A Framework for Success

“I have a framework for evaluating ideas called ‘a hypothesis document’ that helps me determine if my idea will be a success,” said computer scientist, trailblazing businessman and entrepreneur Mohit Aron ’98, ’00. As the founder of two multibillion-dollar companies and known as the “father of hyperconvergence” for pioneering hyperconverged infrastructure and redefining data management, Aron has proven his framework’s worth.

“I was heavily influenced by my advisor at Rice who told me, ‘It’s one thing to acquire knowledge. It’s another to generate knowledge. That’s growth.’” Under the mentorship of Dr. Peter Druschel, Aron honed his expertise in distributed systems and web-scale computing while pursuing his master’s and Ph.D. in computer science.

“My Rice experience was foundational. I don’t think I could have done what I did without it,” said Aron. “During your bachelor’s, you acquire knowledge. If you do a good Ph.D., which I was blessed to do at Rice, you learn how to generate knowledge. And that’s what led me to start two of my companies, which are now decacorns or soon-to-be decacorns.” A decacorn is a privately held start-up company with a valuation of over $10 billion.

Aron sees many parallels between academia and entrepreneurship: “What do we do in research? We have an idea. We get funding, go hire students, do the work and then write research papers. Company building is similar. You get an idea. You raise funding, you hire people, you implement the idea and then you sell it. It just takes more years to bring the company to fruition than to write a research paper.”

Following his time at Rice, Aron went to Silicon Valley and joined the growing 600-person company called Google. He was the lead developer on the Google File System, tackling the complexities of web-scale data. This experience confirmed his belief that the future of enterprise IT lay in more efficient and scalable data architectures. His tenure at Google provided valuable exposure to industry trends and the day-to-day challenges of running a business.

“My advice for students who decide to come to industry is: Don’t be in a hurry to start a company. Join a team that you know has a past record of doing well. Learn the ropes, and then you can do it right. For about ten years I worked at other companies. So, take that time, get that training.”

In 2009, Aron co-founded Nutanix, where he spearheaded the development of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), which integrates computing and storage into a seamless, cloud-like platform. By helping enterprises simplify and manage primary data storage and computing infrastructure, Nutanix became an industry leader and decacorn.

Recognizing another significant challenge—fragmented data storage—in 2013 Aron founded Cohesity, now a multibillion-dollar company approaching decacorn status, to protect and manage secondary data like backups and archives on a unified platform.

Beyond his industry achievements, Aron remains closely connected to Rice University. He was a 2018 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award Recipient, served on the Rice Engineering Advisory Board and has philanthropically supported the Computer Science program. He also champions initiatives to bridge the gap between academia and industry, advocating for stronger partnerships between Rice and leading tech companies to improve recruitment opportunities for students.

Having recently stepped back from Cohesity, Aron continues to innovate and tackle new challenges. Currently, he is working on his next stealth startup, which will continue to push the boundaries of web-scaling technology.

Another framework for Aron’s success? Aron said, “For me, having fun during the journey probably matters more than the eventual outcome. If I’m happy every day going to work and I’m enjoying myself, that to me is success.”