How Jeetu Patel Runs Cisco Like the World’s Largest Startup
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Episode description
Cisco is building AI infrastructure, from networking GPU clusters to securing agents, with its hyperscaler AI business reaching $9.3 billion in orders in two years. Cisco President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel joins Y Combinator Managing Partner Jared Friedman to discuss bringing startup speed to 32,000 engineers, why AI should unlock new ideas rather than just cut costs, and why he expects to need more engineers, not fewer. He also explains why he doesn’t think we’re overbuilding data centers and shares career lessons on choosing learning over ego. Chapters: 00:00 — Cisco’s Bet on AI 03:38 — Running Cisco Like a Startup 06:45 — The Infrastructure AI Agents Need 10:00 — Getting 32,000 Engineers to Embrace AI 14:07 — Bringing AI to Hardware and Silicon 17:15 — Inside the AI Data Center Buildout 21:27 — Are We Overbuilding AI Infrastructure? 25:10 — Building Trust in AI Agents 28:18 — From India to Waiting Tables at Sizzler 32:12 — Choosing Learning Over Ego 35:31 — Ambition, Teamwork, and Compounding 39:31 — Don’t Squander Your Opportunity Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs
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