Asheem Chandna

Background

Asheem Chandna is a General Partner at Greylock Partners, where he has invested since 2003 ¹. He focuses on enterprise software, cybersecurity, and infrastructure — areas shaped by more than two decades of operating experience before he entered venture capital.

Chandna studied electrical engineering at Case Western Reserve University, where he also earned a master’s degree in computer engineering ². He began his career in product architecture at AT&T Bell Laboratories, then moved to product and marketing roles at SynOptics (later Bay Networks), an Ethernet equipment pioneer ¹².

He joined Check Point Software as Vice President of Business Development and Product Management, where he remained until joining Greylock in 2003 ¹². During his Check Point tenure, the company grew from roughly $10 million to over $500 million in annual revenues ². This background — engineering training, Bell Labs, an Ethernet equipment startup, and a leading cybersecurity vendor — directly shaped his investment focus at Greylock.

Since joining Greylock, Chandna has served as investor and board director at more than 20 technology companies ¹. Greylock has publicly stated that since Chandna joined the firm in 2003, he has never lost capital on an investment he led ². Greylock’s most recent fund, Greylock 17 (announced October 2023), raised $1 billion with a primary focus on pre-seed, seed, and Series A in enterprise and consumer software; over 80% of investments in the prior fund were at those earliest stages ³.

Stated Thesis

Chandna describes his focus as enterprise, cybersecurity, and infrastructure software ¹. His publicly stated approach centers on partnering with founders at the concept stage — before they have a product, and sometimes before the value proposition has fully emerged ¹.

He has written: “Asheem seeks a partnership with founders who have identified a problem in enterprise, cybersecurity or infrastructure software and are eager to apply rigorous thinking to build a path-breaking solution — even if the value proposition has yet to fully emerge” ¹.

On founder evaluation, he has said: “If you email me and you’re a founder who wants a meeting, the first thing I’m going to ask you for are documents. If the document isn’t highly precise, it’s highly unlikely you’re somebody we want to fund” ².

On the pace of founder learning: “If we have three meetings over a period of two weeks, I should see that you’re getting better. It’s about the pace of learning” ².

He emphasizes grit and perseverance: “I admire grit and perseverance — and have come to view them as indispensable qualities in founders. I want to work with individuals who are highly invested in their company and are eager to make sacrifices” ¹.

On market selection, he has observed that “the largest wins have typically been horizontal” — software platforms that operate across industries rather than vertical plays ⁴.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 26 verified investments in the portfolio table below, the following patterns emerge. This represents a partial view of Chandna’s total investment activity since 2003; many earlier and smaller investments are not publicly documented.

Sector breakdown (26 verified investments): - Cybersecurity / Security: 15 investments (58%) — Palo Alto Networks, Skyhigh Networks, Obsidian Security, Awake Security, Censys, Dazz, Kodem, Abnormal Security, Cylake, CipherTrust, Sourcefire, Imperva, Aruba Networks, Sumo Logic (SIEM/log analytics), Rubrik (data security/recovery) - Networking / Infrastructure: 5 investments (19%) — Arista Networks, Innovium, Aquantia, Delphix, AppDynamics (APM) - AI / Enterprise AI: 3 investments (12%) — Anthropic, Axiamatic, Abnormal Security (AI-native, counted above) - Other Enterprise Software: 3 investments (12%) — Neeva, TechProcess

Note: Several companies span multiple categories; the categorization reflects primary focus. Sample size of 26 verified investments is a subset of the total portfolio.

Stage distribution: Chandna’s verified investments are heavily weighted toward earliest-stage entry. Greylock invested at Series A or earlier in Palo Alto Networks (2006), AppDynamics (2008, Series A), Sumo Logic (2010, seed/Series A), Skyhigh Networks (2012, Series A), Obsidian Security (2017, Series A), Censys (2018, seed), Awake Security (2014, incubated at Greylock), Abnormal Security (2018, incubated at Greylock), and Dazz (seed). The pattern is consistent: first or very early institutional check, typically before product-market fit is established.

Founder repeat-backing: Chandna has backed Rajiv Gupta three times: at Securent (acquired by Cisco), Skyhigh Networks (acquired by McAfee), and Axiamatic ⁵. He backed Nir Zuk (Palo Alto Networks) and then Cylake ⁶. This repeat-founder pattern suggests high weight on founder trust built through prior working relationships.

Geographic concentration: Portfolio companies cluster in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, with some Israeli-founded companies (Censys, Kodem, Dazz have Israeli co-founders).

Operating background as deal source: Multiple investments originated through Chandna’s direct professional network from his Check Point days — Nir Zuk (PAN) was a former Check Point colleague, and the Skyhigh Networks investment was the second backing of Rajiv Gupta after his previous company (Securent) was acquired by Cisco. Chandna incubated Awake Security and Abnormal Security at Greylock offices before they were formally incorporated ⁷⁸.

Notable gap between stated and inferred thesis: Chandna publicly emphasizes “enterprise, cybersecurity, and infrastructure” broadly, but the verified portfolio is overwhelmingly security-focused. Non-security enterprise software (AppDynamics, Delphix, Neeva, Axiamatic) represents a smaller share of verified investments than cybersecurity alone.

Portfolio

Note: Years for Arista Networks, Sourcefire, Imperva, and CipherTrust are approximate based on Chandna’s Greylock tenure (joined 2003) and available public records; exact investment dates were not independently verified for these entries. This table represents approximately 25 of Chandna’s verified investments; many earlier and smaller investments lack publicly accessible sourcing.

In Their Own Words

On Palo Alto Networks’ design goals:

“Part of the design goal was, you know, beat NetScreen, who was an incumbent vendor at the time, in performance; beat Check Point Software, another primary incumbent, on manageability.” ⁹

On founding Abnormal Security:

“Basically, somebody was in my email account, live, right then.” ⁸

“Email is the lifeblood for most companies and it continues to be a key vector for attack.” ⁸

“Greylock backed this company because we personally experienced a business email compromise attack.” ⁸

On Rubrik’s early promise:

“The old versus new architecture he presented was very compelling. Based on my knowledge of the sector, I knew it could be built into a large business.” ²³

“A startup’s greatest weapon and biggest advantage is speed, and this was one of the fastest moving teams I’d ever worked with.” ³⁰

On what he looks for in founders:

“I admire grit and perseverance — and have come to view them as indispensable qualities in founders. I want to work with individuals who are highly invested in their company and are eager to make sacrifices.” ¹

“If you email me and you’re a founder who wants a meeting, the first thing I’m going to ask you for are documents. If the document isn’t highly precise, it’s highly unlikely you’re somebody we want to fund.” ²

“If we have three meetings over a period of two weeks, I should see that you’re getting better. It’s about the pace of learning.” ²

On investing in Cylake:

“Nir is a brilliant technologist who is customer-centric and is a magnet for talent.” ⁶

“We are excited to partner with the Cylake team to build an AI-driven, secure future for customers with data sovereignty requirements.” ⁶

On Axiamatic:

“Axiamatic is the latest company in that tradition. We are thrilled to partner with Rajiv, Kaushik, and the Axiamatic team, and excited about what they are building for enterprises: accelerating the most demanding transformation programs with AI.” ²⁹

On market platform preferences:

“The largest wins have typically been horizontal” — including “software platforms, whether CRM integrating across industries or cybersecurity platforms going across industries.” ⁴

What Founders Say

Evan Reiser, CEO and Co-Founder of Abnormal Security:

“If he believes something is messed up in the business, he will tell you.” ²

“Part of Asheem’s superpower is that he has a really high bar. He’s fairly conservative about taking on risk, and he’s super open and willing to challenge you.” ²

Reiser also described a specific exchange over gross margins in Abnormal’s early days: when Reiser told Chandna that 0% gross margin “doesn’t matter, we’re going to optimize over time,” Chandna responded “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that?” — and Reiser acknowledged in hindsight that Chandna was right to push on the issue. ²

Rajiv Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of Skyhigh Networks (later Axiamatic):

“Asheem Chandna at Greylock was a leading investor at my previous company that Cisco acquired. The relationship with him at Greylock was very, very good, just outstanding.” ³¹

“Anything I do next you have the first dibs, the first rights.” ³¹

“I went to him and said this is what I want to do and he said: ‘Let me take it to the partnership.’ The partnership said go for it.” ³¹

“We had funding on day one when we started the company.” ³¹

Nir Zuk, Founder and CTO of Palo Alto Networks:

“I called a really good friend of mine called Asheem Chandna, who is a VC at Greylock, and told him I was going to start something. And he immediately brought Jim Goetz as well into the picture. I knew from the beginning — they agreed from the beginning — that we’re going to build something that’s going to change the cybersecurity industry.” ⁹

Sources