Making the Jump from Engineer to Entrepreneur by Jyoti Bansal, John Vrionis
Prior to starting AppDynamics and leading it through a journey that would result in a $3.7B acquisition by Cisco, Jyoti Bansal was an engineer at Wily Technology. In this session, Jyoti will discuss his transition from engineering to entrepreneurship with one of AppDynamics' first investors (and now Jyoti's co-founder at Unusual Ventures), John Vrionis. The conversation will explore when he knew it was time to make the leap, the challenges he faced as a first time entrepreneur, what he knows now that he wishes he knew then, and more. Jyoti will share the lessons and insights that are helping him build and scale his two latest companies—Harness and Traceable— as well as the guidance he gives first time founders in his role at Unusual Ventures.
Jyoti Bansal
Jyoti Bansal is a serial entrepreneur and a silicon valley technology visionary. Jyoti believes passionately in software’s ability to change the world for the better. In 2008, he founded AppDynamics, an application intelligence company that provides enterprises with real-time insights into application performance. Jyoti led the company as Founder & CEO for the first eight years, and as Founder & Chairman for the last one year until its acquisition by Cisco for $3.7 Billion in January 2017. In 2017, he launched BIG Labs, a startup studio, as a vehicle for “parallel entrepreneurship,” where he can co-create companies that can help define the future of software and technology. Jyoti has been a recipient of many leadership awards, including Forbes’ “Best Cloud Computing CEO to Work For”, and “Best CEO” by San Francisco Business Times at the Annual Tech & Innovation Award. He was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year™ for Northern California in 2016. Jyoti received his BS in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Prior to founding AppDynamics, Jyoti worked at various silicon valley startups as a software engineer and architect. Jyoti is the lead inventor on 20+ US patents.
John Vrionis
John Vrionis is a Co-Founder and Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in enterprise startups and is the creator of Unusual Academy. Originally from Georgia, John attended Harvard where he studied economics and played varsity soccer. His drive to learn pushed him to earn his master’s degree in computer science from the University of Chicago, while helping with technical diligence and sourcing at a venture capital firm. Inspired by successful entrepreneurs, John arrived in Silicon Valley in 2002 and worked in product management and sales before completing his MBA at Stanford. In John’s words, “I believe that you learn by doing and the most by overcoming adversity. For me, whether it was sports, school, or in my personal and professional life, that’s been the truth. I gravitate to people who have an immense drive to overcome and the humility to keep learning.” Prior to founding Unusual Ventures, John was a General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and an investor in a number of successful companies, including AppDynamics, Cloudbees, DataStax, Heptio, Mulesoft, Nicira, and Nimble Storage.
