S1E2 - Raj Yavatkar, CTO Juniper Networks - Innovation in Large Companies

Raj Yavatkar has had a distinguished career being a Fellow at Intel and VMware, leading engineering teams at Google Cloud, and spearheading technology strategy as CTO at Juniper Networks. In this candid conversation, Raj shares insightful stories and practical advice from his career driving innovation inside large companies, building billion dollar businesses, and building culture of innovation. We discuss:

- Role of Fellow on the technical career path
- Long range planning & what goes into creating a 10 year technology vision
- Doing a startup inside a large company
- Understanding Go-to-Market motions
- Advice for Product Managers
- Working with Finance
- Pathfinding & Incubation: Raj's approach to driving innovation
- Minimum Viable Demo, a twist on the Minimum Viable Product
- Building curiosity and a culture of innovation in the organization

Connect with Raj Yavatkar on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajyavatkar1982

Referenced in this episode:

• Andy Grove, former CEO, Intel (profile)
• Ben Horowitz, Cofounder & General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz (profile)
• Craig Barrett, former CEO, Intel (profile)
• Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School Professor and Management Thinker (profile)
• Jay Chaudhry, CEO, Zscaler (profile)
• Raghu Raghuram, CEO, VMware (profile)
• Ray O’Farrell, Executive Vice President, VMware (profile)
• Rony Friedman, former Corporate Vice President, Intel, current Manager of Apple Israel (profile)
• What You Do is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture by Ben Horowitz (book)
• High Output Management by Andy Grove (book)