My Journey Aboard the Meraki Rocketship
What it’s like to get acquired by a tech giant
I love sharing the Meraki story. It is unique in so many ways, even for Silicon Valley. Once a small startup, Meraki quickly grew and caught the attention of some of the biggest names in the industry, blossoming into a unicorn and changing the lives of many employees and customers along the way. But the story doesn’t end there. Meraki accomplished what very few companies in the enterprise startup scene do — it exited through acquisition and went on to become one of the industry’s most successful acquisition stories, continuing to set the bar for a new generation of IT solutions.
Joining the Meraki team is a decision I will always look back at and cherish. It was no accident. I knew when I first encountered Meraki’s products back in 2010 that the company was headed for a market takeover by adding some refreshing simplicity to what had otherwise been a static landscape for over a decade.
I have many fond memories of my early time at Meraki. I joined the company’s customer support team in early 2011. At the time, the Meraki team consisted of about 100 sales, engineering, and technical support staff, operating out of a wonderful little office in San Francisco’s sunny Mission District. It was a small team, but don’t let this fool you — we were already nipping at the heels of industry giants in what felt like a classic David and Goliath story you see so often in tech.
Meraki’s energy and momentum was incredible. You could feel it: it was in the air when you walked into the office each and every day. As was tradition at the end of a sales quarter, Sanjit Biswas, one of the founders and then-CEO, would send an email sharing the astounding sales achievements we had accomplished, and I remember feeling tremendously proud each time I read one of these legendary emails. The feeling was contagious, invigorating, and inspiring and made everyone want to come in early and stay late. We were going to change the networking industry, and nothing would get in our way.
HEARING THE NEWS
I received a call on the morning of November 18th from Hans Robertson, one of Meraki’s founders. Knowing it was an important call, I handed my newborn son to my wife and stepped into the corridor of our apartment building. “Did you hear the news yet?” he asked. Hans revealed that the founders had been in discussions with Cisco’s executive team, and had come to an agreement for a $1.2B cash acquisition of Meraki. I was honored to have received a personal call from Hans who was so excited to share the news with me.
The following day, buses took us to Meraki’s brand new office still being completed in San Francisco’s Mission Bay district. It was an opportunity to announce the acquisition and simultaneously reveal the exciting (and with all the recent growth, very necessary) new space to employees. Sanjit, accompanied by Cisco’s then-CEO John Chambers and the other founders, proudly made the official announcement and answered questions.
After the announcement we all proudly raised a toast and celebrated what we had accomplished together. You couldn’t help but smile. It was the start of a new era for Meraki, and for Cisco.
I remember catching a glimpse of the founders huddled together with their spouses for a toast and enjoying the moment — they had reached the top and all their work had finally paid off.
I’ll admit, I didn’t quite know what to make of the news, at least not right away. Like most, I was excited but also uncertain of what was to come. No one hands you a magic brochure that answers all your questions. Most of us knew Cisco as the market leader and incumbent in many of our deals. David had just been recruited by Goliath — what now?! Most of us had joined Meraki to experience the small and nimble startup feel, but with this news, we thought things would surely change. What most of us didn’t foresee is that Meraki would continue to move at a breakneck pace, releasing many more product categories, disrupting markets, and with the wind of Cisco’s powerful brand in our sails, the small MIT-based startup would accomplish things the founders had perhaps only dreamed of.
JOINING THE CISCO FAMILY
Cisco is no amateur when it comes to acquisitions. In fact, Meraki was Cisco’s 109th acquisition, and to date, another 35 acquisitions have taken place since. Excited to gain a new growth driver, Cisco had no intention of disrupting what Meraki did well. In his own words, Rob Soderbery, the then-General Manager of Cisco’s Enterprise Networking Group shared that Cisco planned to change very little about Meraki at all, other than to invest in and help accelerate our growth.
“The Meraki founders have built a great company, and a great team. We believe they will add new talent and capabilities to Cisco in both development and go-to-market. They are staying in San Francisco, will maintain the Meraki culture, and form a new hub for cloud based software development.”
- Rob Soderbery, GM Cisco Enterprise Networking Group
In the years that followed, I have witnessed many facets of Cisco’s business begin to adopt Meraki’s unique culture, style and approach, from the way products and features are built, to the very look and feel of Cisco’s San Jose campus. As an employee, I can honestly say that Cisco is a wonderful company to work for. I get to do what I love each and every day, while surrounded by incredibly talented people doing amazing things. I’ve met some of my best friends while at Meraki, and they’re still here today, 4 years after the acquisition was announced. To me, this is a powerful testament to how well Cisco has supported Meraki and held up to their promise, making it part of its core business while still embracing what made it so successful.
Being a part of the Meraki story and getting to work in the startup world we all hear so much about has been a fascinating experience. 10 years ago, none of the founders would have foreseen getting acquired by Cisco. They focused less on exit strategy, instead putting all their energy into the company’s core values. For me, this was a very important lesson in building successful startups; Focus on the product or technology, not the pay day, and make it so good that the market cannot ignore it. If you’re ever curious what happens to a successful startup after getting acquired by a tech giant, in the case of Meraki, it was the best outcome we could have asked for. It has opened up new opportunities, expanded our global reach, and continues to flourish as one of Cisco’s most successful acquisitions in the company’s history.
Meraki is hiring! Check out our openings in San Francisco, London, and Sydney at meraki.com/jobs
