Friday, March 12, 2010

Remembering Venkat

It is with great sadness that I'm writing this post. Almost two weeks ago, a friend and colleague, Venkat Parimi passed away. The news came as a shock to all who knew him. I was able to attend his memorial service on Sunday, March 8th, and was fortunate to hear stories and experiences from several people whose lives he had touched over the past 15 years.

I first met Venkat 13 years ago. I had just left my product development position at Oracle and was excited to be on my first consulting assignment at Western Digital in Irvine. Faced with a technical challenge, I approached Venkat for help. Little did I realize that I was going to get more than what I had asked for. He advised me to change my mind set from a product developer's to a consultant's. Of course, he did help me with the specific technical issue but it was his subtle sound bytes that left a lasting impression. A few months later, I moved on to another client engagement, but we kept in touch. He occasionally called me with technical questions.

It wasn't until a few years later that our paths crossed. In 2000, my co-founder Arvindh and I had just raised our first round of funding for MetricStream. We invited Venkat to help us brainstorm product features, architecture, data model etc. . For over a week, he attended daily sessions and provided his invaluable design inputs. Those inputs became an integral part of MetricStream's platform and continue to live on at numerous customer sites. It was the internet boom and we were riding a wave. We asked Venkat to join us, but he politely declined and said that he wanted to get his own product off the ground - something he was deeply passionate about.

Over the next few years, my interaction with Venkat reduced and it wasn't until around 2005 that I was hooked by what he was working on, Troove. Troove was a novel product idea. More importantly, it was his design philosophy that left an indelible mark. His philosophy of 'Apple elegant and Google simple' was reflected in his work and life. He lived a simple life - one that revolved primarily around his work and passion for building products and solutions. Elegance was fundamental to anything he designed or developed.

Not often does one come across someone who is passionate about everything they do and live by a set of principles that positively influence those around them. Venkat was someone I could go to with a challenging technical issue and be confident that I would get a great solution. More importantly, it is rare to meet someone who makes you better and motivates you to be your best - he was one such person. I am thankful to him for that and I will miss him dearly.