An Indian-origin entrepreneur sold his startup and turned 400 of his employees into millionaires after the sale. However, the tech company founder has said that the deal was the "saddest day of his life."
San Francisco-based software boss Jyoti Bansal founded AppDynamics that was sold for $3.7 billion in 2017, mere days before the business was supposed to go public. While the founder who was also the chairman and biggest shareholder in the company was set to make a fortune in the deal, he said that he thought about how his decision could also benefit his employees who had helped the firm grow.
Employees bought houses, cars
In an interview to CNBC Make It, he said that when he sold his company to Cisco’s offer, around 400 people who worked for AppDynamics had their shares surge in value to $1 million or more. He said that several of his employees instantly gained over $5 million from the life-changing deal.
"People in the company were ecstatic; they had never imagined so much money. Many were buying new houses, new cars. I know one person who took six months off, rented an RV, and travelled around the country. They finally had the freedom to do what they wanted," he said. (Also read: Chennai firm gifts cars including Mercedes Benz to employees to ‘boost morale’)
{{/usCountry}}"People in the company were ecstatic; they had never imagined so much money. Many were buying new houses, new cars. I know one person who took six months off, rented an RV, and travelled around the country. They finally had the freedom to do what they wanted," he said. (Also read: Chennai firm gifts cars including Mercedes Benz to employees to ‘boost morale’)
{{/usCountry}}To celebrate their collective win, he threw a lavish party for both Cisco and his AppDynamics employees. However, he said he often looks back at the day with a feeling of regret.
‘Sad, depressed’ by decision
“I was sad and depressed. I spent nine years of my life fully dedicated to what we were building there. Suddenly, it’s the end of a chapter. That’s the bittersweet part of selling your company. It’s a great outcome in a lot of ways, but it’s the end of a chapter, or end of a book, in many ways too. I was kind of lost," he said. (Also read: Indian-origin man says ‘I’m Canadian’ to woman’s racist rant: 'Rise in hate')
He said that he resented selling the company as he will always wonder how much bigger the firm could have grown to be. But Bansal did not stop after making the once-in-a-lifetime deal for the startup which had already built a reputation for fixing big companies’ messed-up apps.
In the seven years since the deal, he has co-founded two more software startups -- Traceable and Today, Harness has a market value of $3.7 billion, the same amount of money for which he sold his startup AppDynamics.