“We officially ran out of money three times,” Weerawarana told Economynext, when asked about the hardest period of the journey.
The most testing moment came in 2015, when the company’s shareholders at the time issued an ultimatum to turn profitable.
WSO2 managed to become cash-positive in the next two years, leading to the growth that followed.
That growth attracted private equity giant EQT, which acquired WSO2 for $600 million in 2024.
The company’s next target is bolder still. “We want to scale the company to 500 million to one billion dollars in revenue,” Weerawarana said, framing this exit as a handoff to leadership better positioned to drive that commercial push, rather than a conclusion.
Weerawarana previously stepped down from his role as CEO in 2017, handing operations over to Tyler Jeswell, before eventually returning to the role through its acquisition and expansion.
“Last time I stepped down was because I wanted to get somebody to drive the business in a more product marketing, sales-oriented way; but now it’s different because we are a much larger company.”
Source: https://economynext.com/wso2-founder-sanjiva-weerawarana-to-step-down-as-ceo-271549/
The most testing moment came in 2015, when the company’s shareholders at the time issued an ultimatum to turn profitable.
WSO2 managed to become cash-positive in the next two years, leading to the growth that followed.
That growth attracted private equity giant EQT, which acquired WSO2 for $600 million in 2024.
The company’s next target is bolder still. “We want to scale the company to 500 million to one billion dollars in revenue,” Weerawarana said, framing this exit as a handoff to leadership better positioned to drive that commercial push, rather than a conclusion.
Weerawarana previously stepped down from his role as CEO in 2017, handing operations over to Tyler Jeswell, before eventually returning to the role through its acquisition and expansion.
“Last time I stepped down was because I wanted to get somebody to drive the business in a more product marketing, sales-oriented way; but now it’s different because we are a much larger company.”
Source: https://economynext.com/wso2-founder-sanjiva-weerawarana-to-step-down-as-ceo-271549/
