Nutanix chief revenue officer Dominick Delfino has quit, just eight months into the job, to join a different technology company. And Nutanix has revised its guidance upwards for the current quarter.
Update: Chris Kadderas’time at Nutanix corrected; 2 Aug 2022.
Andrew Brindred, who was the temp sales head before Delfino came in from running Pure Storage’s sales organization, now gets the CRO spot as well as an EVP title.
Rajiv Ramaswami, Nutanix president and CEO, had to issue the statement about this: “During his five-year tenure at Nutanix, Andrew has demonstrated deep technology sales acumen, a strategic mindset and strong leadership capabilities. … We thank Dom for his contributions to Nutanix, and we wish him the best in the next phase of his career.”
Treasure the irony here as Brindred, despite these qualities, did not get the CRO post when Delfino waltzed into Nutanix. He became SVP and worldwide sales chief operating officer.
Ramaswami extolled Brindred’s virtues some more: “Andrew has a strong command of go-to-market strategies and how to drive customer satisfaction. Coupled with his expertise in developing innovative business strategies and identifying and cultivating leaders, Andrew’s knowledge and experience will be valuable assets to Nutanix as we enter our next phase of growth.”
Brindred himself said “I could not be more fond of, and appreciative for, my time at Nutanix since joining the company in 2017. Nutanix is an outstanding organization with exceptional people, and I’m honored to become CRO.”
Delfino came into Nutanix in December 2021 and replaced Chris Kaddaras, who had left in October 2021 to join startup Transmit Security. Kadderas was appointed as CRO after 3 years with Nutanix in February of 2020 and he left in October of 2021.
Delfino was hired from Pure, where he had spent just a year, joining in November 2020 from VMware. Five months after he joined Nutanix, in May this year, sales reps were leaving for, Ramaswami said, potential IPO riches at startups. Now Delfino himself seems to have done something similar. Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers said that Nutanix’s sales rep attrition “contributed to the company issuing a F4Q22 rev. guide ~20 percent below the prior Street estimate.”
Nutanix also updated its outlook for its fiscal fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2022 issued on May 25, 2022. Revenue, ACV billings and non-GAAP gross margin are expected to be at or above the high end of the respective prior ranges and non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be in line with the prior ranges.
William Blair analyst Jason Ader told subscribers: “We remain guarded in our view on the stock given the high management turnover and salesforce attrition, the potential impact of a weaker macro backdrop, and the company’s ability to compete successfully in a cloud-first world.”
