Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach: Building the System of Record for the AI Era
Workday CEO and Sequoia partner Carl Eschenbach explains how the company is evolving its platform to handle both human and AI workers. He shares Workday’s three-pronged approach to monetizing AI through seat-based pricing, role-based agents and consumption-based API access. Eschenbach discusses why domain-specific agents with curated data will be more valuable than general-purpose models in the enterprise, and how Workday is helping enterprises navigate the transition to an AI-powered workplace while maintaining human connection.
Hosted by: Sonya Huang and Pat Grady, Sequoia Capital
#149 Co-CEO Workday, Carl Eschenbach: A Life of Significance
Guest: Carl Eschenbach, co-CEO of Workday
When Carl Eschenbach decided to leave VMWare after more than 14 years as COO, no one believed it: Not chairman Joe Tucci, not CEO Pat Gelsinger, and maybe not Carl himself. But he needed a more predictable work-life balance to help raise his teenage children. For the next seven years, he served as a partner at Sequoia Capital. And every day, he thought — and to his wife’s chagrin, talked — about going back: “It was always on the back of my mind,” he says. After the kids were out of the house, in late 2022, he jumped back into operating and became co-CEO of Workday. “It’s what I love to do,” he says. “I feel like I’ve been called to do it.”
In this episode, Carl and Joubin discuss jumping rope, Mike Clayville, the Flowbee, focusing on the family, wrestling, commuting cross-country, servant leadership, Sequoia Capital, Aneel Bhusri, co-CEOs, and Palo Alto Networks.
In this episode, we cover:
Working on Sand Hill Road (00:55)
Carl’s workout routine (03:15)
Staying humble and grounded (08:04)
Carl’s family and dinner table conversation (11:41)
Drive and ambition (16:08)
College vs. trade school (19:53)
3Com, Inktomi, and EMC (24:33)
Deciding to join VMware (28:02)
Virtualizing the data center (31:48)
The pressure of an incredible ride (35:54)
The infamous CFO story (40:14)
Eyeing the CEO job (46:00)
Carl’s one “big regret” (47:40)
Refocusing after a tragedy (52:05)
A left turn into venture (55:37)
The “itch” to go back to operating (01:00:17)
Joining the Workday board (01:04:37)
Building an enduring business (01:07:15)
“End[ing] my career in an operating role” (01:09:09)
Transitioning out of venture (01:15:56)
Who Workday is hiring and what “grit” means to Carl (01:18:01)
Links:
Connect with CarlLinkedIn
Connect with JoubinTwitter
LinkedIn
Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com
Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm
20VC: Sequoia Partner, Carl Eschenbach on Building and Scaling High Performace Teams and The Common Mistakes In Scaling A Go-To-Market Strategy
Carl Eschenbach is a Partner @ Sequoia Capital, one of the world's leading funds with investments in the likes of Google, Apple, Whatsapp, Paypal and Stripe just to name a few. As for Carl, prior to Sequoia, Carl was President and CEO @ VMWare where he grew the team from 200 to 20,000 people. If that was not enough Carl has also stepped in as CFO at a $5Bn company and transitioned 3 CEOs.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Carl made the move from President and CEO @ 20,000 person company, VMWare to Partner @ Sequoia?
2.) Question from Alfred Lin, Partner @ Sequoia: How did Carl look to build a culture of performance at VMWare?
3.) Question from Pat Grady, Partner @ Sequoia: What were Carl's biggest learnings with regards to high performance teams? What are the common mistakes in scaling a go to market strategy?
4.) How does Carl view the internal workings at Sequoia to the external perception? Was the move to Sequoia everything he expected? What was different or challenging?
5.) What does Carl believe are the core components that make a great board member? How has Carl's time in operations affected his view of boards and their working?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Carl's Fave Book: Half Time
Carl's Most Recent Investment: Zoom
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Carl on Twitter here!
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Workable is the all-in-one recruiting software for ambitious companies. From posting a job to tracking and managing candidates, Workable provides everything you need to hire better. Transparent communication, organized candidate profiles, structured interviews and a full reporting suite gives hiring teams the information they need to make the best choice. Workable is available for desktop and mobile and you can find out more on workable.com where you can try it for free.