Season 1 | Episode 29: Leading with Human Values: Sanjai Marimadaiah on AI, Entrepreneurship and Business Growth

Show Notes

In this insightful episode of C-Suite Secrets, host Heather Parsons sits down with Sanjai Marimadaiah, founder of Rasa Growth and veteran of tech giants like IBM, HP, Oracle, and Sun Microsystems. Together, they unpack what it really takes to scale a business in today’s fast-moving world — from understanding your customer’s true needs to leading with purpose and heart.

Sanjai shares lessons from his 20+ years in the tech and startup ecosystem, reflecting on the evolution of leadership, pricing strategy, and AI’s disruptive potential. His perspective blends deep technical expertise with a systems-thinking approach to growth — and a clear reminder that “business is common sense.”

Episode Highlights

From Silicon Valley to Startups:

How Sanjai transitioned from system software engineer to Chief Product Officer and growth strategist — and why he calls himself a “systems thinker for growth.”

Business Is Common Sense:

Why even the most complex industries succeed when leaders get back to basics: understanding their market, serving customers, and communicating clearly.

Know Your Customer — Deeply:

Sanjai explains why founders must go beyond their tech or product to study how customers actually live and work.

→ “Customers aren’t buying your product. They’re buying a solution to their problem.”

The Pricing Perspective:

Pricing isn’t a finance function — it’s a reflection of how well you understand value. Sanjai breaks down how perceived vs. real value can make or break profitability.

The Power of Simplicity:

Heather and Sanjai discuss how clarity in communication—like an “eighth-grade readability test”—translates into better customer connection and higher conversions.

AI & the New Era of Disruption:

Why Sanjai believes GenAI is the next big revolution after the web boom, and how leaders can stay hands-on to truly understand its impact.

Leadership with Humanity:

Drawing on examples from Satya Nadella, Steve Jobs, and his own personal journey, Sanjai emphasizes the role of empathy, spirituality, and self-awareness in great leadership.

Bio:

Sanjai Marimadaiah is a business growth strategist and AI transformation advisor with over two decades of leadership experience driving product-led and customer-centric growth across global technology firms. He has scaled HP’s Big Data business from $2M to $80M+, repositioned DiffusionData as a high-performance Kafka alternative, and guided go-to-market transformations for SaaS and infrastructure companies.

To connect with our guest, click on the links below:

Website: http://www.RASAGrowth.com

LinkedIn:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjaim1

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/RASA Growth 

Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/RASAGrowth/

Connect with me:

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-parsons-cfo/

Join the C-Suite Insiders Group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/csuiteinsiders

https://heatherparsons.com/links

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