This episode of “The Morning Brief” ET in the Valley series we go inside the mind of one of Silicon Valley’s most quietly influential founders a technologist who reshaped modern data centers with a single insight: keep compute and storage together because the network will always slow you down. Host Surabhi Agarwal talks to Mohit Aron, co-founder, Nutanix and founder, Cohesity about the idea that grew into hyperconverged infrastructure and why, even in an age of cloud and AI, the basic physics of data still haven’t changed. We also dive into the forgotten world of secondary data backups, archives, test systems and how cleaning up that chaos unlocked new possibilities, from ransomware detection to AI-driven analytics. Now working on his third startup, he explains why sales tech remains so broken and why fixing it felt urgent. Beyond the products and companies, the conversation widens to the Valley’s overheated AI moment, circular funding loops, and the stark contrast with India’s still-nascent deep-tech ecosystem. He also opens up about immigration, accountability, and why aligning personal incentives with national goals may be the only real way to drive long-term change.
Tune in.
You can follow Surabhi Agarwal on her Linkedin, X profiles and read her Newspaper Articles.
Check out other interesting episodes from the host like ET in the Valley: Grant Lee, Co-Founder & CEO of Gamma, ET in the Valley: Databricks Co-founder Patrick Wendell, ET in the Valley: Replit Founder and CEO Amjad Masad, ET in the Valley: ElevenLabs Co-Founder Mati Staniszewski and much more.
Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
