Guest: Jay Chaudhry, CEO and founder of Zscaler

Much of the media coverage of Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry is quick to identify him as the wealthiest Indian-American person, with a net worth of $10.8 billion. But to hear Jay himself tell it, that number has never been very important to him: “My family had no money,” he says of his childhood in India. “I had no attachment for money. There was no feeling of ‘I must buy this, buy this.’ ... And it hasn’t changed a bit.” Perhaps surprisingly, he says not caring about money is one of the big reasons for his financial success: With no attachment to money, “I could take risks.”

In this episode, Jay and Joubin discuss startup “gambling,” Jay’s wife Jyoti, scarcity and risk, wasting time, “bonding walks,” family vacations, self-confidence and self-criticism, gardening, seven-minute aerobics, Marc Andreessen and Netscape, and IBM.

Chapters:

(01:54) - Selling SecureIT to Verisign
(06:49) - Jay’s humble beginnings
(09:12) - The worst way to describe him
(11:42) - Working harder than ever
(14:15) - Authenticity and selflessness
(16:36) - Family time
(18:53) - Happy childhood
(21:33) - Setting an example
(24:48) - Customer meetings
(27:30) - Conviction and execution
(31:07) - Do your best
(33:16) - Turning off your brain
(38:23) - Getting experience
(40:17) - Who Zscaler is hiring
(41:12) - What “grit” means to Jay

Links:

Connect with Jay

LinkedIn

Connect with Joubin

Twitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com

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This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

#197 CEO and Founder Zscaler, Jay Chaudhry: No Attachment

Grit