How Indian-origin entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal turned 400 employees into millionaires
Jyoti Bansal, a successful Indian-American entrepreneur, became a center of attention after selling his software company, AppDynamics, to Cisco for a staggering $3.7 billion. This acquisition in 2017, however, wasn't just a personal triumph for Bansal; it also resulted in a life-changing financial windfall for nearly 400 of his employees, turning many into millionaires. The IIT Delhi graduate called the sale "the hardest decision" of his career, but he did it considering the well-being of his employees.
Bansal's journey from software engineer to entrepreneur
Bansal, who had long nurtured entrepreneurial dreams, worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley for eight years. After getting his Green Card, he started AppDynamics to solve the biggest problems he faced as an engineer. The company built tools for troubleshooting outages and fixing bugs in software applications. Bansal himself is recognized as the lead inventor on over 20 US patents.
AppDynamics and factors influencing Bansal's decision to sell his company
What set AppDynamics apart from other software start-ups was its focus on the enterprise market, serving large companies with deep pockets and big annual budgets. The company was known for helping big corporations fix their broken apps. Bansal's decision to sell AppDynamics was influenced by several factors, including the alignment of the company's software products with Cisco's portfolio and the potential financial and cultural impact on its nearly 1,200 employees.
Dozens of employees made over $5 million: Bansal
"As the only founder, I was fortunate enough [that] any outcome financially would be fine for me. [But] we had about 300 or so employees who made more than a million dollars in the final offer we accepted," said Bansal in an interview with CNBC Make It. "We had dozens of employees with $5 million-plus outcomes," he said.
Bansal's post-acquisition reflections and future plans
Despite the financial success of the deal, Bansal had mixed feelings after the sale. "I spent nine years of my life fully dedicated to what we were building there. Suddenly, it's the end of a chapter," he said. But he also admitted selling AppDynamics to Cisco was a sound decision based on available information at that time. The deal was financially beneficial for him as he owned over 14% of the company.
