
In 2004, after cofounding and leading data management company Informatica for 12 years, Gaurav Dhillon stepped away from the company for good. This week, now roughly 20 years later, Informatica was acquired by Salesforce in an $8 billion deal.
“It’s deeply satisfying,” said Dhillon. “When you look back at it and now see all these people on LinkedIn who have Informatica skills, it gives me a thrill—even though [my current company] SnapLogic is a competitor now. There’s a certain amount of sibling rivalry, where you have an older sibling and a younger sibling, and you can never be older than your older brother. But you can provide interesting, new products and sometimes be more successful.”