Orion Hindawi’s plan to transition out of the Tanium CEO role spanned years.
Hindawi, who co-founded the cybersecurity company with his dad, David, in 2007, realized that he was spending more time on operations and less time on product during his run as CEO. More than three years ago, he started talking to his dad about transitioning the CEO role to someone else.
“It wasn’t as much I was dreading coming to work. It was more just that I realized there was somebody who from a comparative advantage would do a better job than I did at some of this stuff,” Hindawi said. “Nobody is great at everything.”
Hindawi in February 2023 relinquished the CEO role to Dan Streetman, the former CEO of Tibco Software. Hindawi stepped into the executive chairman role at Kirkland-based Tanium, which was valued at more than $9 billion in 2020. The company moved its headquarters from Emeryville, California, to Kirkland’s Carillon Point in late 2020.
The Business Journal spoke with Hindawi about his new role, his life in Seattle and the future for both him and Tanium.
How did you find Dan originally?
You hire a recruiting firm, and they bring you everybody they can think of. … I ended up interviewing, I think, 162 people in the process.
What drew you to him out of all those people?
West Point. Runs Ironmans. Great family person. Unstoppable, and an ethically rounded human. Then you look at the skill set. He had a lot of the skills around go-to-market, and a lot of the background around things like strategy that we were looking for.
Were there any hurdles to getting him?
The first time I met him, he was in the middle of his previous job, and he couldn't come join us. So I kept on interviewing. I probably interviewed 100 more people after I interviewed him. When he was finally ready to think about leaving, I snagged him because I thought he was exactly what the company needed.
Was he surprised when you came back to him?
No, I don’t think so. I wanted to hire him the first time I met him. He just wasn’t ready. I guess I have a long memory.
You moved to Seattle’s Laurelhurst neighborhood in 2020. How are you liking it here?
We have found Seattle to be a very welcoming, beautiful and interesting place. We didn’t really know what we were getting into. We moved during Covid. We had spent some time in Seattle prior to moving here, but not months and months of the year. We have been really happy. Our family, our children. Jackie, my wife. The whole ecosystem has been really happy.
What about the tech community?
There’s a really cool tech community that, coming from the Bay Area, I underappreciated. I thought that the tech community in the Bay Area was by definition bigger and better than anywhere else, just from myopia. What I’m seeing here, and some of our close friends are running these companies, there are really cool companies that are driving hard. Some of them are really small, and I think they’re going to get a lot bigger.
What do you and your family like to do for fun?
There’s a lot of hiking and a beautiful lake. There’s tons of culture. Our kids are at an age where they’re starting to ski, and it’s amazing to be able to drive an hour and have them skiing. I didn’t know how to drive a boat before I got here. I had no idea how to operate a boat, but now I would say I’m mostly competent. … I’m still not a big fan of seaplanes.
Why not?
I know that there are lots of statistics that should make me feel better about them. You get in one and it looks like an Indiana Jones plane.
Given Tanium’s value, did it ever cross your mind to just retire or take a break?
My wife has been very clear that’s not an acceptable outcome. My office door closes and she gets her freedom. I also do think it’s important that my kids get to see me working. It’s important for me that I’m doing something productive. We started this company because we thought what we work on is important.
The company is 17 years old now. What’s the end game?
Our investors are long-term investors. We’re not really getting a lot of external pressure, or even internal pressure from the employees, to take the company public. That said, we’re reaching a scale where there’s real advantage in being public. When we start thinking about M&A, when we start thinking about the marketing benefit. A lot of people don’t know how big Tanium is. It’s a lot bigger than most people think it is. One of the benefits of being a public company is people know. The answer is: That is something that is up to Dan.
Do you ever think about starting another company?
There is a lot of me that would love to start another company today. A big part of me. I think that it’s really easy to get lost in the concept of manifest destiny. You think, “I’m so good at this, so I won’t fail.” I think statistically if I started another company today, the likelihood of it being as successful as Tanium, no matter how good I am at this, is pretty low. … It is an incredibly exhausting journey to start a company. Sometimes I wonder whether it’s fair to do that to my kids and to do that to Jackie. Even to my friends. You go into a tunnel and you come out someday. So I’m wrestling with that currently.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
