Vlad Shmunis just wasn't an enthusiastic employee. Didn't like following directions. And he had ideas – lots of ideas. Eventually, something had to give. So the entrepreneurial engineer took a leap, even though family members said he was nuts.
How'd that work out? Well today, Vlad Shmunis is the founder and CEO of RingCentral, a Silicon Valley company at the intersection of communication and cloud. The company went public just under five years ago. Today it's worth more than $5 billion.
If you're a long-time Fortt Knox listener, you're going to sense a pattern. Vlad is the third CEO I've had on who grew up in the former Soviet Union and eventually found his way to the U.S. There was Citrix CEO Kirill Tatarinov, Coupa CEO Rob Bernshteyn, and now Vlad. Their stories are all pretty different in key details, but similar in some important core ways, when it comes to education, values and … please listen for this one … the family's approach to risk.
If you or someone you know is thinking about taking a leap to start your own thing, but you're not quite sure, listen to Vlad's story.
67 - Oren Jacob, PullString cofounder & CEO: Teaching Alexa to Be a Better Conversationalist
66 - Matt Meeker, Bark co-founder: Super-Serving the Pet Economy
65 - Rob Bernshteyn, Coupa CEO: Saving Your Way to Success
64 - Ron Shaich, Panera founder: Raise the Minimum Wage, Build for the Long Term, and Other Heresies
63 - Kaz Hirai, Sony CEO: Leading a Japanese Company With Global Challenges
62 - Adena Friedman, Nasdaq CEO: Build A Career With Smart Adjustments
61 - Al Kelly, Visa CEO: Career Shifts, Bitcoin, and the Future of Money
60 - Daymond John, investor & entrepreneur: From FUBU to Shark Tank
59 - Carter Reum, co-founder, VEEV Spirits: Family and Business Sometimes Mix Nicely
58 - Shan Sinha, Highfive CEO: An Entrepreneur's Winding Path to Success
57 - Tien Tzuo, Zuora CEO: Inventing an Engine for the Subscription Economy
56 - Justin Dent, GenFKD co-founder: Can We Save Young America from Financial Ruin?
55 - Andy Jassy, Amazon Web Services CEO: The Father of the Cloud
54 - Earl "Butch" Graves, Jr., Black Enterprise CEO: An American Brand In A New Generation
53 - Katrina Lake, Stitch Fix founder & CEO: Giving Shopping, and Leadership, a Makeover
52 - David Morken, Bandwidth CEO: From Marine to Tech IPO Founder
51 - Aaron Levie, Box CEO: A College Dropout Builds a Billion-Dollar Cloud
50 - Troy Carter, Atom Factory founder and Spotify exec: The Man Who Helped Shape Gaga, Trainor, Legend
49 - Rachel Carlson, Guild Education CEO: A Startup Betting on Human Intelligence
48 - Chamath Palihapitiya, Social Capital CEO: The Beauty of a Calculated Risk
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer
American Greed Podcast
CNBC’s ”Fast Money”
Squawk on the Street
CNBC’s ”The Suze Orman Show”- Full Show