, and the usual. Those can come later. Instead, I want to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the people that have been a critical part of my journey as an entrepreneur, both at ThoughtSpot and Nutanix (now valued at $7B+).
As we announce to the world today that ThoughtSpot is now worth $4.2B, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I am grateful to the customers who had the courage to challenge the status quo and give us a shot inside their companies. I am equally grateful to the entrepreneurs and investors who had the courage to join us and build a company that is changing what's possible with data. Often, people say it's hard to be courageous in the face of adversity. I say that’s conformist bullshit.
The word “data” is ubiquitous in narratives of the modern world. And data, the thing itself, is vital to the functioning of that world. This blog discusses quantifications, types, and implications of data. If you’ve ever wondered how much data there is in the world, what types there are and what that means for AI and businesses, then keep reading!
Arjun (my son) sat next to me at my desk. He was a bit nervous but we had practiced 3 times before he was ‘on stage’ in front of hundreds of people and the zoom meeting turned to him. My ten year old began to demonstrate how to deploy an Operational Database in AWS, showcasing how auto-scaling worked and how to set up replication. All of the sales team and my colleagues were quite impressed with him, and I am very proud of him.
