For most startup founders, a billion-dollar exit is the ultimate dream. For Indian-origin entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal, however, the biggest reward from selling his company was not his own fortune, but the lives it changed for hundreds of employees. In 2017, just days before software company AppDynamics was set to go public, tech giant Cisco stepped in with a $3.7 billion acquisition offer. The deal instantly transformed many ordinary workers into millionaires and became one of Silicon Valley’s most talked-about startup buyouts.
