Klaus Oestermann of IGEL: Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO

An Interview With Doug Noll

You sometimes have to taper the ambitions you have for the business and how fast they can get implemented as well as create trade-offs necessary to finance them. Why? Funds are not unlimited and in later stage companies having a good balance between top line growth and the bottom line result is top priority.

As a part of our series called ‘Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO’ we had the pleasure of interviewing Klaus Oestermann.

Prior to joining IGEL, CEO Klaus Oestermann spent three years as the CEO of BedRock Systems and almost 18 years with Citrix Systems Inc. (CTXS) in various executive roles and most recently served as an officer of the company and the SVP & GM for the Networking Division. Prior to Citrix, Oestermann spent his early career with IBM and as CEO of CMA Systems. In the past decade, Oestermann has also been very active in the Silicon Valley startup community as an investor, advisor and board member in companies such as The Fabric Venture Funds, Mesh7 (VMware), Iotium (View), Nordsense, Zigna, True Lark, Rancher Labs (SUSE), Spanugo (IBM), CloudVolumes (VMware) and Cotendo (Akamai).

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I have had a career that has straddled project management, marketing, channels, sales and product leadership, as well as crafting financial and strategic plans for companies. I have also spent a lot of time working internationally and have lived in both Europe and the U.S. This has prepped me well for running an international company with half of the revenue in the Americas and the other half in EMEA/APAC. The diverse set of roles I have had throughout my career has enabled me to engage at a very detailed level in all parts of our organization.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

We launched the new IGEL in January 2024 only five months after I took over as CEO. The goal was to establish the company as a key player in the end user computing (EUC)/Security industry enabling a new security model called Preventative Security Model™. I have to admit, this message platform has been very impactful and has been resonating well with both prospects, customers and partners and we are now seeing pull from the market where new customers just come to us based on the messaging around this new security model. In fact, this has actually happened much sooner than I thought it would.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

This is not really funny, but it was a good lesson for me! In the software industry change is constant, and after a re-org in our Americas region last year we had an all-hands call with the Americas team. During the call, I stated that they should not expect more changes in the near future. On the same call we had folks from the European organization and the following week we made some changes in Europe. I had forgotten to specify that my comment pertained to Americas and not the entire company.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

My key mentor has been and still is Mark Templeton (former CEO of Citrix). He is such a gracious and intelligent person. He’s always there when you need him. I have learned a lot from him over the years. One example is product positioning and naming. Often times you have a natural inclination to call things what they are or do. He told me once, “Klaus think about why they call it Sushi and not cold dead fish.” That one has stuck with me…

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?

One of my tough choices has been whether to invest more in bigger and more established markets like the U.S. and Germany or to do that in moderation while at the same time also invest in green shoots like up-and-coming markets, new use cases that will open up new growth markets and become significant growth engines for us in the future.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what an executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

I think one of the key differences of being a CEO is making the calls on what is more important or needed first and how to sequence investments as well as what not to do or stop doing. Another one is constantly being able to shift from being strategic and making strategic decisions while in the next moment being able to become super tactical and solve a business issue involving multiple functions.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive? Can you explain what you mean?

One myth is that as a CEO you mainly work on strategic stuff and making the big decisions. I find that as a CEO you are involved, daily, in a ton of operational and tactical decisions as well the bigger ones.

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

Redefining a market and positioning your company as a leader within it can be a lengthy process. However, I have been quite surprised how fast we put IGEL’s new strategy together and implemented it right away. Even more, the great thing is that it is working!

Do you think everyone is cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

Being able to fully understand the different parts of the business and then dream up and create a bold, differentiated and audacious plan for your company is absolutely key. This is not something everybody can do. It’s important to be able to make the hard calls and trade-offs. Not everyone is cut out for that.

What advice would you give to other business leaders to help create a fantastic work culture? Can you share a story or an example?

My top advice is to put the best possible team together. Start with very strong leaders and let them hire top talent and get rid of bad elements. From there, you must create an ambitious plan that the employees and the board believe in and then clearly communicate what is needed to execute the plan and what is expected from everyone.

From there you must lead by example and ask your leaders to do the same. Empower leaders to delegate decision making and enable the organization to make decisions, so everyone feels they own what they do. Finally, ensure there is a fun and unassuming tone where everyone is able to engage all the talent that is available on important projects. These establish the foundation for creating a great work culture.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I have used my experience to help many startups and founders get their companies going, funded and off the ground. By helping them realize their dreams, I’ve contributed to making the world a better place for them.

What are your “Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO” and why?

Before I became a CEO, these are the five things that I wish I’d known…

1. You have to spend a lot of time with investors/owners and brief them on business status, plans and align board members. Why? It will ensure alignment and backing for the future plans.
2. If you run an early-stage startup, you have to spend a significant amount of time on raising capital. Why? Because in a startup, you are always about to run out of cash.
3. You have to be deliberate in creating time to see customers and partners, otherwise all your time will be eaten up by internal and investor stuff. Why? It’s your customers and prospects that will help drive growth. Spending a lot of time with them will also help you to understand what is going on in your market.
4. You must spend a lot of time “selling” the organization on changes and future plans. Why? Because you need to ensure the organization has bought into and understands why things are changing and the impact the changes will make.
5. You sometimes have to taper the ambitions you have for the business and how fast they can get implemented as well as create trade-offs necessary to finance them. Why? Funds are not unlimited and in later stage companies having a good balance between top line growth and the bottom line result is top priority.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

America is the greatest country in the world, and I fundamentally believe that good healthcare and education should be available to everyone. We have a long way to go on that front and if I had the opportunity to inspire a movement to support these fundamental rights, I would.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Life is too short to drink bad wine” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) and you always have to work with great people on something you are passionate about. I enjoy great wine from all parts of the world. This interest in wine has resulted in an incredible partnership with my daughter Victoria. Together, we have been making great wine from Napa and Sonoma since 2009. I always work on projects that I am passionate about and love putting great teams together.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them

I would love to be able to travel back in time and meet great people of the past. This is very well portrayed in the good movie “Midnight in Paris.”

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About the Interviewer: Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA was born nearly blind, crippled with club feet, partially deaf, and left-handed. He overcame all of these obstacles to become a successful civil trial lawyer. In 2000, he abandoned his law practice to become a peacemaker. His calling is to serve humanity, and he executes his calling at many levels. He is an award-winning author, teacher, and trainer. He is a highly experienced mediator. Doug’s work carries him from international work to helping people resolve deep interpersonal and ideological conflicts. Doug teaches his innovative de-escalation skill that calms any angry person in 90 seconds or less. With Laurel Kaufer, Doug founded Prison of Peace in 2009. The Prison of Peace project trains life and long terms incarcerated people to be powerful peacemakers and mediators. He has been deeply moved by inmates who have learned and applied deep, empathic listening skills, leadership skills, and problem-solving skills to reduce violence in their prison communities. Their dedication to learning, improving, and serving their communities motivates him to expand the principles of Prison of Peace so that every human wanting to learn the skills of peace may do so. Doug’s awards include California Lawyer Magazine Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year, Purpose Prize Fellow, International Academy of Mediators Syd Leezak Award of Excellence, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals Neutral of the Year. His four books have won a number of awards and commendations. Doug’s podcast, Listen With Leaders, is now accepting guests. Click on this link to learn more and apply.