Invest or Retrench? Economy Playbooks from CEOs of Zscaler, Adobe, Bill.com +More

Jay Chaudry of Zscaler, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe, René Lacerte of Bill.com

The newsletter’s late this week because I had a quick run to Las Vegas for the GroceryShop conference, where I once again interviewed DoorDash CEO Tony Xu on stage and on CNBC. (More on that in the next edition.)

Last week I was in San Francisco during the Goldman Sachs Communicopia + Technology conference, and caught up with several CEOs who have joined me on Fortt Knox in the past. I also spent some time with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, exploring his controversial $20 billion bid for upstart rival Figma:

Zscaler CEO on the New Demands on Security, and His Entrepreneurial Process

I spoke with Zscaler founder and CEO Jay Chaudhry about his company’s cloud-driven approach to security, and about how he successfully founded four companies before this one:

Adobe CEO on the Strategic Rationale Behind the Figma Bid

Adobe’s surprise move to acquire Figma for $20 billion last week raised questions about valuations, strategy and market power. I spoke with CEO Shantanu Narayen about why he thinks the combination would be transformative:

Bill.com CEO on Small and Medium Business Resilience in a Shifting Economy

Bill.com founder and CEO René Lacerte talked about the role of technology in keeping business nimble coming out of the pandemic:

Informatica CEO on Consumer Spending’s Impact on Enterprise

Informatica CEO Amit Walia addressed several topics including how consumer spending in Q4 will affect overall demand for enterprise technology:

Nutanix CEO on Multicloud and the Economic Shift

I spoke with Nutanix CEO Rajiv Ramaswami about how the economic slowdown is affecting existing customer spending and new customer acquisition:

MongoDB CEO on Replacing Old Technology as Budgets Tighten

MongoDB CEO Dev Ittycheria spoke to me about how younger tech companies can continue growing as I.T. spending becomes more challenged:

Are Return-to-Office Mandates Good for Business? On the Other Hand

We're in the first full week after Labor Day, and more employers are mandating that workers return to offices at least three days a week. Are these return to office mandates good for business? I argued both sides in the latest On the Other Hand, on CNBC's Squawk Box:

Check out The Black Experience in America: The Course, an online educational resource I researched, designed and built. A free PDF download is available to bring the material to kids, and the online interactive experience is made for young people and adults. You can also take interactive courses at your own pace: