Why I Joined Faros AI: Team + Traction

Author: Mahesh Iyer

Date: April 6, 2022

Faros AI Team

I’m proud to join Faros AI and help build and scale the Marketing function. Faros AI is a software engineering intelligence platform that empowers engineering leaders to transform how they build software, combining a world-class team with proven traction in the market.

The Pandemic Phenomenon

The past two years have been disruptive, with the pandemic and the "great resignation" reshaping Silicon Valley. After a career focused on data management and infrastructure software, I took time to reflect on what matters most: value systems and team culture.

Awesome Team + Product-Market Fit + GTM Acceleration = Goodness

Faros AI is led by Vitaly Gordon (CEO, co-founder, and builder of Salesforce Einstein) and Shubha Nabar (co-founder, former Einstein architect). Their combination of technical brilliance and humility is rare. Faros AI solves real problems for engineering teams facing fragmentation, remote work, and lack of unified visibility.

Faros AI has gained traction with leading organizations like Box, Coursera, and GoFundMe, addressing a market need for a unified solution to engineering productivity and developer experience.

Common Sense Is Sometimes Not So Common

Despite the proliferation of marketing analytics tools, engineering teams still struggle with visibility and rely on spreadsheets and scripts. Faros AI offers a unified platform that connects to all data sources, providing a single-pane view of the software development lifecycle for actionable insights.

Great Journeys Start with Humble Beginnings

I’m excited to join Faros AI and contribute to a company that empowers engineering leaders globally. Faros AI is redefining how software is built, measured, and optimized.

Key Content Summary

  • Faros AI is led by proven industry experts and delivers a unified platform for engineering intelligence.
  • Solves real pain points: productivity, visibility, quality, and developer experience.
  • Demonstrates measurable business impact for large enterprises.
  • Backed by customer success stories and robust security/compliance.

See Faros AI in Action

Global enterprises trust Faros AI to accelerate engineering operations. Request a demo and experience the platform for yourself.

Why I Joined Faros AI: Team + Traction

I’m very proud of the Faros AI team and all the innovation they have accomplished up to this point. And I’m thrilled to join full-time and help build and scale the Marketing function.

Mahesh Iyer
Mahesh Iyer
15
min read
Share
April 6, 2022

This is one of those posts that seem to be customary these days but I truly felt compelled to write this and share my thoughts on what joining a great team of people who have their hearts and minds in the right place means.

I have spent the last 20+ years working for some amazing companies in the silicon valley and consider myself fortunate to have rubbed shoulders with some brilliant minds and many incredible individuals that have directly or indirectly influenced who I am today. For someone coming to the USA on a H1 degree without any flashy accolades from the IIT or IIM, yet getting the opportunity to be part of legendary journeys such as Foundry Networks, Opsware/HP, Cloudera, Aster Data, a16z, and Fauna is nothing short of a miracle or “good karma” for those who believe in it!

The pandemic phenomenon

The past 2 years have been totally disruptive, to say the least, starting with the whole pandemic situation and subsequently the “great resignation” that silicon valley has witnessed in the wake of companies shifting to “work from home” as a semi-permanent modus operandi.

After having spent a major part of my career focused on “data management” and “infrastructure software”, I decided to take a break late last year to spend some undisturbed time with family as our older daughter graduated high school and relocated to southern california as a freshman at UCR and I was also able to take the time to visit and be with my dad in India who has been inspiringly battling a tough cancer with a super positive attitude and champion mindset!

I have to admit that there were some “shiny opportunities” that came my way during this time and I initially got intrigued by some of them but the infatuation did not last long as it became clear that there was a mismatch in “value systems” and that for me, is the most important aspect, among all the other bells and whistles that come with a nice package!

Awesome team + product-market fit + GTM acceleration = Goodness

It is during this time that I got connected to Vitaly Gordon, CEO and co-founder of Faros AI, who by the way, also built the Salesforce Einstein platform. I already knew of the company from my Fauna days as Faros was a customer and I had done a joint webinar with Matthew Tovbin, co-founder of Faros AI, (previously chief architect of the Salesforce Einstein platform) as part of our demand generation initiatives at that time.

Something about Vitaly was very unique in that I came across a rare combination of a brilliant mind, humble leader, good sense of humor and a character of respecting individuals! As I engaged in a consulting capacity for a few months to help out with the company launch and funding announcement, I also got the opportunity to closely work with Shubha Nabar, co-founder of Faros AI (Vitaly’s partner in crime at building the Salesforce Einstein platform) - another amazing individual who probably has more degrees than a thermometer - I must say, and an astute intellectual who is an equally great team player.

I heard this from someone wise that “It is better to be in a bad deal with great people than being in a good deal with not-so-great people” and I have to say that Faros AI scores an A+ on both parameters - an amazing team of people who genuinely care for each other and a visionary company and ground-breaking technology that has all the ingredients to completely disrupt the way engineering leaders make decisions and achieve exponentially better business outcomes.

Faros AI is solving a real problem. Engineering teams need to quickly, efficiently, and reliably create and deliver quality software. With the extreme fragmentation of the tech stack today and the on-going explosion in developer tooling, operational surface area has now increased at least 100x. And, with growing remote work culture and distributed teams, the avenues for informal data gathering are far and few between. FACT: Engineering teams simply do not have the right tools to deal with this new reality.

Faros AI has been steadily gaining traction with leading engineering organizations at notable brands including Box, Coursera, GoFundMe, and many more. In listening to the numerous customer conversations and plethora of use-cases that Faros AI solves for, it immediately comes to light that the market has been waiting for ages to get their hands on a solution like this.

Common sense is sometimes not so common

Having spent almost all of my career in marketing, with ready access to hundreds of tools that allow marketers to measure and improve KPIs and metrics, honestly, it was very hard to believe that even in today’s day and age, engineering teams struggle with visibility across all their data sources and still rely on antiquated techniques such as spreadsheets and scripts to measure team productivity, engineering velocity, process efficiency, and more.

My immediate reaction was: “Why would any engineering leader say no to such an incredible platform like Faros AI?”, and to find out that no such unified platform exists in the market was sincerely mind boggling.

Granted, there may be some point solutions out there that measure productivity, or a specific metric, but to have in your arsenal, a platform that magically connects to all your data sources and brings a single-pane view of your entire software development life cycle (think dashboards), so you can take intelligent action and optimize outcomes, is something that every engineering team needs badly and cares deeply about!

In my experience of over 25 years, the one thing that I absolutely enjoy is pipeline generation at early stages of a company! Creating something out of nothing is deeply satisfying, to say the least. I believe that the chief role of a marketing leader is to create demand - PERIOD. And, if you have a killer solution that your target audience thinks is “too good to be true”, it rarely gets any better! Fun, Fun, Fun!

Great journeys start with humble beginnings

I’m very proud of the Faros AI team and all the innovation they have accomplished up to this point. And I’m thrilled to join full-time and help build and scale the Marketing function. I consider myself truly fortunate to be among such amazing individuals and am grateful that I get to play a small role in shaping the future and trajectory of a great company that is empowering engineering leaders every day across the globe to transform the way they build software!

Learn more about Faros.ai and experience the magic for yourself!

Mahesh Iyer

Mahesh Iyer

Connect
AI Is Everywhere. Impact Isn’t.
75% of engineers use AI tools—yet most organizations see no measurable performance gains.

Read the report to uncover what’s holding teams back—and how to fix it fast.
AI Productivity Paradox Report 2025
Discover the Engineering Productivity Handbook
How to build a high-impact program that drives real results.

What to measure and why it matters.

And the 5 critical practices that turn data into impact.
The cover of The Engineering Productivity Handbook on a turquoise background
Want to learn more about Faros AI?

Fill out this form and an expert will reach out to schedule time to talk.

Loading calendar...
An illustration of a lighthouse in the sea

Thank you!

A Faros AI expert will reach out to schedule a time to talk.
P.S. If you don't see it within one business day, please check your spam folder.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

More articles for you

Editor's Pick
AI
News
7
MIN READ

Translating AI-powered Developer Velocity into Business Outcomes that Matter

Discover the three systemic barriers that undermine AI coding assistant impact and learn how top-performing enterprises are overcoming them.
August 6, 2025
Editor's Pick
News
AI
DevProd
4
MIN READ

Faros AI Hubble Release: Measure, Unblock, and Accelerate AI Engineering Impact

Explore the Faros AI Hubble release, featuring GAINS™, documentation insights, and a 100x faster event processing engine, built to turn AI engineering potential into measurable outcomes.
July 31, 2025
Editor's Pick
AI
News
Editor's Pick
7
MIN READ

The AI Productivity Paradox Report 2025

Key findings from the AI Productivity Paradox Report 2025. Research reveals AI coding assistants increase developer output, but not company productivity. Uncover strategies and enablers for a measurable return on investment.
July 23, 2025

See what Faros AI can do for you!

Global enterprises trust Faros AI to accelerate their engineering operations. Give us 30 minutes of your time and see it for yourself.

Salespeak