How Rubrik’s IPO paid off big for Greylock VC Asheem Chandna - Beritaja

When Asheem Chandna drove up to Rubrik’s agency in Palo Alto connected a Friday nighttime in early 2015, he was looking guardant to learning what The young institution that had yet to build its merchandise would show him. The Greylock partner wasn’t disappointed.

The company’s CEO, Bipul Sinha, drew Rubrik’s scheme to revamp The information guidance and betterment marketplace connected a whiteboard. “The aged versus caller architecture he presented was very compelling,” Chandna said. “Based connected my knowledge of The sector, I knew it could beryllium built into a ample business.”

That was a prescient call. On Thursday, 9 years aft that meeting, Rubric began its life arsenic a publically traded institution pinch a market headdress of complete $6 billion. Greylock holds a 13% stake, according to The latest SEC filings. By The adjacent of marketplace Friday, pinch shares priced astatine $38, those astir 19.9 cardinal shares were worthy complete $756 million. 

But Chandna says it was overmuch much than Rubrik’s desire to return connected The arcane information betterment marketplace that motivated him to lead Rubrik’s $40 cardinal Series B in May 2015. (The Series B information sold for $2.45/share, adjusting for splits, according to those SEC documents. While Greylock besides participated in later rounds astatine higher prices, Chandra’s returns connected this 1 are hefty.) 

“The longer I do what I do, The much I fundamentally judge that task is simply a group business,” said Chandna, who has been an investor for complete 20 years and has an enviable way grounds of successful exits. He has helped incubate Palo Alto Networks in Greylock’s offices and was connected The astir $100 billion-worth company’s committee until past year. Chandna was besides an early investor in AppDynamics, Sumo Logic and Arista Networks.

Chandna looks for group who are not only motivated and ambitious, but are besides self-aware of their weaknesses, and Can enlistee group who Can get things done in areas that are not The founder’s beardown suits.  

Another basal constituent for a laminitis is grit. “If you had exertion that was adequate, but somewhat inferior to my technology, but you were very self-aware and persistent, you will hit me,” he said.

That’s what he saw in Sinha. Rubrik’s laminitis had a lifelong dream of starting a company. When he founded The information guidance and betterment startup in 2013, he couldn’t find beardown engineers who wanted to travel activity there, Chandra recalled. The business he was trying to build was inherently not sexy astatine The time. 

Despite having been an investor pinch Lightspeed for 4 years earlier launching Rubrik, recruiting talent turned retired to beryllium a large situation for Sinha. But he didn’t springiness up. He pinged engineers connected LinkedIn and past invited them for java blocks distant from wherever they worked.

“Startup journeys are very hard, moreover for The astir successful companies,” Chandna said. “I want group who won’t return ‘no’ for an answer.”

Perhaps it was Sinha’s grit and ambition that compelled him to return his institution nationalist contempt The lukewarm IPO environment.

“Rubric has conscionable nether $800 cardinal in annualized recurring revenue,” Chandna said, “That’s larger than astir companies that went nationalist in The past galore years. I deliberation they conscionable wanted to get connected pinch it.”

Chandna declined to opportunity if he expects different Greylock portfolio companies to travel Rubrik’s lead but added emphatically that The firm’s best-performing late-stage businesses are Abnormal Security, Cato Networks, Discord, Figma and Lyra Health.

We will beryllium pursuing their destiny closely.