Mark Anderson is the CEO at Alteryx. In a conversation with Annie, Mark talks about his humble beginnings in retail sales that helped him break into the tech world. He shares stories about working with Jeff Bezos and Amazon in the ‘90s, and how learning from John Chambers at Cisco informs his current leadership style. Prior to his role as CEO at Alteryx, Mark was President of Palo Alto Networks, where he and the team grew the company from pre-IPO in 2012 to become one of the largest security companies in the world.

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"I used to think that asking for help was a sign of weakness… And it wasn't until I noticed people that I respected asking for help and getting the sensation of joy when you provide help or guidance to others that I realized it was really a sign of strength, and that freed me up to be greedy when it came to asking for help.” - Mark Anderson

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Episode Timestamps:

*(01:46) - Mark’s background and beginning in sales

*(06:59) - Breaking into the world of tech

*(09:31) - Key relationships from building connections

*(12:22) - Working at Cisco at $600 BN valuation

*(19:48) - Working with Jeff Bezos in the ‘90s

*(23:32) - Leveraging relationships to overcome obstacles

*(30:20) - Working at Alteryx

*(35:01) - Final thoughts

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Sponsor:

Who Got Me Here is brought to you by Connect The Dots, mapping professional relationships so you can find the strongest connections to the people and companies you want to reach. Visit ctd.ai to learn more.

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Links:

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Mark Anderson: Utilizing Sales Skills to Open Your Horizons