@WalmartLabs' Vijay Raghavendra admits he had
questions about moving his 21-person start-up to a company with more than 2.2
million associates worldwide. But the opportunity to leverage his company’s
software to positively affect customer experience at the world’s largest
retailer – as well as his first exposure to the dynamic and collaborative
culture of Walmart eCommerce – overcame his initial concerns.
Vijay’s resume includes both large companies
(eBay/PayPal) and small (Nextag, Zynga); before joining @WalmartLabs he was one
of the co-founders of Palo Alto-based start-up Inkiru, a predictive analytics
platform for big data which was acquired by Walmart eCommerce in June. We asked
Vijay to give us his thoughts on making the leap from Inkiru to @WalmartLabs
and any advice he might have for anyone considering that type of change.
Q. Did you have any concerns about
culture fit, moving from a small start-up to a global retail giant?
A. “Just a few but they were quickly
addressed as we progressed through the due diligence and the first few months
post acquisition. I had worked with many of the @WalmartLabs staff
before, so I knew we would be working with top-level talent.
My concerns about culture fit were alleviated by
our interactions with the due diligence team prior to the acquisition, when we
spent a number of days at our Palo Alto office and in San Bruno working through
details of technologies and platforms. I was very impressed by the due
diligence team’s professionalism, business and technical acumen. It was great
to see our two teams respectfully debate opposing points of view (in the small
handful of instances where there were opposing points of view) and quickly work
through differences of opinion. Any remaining concerns I had about how a
small, nimble startup would mesh with such a large organization disappeared
post acquisition.”
Q. It’s been four months since the
acquisition began. How are you feeling now about the decision to move to
@WalmartLabs?
A. “For the most part, the past four months
have been a blur. Three months from the date of acquisition (June 9) we were
live; our platform was fully integrated into the backend of walmart.com. I
think our progress has been phenomenal, and it certainly is a testament to the
fact that Walmart may be a big company, but it has the ability to function like
a start-up – nimble, collaborative and focused on achieving the end goal.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of working in a
larger company that we’ve seen so far is that, in addition to having the
ability to pick and choose the best technology and tools, you have the
resources you need to get the job done.
There was a bit of a learning curve in the
beginning. We work with multiple people who own parts of a process. The result
is awesome support that allows us to collaborate at a scale and speed we hadn’t
experienced before.”
Q. What would you say to anyone who is
considering making the jump from a small start-up to a larger company?
A. “I would tell them to look for large
companies that combine the best parts of a startup and a large company because
these organizations provide:
- The opportunity to positively affect the lives of millions of customers/users on a daily basis.
- The ability to work with an amazing amount of data, cutting edge technologies and algorithms to solve tough problems at massive scale.
- The opportunity to work with a talented team that works together to make quick progress towards a common goal.
- A collaborative, fun work culture that should be an easy transition for anyone coming from a start-up.
- In short, I would tell them to look for a company that will provide them with the opportunity to fit right in and start adding value right away.”
