Editor's note: The story of Nutanix's IPO is part of a series on Inc. 5000 companies making a big exit. The other articles in the series describe the exit strategies of two other companies: New Belgium Brewing and Home Chef.
- Head in the Cloud: Pandey co-founded Nutanix, which manages computing infrastructure for businesses, in San Jose, California, in 2009. It was No. 86 on the 2016 Inc. 5000.
- An Immigrant Entrepreneur: Born and raised in India, Pandey came to the U.S. with $900 in his pocket at the age of 22.
- A Slam Dunk: Nutanix had the largest U.S. tech IPO of 2016; its market value is $4.65 billion.
How did you decide when to take Nutanix public?
We definitely waited. The biggest capitalists in the world differentiate themselves by having patience, i.e., long-term greed. I feel like it's the hallmark of capitalism. My name means "patience," by the way.
Still, no matter the timing, an IPO comes with risk for a company and a CEO. Have you always had a big appetite for risk?
When I got an offer from Oracle in the summer of 1998, I chose instead to go to Trilogy in Austin, a much smaller company. Coming out of Trilogy, I decided to go to an unknown Silicon Valley startup with 20 people instead of Microsoft. So, yes, I am a risk-taker.