20VC: Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora on How to Create and Sustain Competitive Advantage and Defensibility | What Makes Masa Son a Genius Investor of Our Time | How the Best Leaders Communicate and Delegate

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

Nikesh Arora is the CEO @ Palo Alto Networks, the leading cybersecurity company in the world with a market cap of $102BN. Before joining Palo Alto Networks, Nikesh was the President and COO of SoftBank Group. Before that, he spent ten years at Google as a senior exec, and President of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Before that Nikesh was CMO for the T-Mobile International Division of Deutsche Telekom AG. Nikesh serves on the board of Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A. Previously, he served on the boards of SoftBank, Sprint, Colgate-Palmolive Inc., Yahoo! Japan and Tipping Point.

In Today's Episode with Nikesh Arora We Discuss:

1. From Investing with Masa @ Softbank to CEO of Largest Cyber Company:

• What are Nikesh's biggest lessons from working and investing with Masa @ Softbank?
• What are Nikesh's biggest takeaways from 10 years at Google and working with Eric Schmidt?
• What does Nikesh know now that he wishes he had known when he started his career?

2. What Makes the Most Valuable Businesses in the World:

• How does Nikesh think about competition and monopolies?
• How does Nikesh assess the idea of defensibility, moats and sustaining competitive advantages?
• What are the most common reasons why incumbents are overtaken?
• How have Palo Alto Networks been so successful in their M&A strategy?
• What has worked in M&A? What has not worked? What is their process?

3. What Makes the Best Leaders in the World:

• Does Nikesh agree that the best CEOs are the best resource allocators?
• How do the best leaders communicate with large teams at scale?
• How do the best leaders approach decision-making? What is Nikesh's framework?
• How does Nikesh approach the idea of delegation? What does he delegate vs what does he not?

4. Behind the CEO: Nikesh Arora: Husband and Father:

• How does Nikesh reflect on his own relationship to money today?
• What are Nikesh's biggest lessons in what it takes to bring children up in a world of affluence and ensure they have hunger and ambition?
• What are some of Nikesh's biggest lessons on parenting?
• How does Nikesh reflect on what it takes to have a great marriage?