CEO Rapidfire: Checkmarx CEO Sandeep Johri On The 'Perfect Time To Start A Company'

Welcome to CEO Rapidfire, fast-paced questions with today’s most successful founders and CEOs. Be sure to look for these special Q&A editions of my newsletter, where I’ll share insights from the amazing leaders in my network.

This time around, my guest is Checkmarx CEO Sandeep Johri , who urges business leaders to stay sharp by harnessing the power of distraction. (Details below.)

Checkmarx is a global leader in application security (AppSec), a category it pioneered. Its 1,800-plus customers in 70 nations include 60% of the Fortune 50 and numerous public sector organizations.?Among its many awards, Checkmarx has been a Gartner Magic Quadrant leader for the past six years, in AppSec testing.?

A mechanical engineer who grew up in India and holds an MBA from Stanford University, Sandeep joined Checkmarx earlier this year from Tricentis, where he led the software testing automation firm from its early startup days to international prominence. Before that, as a VP at HP, he grew its software division to $3.5 billion in annual revenue, while also spearheading $7 billion worth of acquisitions.?

“Developers don’t always like to deal with security, but security is an important thing,” says Sandeep, an avid cook and road cyclist who has put his engineering skills to use by doing home renovations. “And apps are becoming fundamental to running everything in a business.”??

For Checkmarx, he sees a huge opportunity as apps and their deployment become more complex, partly thanks to the cloud. “You can’t take care of your applications just from network security,” Sandeep explains. “You have to build the security into your apps.”

Here's what Sandeep shared in our CEO Rapidfire interview:

The one secret to succeeding as an entrepreneur, in 5 words or less: Tenacity coupled with irrational confidence.

What was the most exciting “minute” of your entrepreneurial journey? Signing the first $1 million customer.?

One truth you wish you knew about entrepreneurship before starting? The literally daily emotional roller-coaster ride. Learn to take the longer perspective.

If you had to do battle with a giant, what weapon would you use? Agility.

Your worst mistake as an entrepreneur (and what you learned from it): Trusting the investors’ opinions rather than relying on my own and my founders’.

Top 3 websites, blogs, or podcasts you can’t imagine your day without: SaaStr.com for all things SaaS. I stay away from loud, online, pontificating pundits. I like to read management books by great operators and leaders.

What popular entrepreneurial advice do you disagree with? Conventional wisdom is that there is no perfect time to start a company. Too many entrepreneurs start companies because they have the entrepreneurial itch. Instead, it’s better to join a startup, build up skills and break out on your own only when you feel strongly about a solution or a gap in the market that you have a unique approach to address.?

One life hack you can’t live without: Founder or CEO roles are 24/7 from an emotional and intellectual perspective, so it’s important to have some distraction like commitment to exercise 30 minutes every day or to go offline one day a weekend.

One soft skill that you’ve realized is supremely important: Truly listening to your customers and employees.

The one thing that makes a good leader great is: Empathy.

Your secret to building a great team is: Authenticity.

The key to navigating hypergrowth is: Building a cross-functional team with a diverse mix of professional experience so you can balance speed and agility with scalable processes and structures.?

Every entrepreneur must read… Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity by Frank Slootman, for anyone running a software company.?

What are you most excited about at work right now? Driving to become the leader in our category, application security.

Your one “non-negotiable” in business (or life) is… Integrity.

Thank you, Sandeep, for sharing your leadership thoughts this week. To learn more, follow Sandeep on LinkedIn or check out Checkmarx.?

Thank you for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments below. For more insights from my experience as a serial entrepreneur and how we can harness the power of software to change the world, be sure to subscribe to Entrepreneurship and Leadership.