Dave McJannet, CEO of HashiCorp, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to break down how real infrastructure companies are built across cloud, open source, and now AI.
From starting his career as a chartered accountant to leading multiple platform shifts, Dave explains how cloud, open source, and AI follow repeatable patterns. He shares why HashiCorp bet early on multi-cloud, how open source businesses actually monetize, what IPOs really change, and why AI represents a shift from deterministic to probabilistic software.
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:00 From accounting to technology
02:10 Why learning matters more than degrees
03:30 Discovering middleware and infrastructure
04:30 Startups vs big tech companies
05:40 Cloud Foundry and platform shifts
06:50 Why Dave joined HashiCorp
08:00 Market, model, and team framework
09:20 Open source business models explained
11:10 Monetization challenges in open source
12:40 How HashiCorp’s model works
14:30 What going public really changes
16:50 AI as a platform transition
19:30 Deterministic vs probabilistic software
22:30 AI, cloud power, and independence
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🔗 Connect with Dave McJannet → https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmcjannet/
🔗 Connect with Mala Ramakrishnan → https://www.linkedin.com/in/malaramakrishnan
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Visit our Website: www.malaramakrishnan.com | www.founderscreative.ai
