Provocative but not accurate: Cisco's Jeetu Patel reacts to Vinod Khosla jibe about company

Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer at Cisco

• Jeetu Patel defends Cisco employees' long tenures as valuable
• Cisco saw more innovation in 18 months than past decade
• Cisco reports strong growth, countering claims of stagnation

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Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer at Cisco, on February 20 pushed back against remarks by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla that long tenures at Cisco make employees “unemployable”, calling the comment provocative but not completely accurate.

Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, had said at the India AI Impact Summit that somebody who has worked at Cisco for 15 to 20 years would be considered “unemployable”, arguing that people tend to get ossified in large organisations and fail to keep up with change.

“Vinod is provocative in ways sometimes that are interesting, but not completely accurate,” Patel told Moneycontrol responding to the remark at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.

Defending Cisco’s track record, Patel argued that the company has seen a burst of innovation over the past 18 months.

“Over the course of the past 18 months, Cisco has probably innovated more than the previous decade combined,” he said, adding that such momentum would not be possible without strong performance from long-serving employees.

Patel also pointed to the company’s recent financial performance to counter the perception that large organisations struggle to stay nimble.

Cisco reported 18 percent bookings growth and 10 percent revenue growth in the last quarter on a base of $60 billion, he said, suggesting that sustained innovation is being recognised by the market.

While acknowledging Khosla’s passion for startups, Patel said he remains proud of employees who have spent 15 to 20 years at Cisco.

He added that many of them find the work intellectually stimulating enough to continue building their careers within the company, even as artificial intelligence reshapes the technology landscape.

“The folks that have been with us for 15 to 20 years find it so intellectually stimulating to be with us that they don’t actually need employment elsewhere because they want to stay with us,” Patel explained.