A Late Bloomer on Building a Legitimate Unicorn: Veeva Systems CEO Peter Gassner (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Computer Science is not ambiguous. It’s clear and logical. Part of the thing that I’ve observed at this point in my life, having seen a little bit of life, is that there is a lot of ambiguity and a lot of lack in logic in how human beings operate. I’m a very rational, logical thinker so I have a hard time dealing with people who behave in irrational ways.

Peter Gassner: I would also say that I’m a late bloomer intellectually. Some get to most of their intellectual potential very early. By the time they’re 22, their brains are fully developed. I was a late developer in intellectual capacity. Especially in my high school and college years, I was focusing on things I understood. I read Moby Dick in high school, but I couldn’t conceptualize the idea of mortality or anything like that. I wasn’t thinking that deeply.

Sramana Mitra: What did you do after college then?

Peter Gassner: I went to college. I liked Computer Science, but I did not like university. I did not like the structure. I kept that deal with myself. I went to Hawaii for nine months. I was a waiter. I remember when I got off the plane, I remember seeing palm trees. I remember it like it’s yesterday. I was like, “It’s just like a TV show.” There’s no palm trees in Oregon.

Sramana Mitra: I had a similar cognitive dissonance. I moved from Calcutta, which is where I grew up in India, to Massachusetts. I saw two things that I had no concept of. One was Fall colours, and two was snow.

Peter Gassner: I remember particularly thinking that it was like TV. I worked as a waiter and a variety of other things. I had fun there. But then, I somehow thought that I should try the university again. After nine months, I came back to university. I found out that I still didn’t like it. Then I took six months off or a little more. I did an internship at IBM. I thought maybe I’ll try working.

I got an internship and I did enjoy that. That was my first introduction to California. Now, it’s called Silicon Valley Lab. I think I learned about what professional software developers do and how they think about it. I sat around people who were very professional and smart, and who were real artists at their craft. It imprinted on me that this is what a good computer scientist is. Then I went back to school to see if I would enjoy it. I did not.

After that, I did a nine-month tour in Australia. Then I thought I’d take a small trip before going back to university. I liked mountain climbing while growing up in Oregon. I thought I’ll make that trip. I spent about two months in Indonesia doing a variety of things. Then, I planned a trip to Nepal after a one-week stop at Bangkok. That ended up being almost a year-long stay in Thailand.

I had never have been to Nepal, even now. I did all types of interesting jobs. I was trekking in the northern part of Thailand. I came back and I only had six months left at school because I always jam a lot of classes in. Funny enough, I enjoyed those last six months. I felt like I finally hit my stride. Then I graduated.

Sramana Mitra: What year did you graduate?

Peter Gassner: 1989.

Sramana Mitra: The world was still pre-Internet.

Peter Gassner: Yes. I remember the day I saw my first web browser. I was working at Almaden Research Centre. Somebody pulled me inside, “Look at this.”

Sramana Mitra: I had the exact same experience. Most of my officemates at MIT were like, “Have you seen Mosaic yet?” Did you go to work for IBM right after college?

Peter Gassner: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: You stayed there for a while?

Peter Gassner: I stayed there for about five plus years. I worked in the DB2 area. I didn’t know what I was looking for in the first job. Nobody was giving me any advice. I was a hard-headed kid. I didn’t know enough to ask any advice. I look back and I think that wasn’t very smart. I ended up doing a first job that I can do well. I ended up doing it with great people.

I always say, “Do something you can do well, and do it around great people.” Great people do great things and if they know you can do great things, they’ll pull you along. I ended up doing software development in a difficult area – database optimizer. It was very hard and conceptual. Only certain people can do that kind of stuff. I was good at it. I worked around great people.

This segment is part 2 in the series : A Late Bloomer on Building a Legitimate Unicorn: Veeva Systems CEO Peter Gassner
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