At 66, Chaudhry has established five different companies. His initial venture, SecureIT, was a cybersecurity company he co-founded with his wife in 1996. The company was sold for $70 million in stock in 1998. His most recent company is Zscaler, another cybersecurity firm founded in 2008, which currently has a market cap of $24.13 billion as of Wednesday. As the CEO of Zscaler, which employs over 7,000 people, Chaudhry’s net worth stands at $9 billion, according to Forbes.
When hiring new employees, Chaudhry frequently considers a key question to assess their suitability: “Are you a builder or an operator?”
Here’s a look at how each type of worker operates and why it’s beneficial to embody both roles throughout your career.
Builders thrive in chaotic, dynamic environments.
They excel in startups and informal settings where structure is minimal.
“Startups succeed due to immense passion and minimal process,” he explains, contrasting this with the rigid hierarchies found in larger companies. In startups, “communication is largely informal, relying on direct conversations rather than formal channels.” This level of freedom is what builders enjoy and require in their work.
He notes that “builders often play a crucial role in scaling and growing a company.”They need to be curious and committed to continuous learning because, in nascent companies, “there are many unknowns that need to be addressed.
Operators excel in well-structured environments.
They perform best in larger companies with clearly defined processes.
Operators, he explains, prefer “a more organized and systematic setting.”
Larger organizations typically have established systems to coordinate their many employees effectively, which suits operators well.
For operators, “the key is the ability to build teams, motivate them, and develop them to scale the business,” he adds.
People who excel at both roles are “exceptionally rare.”
Building something from the ground up requires a different skill set compared to managing a billion-dollar business, he explains. Both abilities are crucial—being effective in a structured environment and thriving in one with less defined rules.
Each type of role offers its own opportunities for personal growth.
He notes that for operators, working in a large company is valuable for learning about scaling and process management. On the other hand, being a builder enables you to tap into your creativity and requires ongoing learning and adaptability.
He claims that having individuals who are capable of doing both is unusual.
