#185 CEO & Founder Netskope, Sanjay Beri: The Trenches

Guest: Sanjay Beri, CEO and Founder of Netskope

“You can be waiting your whole life to do something, and then your life’s over,” says Sanjay Beri. After nine years at Juniper Networks, he left his comfortable job, moved his family to a house with a pricier mortgage, and launched the cloud security firm Netskope. His entrepreneurial story would make anyone stressed, he acknowledges, but “at some level, you have to be wired to enjoy it… that's why I tell everybody who joins, ‘It's not for the faint of heart.’”

In this episode, Sanjay and Joubin discuss Reddit, banker friends, professional legacies, the wrong way to raise capital, authenticity, Ponzi schemes, “fool’s gold,” high-risk hiring, hitting pause, your “other family,” and changing roles.

Chapters:

• (00:54) - 2024 IPOs
• (05:43) - Long on cybersecurity
• (07:59) - Netskope’s mission
• (10:22) - Sanjay’s first company, Ingrian
• (12:07) - The writing on the wall
• (15:02) - Mamoon Hamid
• (20:21) - Stress and perspective
• (24:53) - Sanjay’s mother
• (28:41) - The trenches vs. the clouds
• (30:53) - Guts, Resolve, Integrity, Tenacity
• (32:10) - Hiring for grit
• (38:06) - The lowest point
• (41:18) - “Always on”
• (43:49) - The hot desk office
• (46:13) - Scaling people
• (49:30) - Politics and integrity
• (53:03) - Who Netskope is hiring

Links:

• Connect with Sanjay
  • LinkedIn
• Connect with Joubin
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
• Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
• This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm