Jit Saxena
Massachusetts-based technology entrepreneur who founded and led Applix and then co-founded Netezza, taking both companies public, and who has since served on the boards of numerous data and software startups.
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- Location
- Massachusetts, United States
- Country
- United States
- Known for
- Founder, CEO and later chairman of Netezza; earlier founder, chairman and CEO of Applix, Inc.
- Education
- B.S. in electrical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; M.S. in electrical engineering, Michigan State University; MBA, Boston University
- Prior career
- Held senior management roles at Data General before founding Applixstated by the subject
- Later boards
- Has served on the boards of Actifio, uTest, Mautic, AtScale, Pillar VC and other technology companies
Overview
Jit Saxena is a Massachusetts-based technology entrepreneur who founded and led two publicly traded companies: Applix, Inc., beginning in 1983, and Netezza, which he co-founded in September 2000. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University, and an MBA from Boston University (India New England News).
Applix and early career
Before founding Applix, Saxena held senior management roles at Data General, according to a 2010 Actifio board-appointment release (Actifio via Data Storage Connection). He founded Applix, an analytical and, later, financial-performance software company based in Westborough, Massachusetts, in 1983, serving as its chairman and chief executive until 2000, and took the company public in 1994 (MIT Martin Trust Center). Saxena had already left Applix by the time Cognos announced, on September 5, 2007, that it would acquire the company for approximately $339 million in cash, adding Applix’s roughly 3,000 customers and its TM1 in-memory analytics software to its own business (eWeek).
Netezza
In September 2000, Saxena co-founded Netezza, a Massachusetts data warehouse appliance maker, and served as its chief executive and a board member from its inception. Effective January 31, 2008, he was succeeded as chief executive by then-president and chief operating officer Jim Baum, remaining chairman of the board. IBM completed its acquisition of Netezza on November 11, 2010, for $27 a share, approximately $1.7 billion net of cash. Saxena’s role as Netezza’s founder is independently confirmed by both the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and an India New England News interview with him (MIT Martin Trust Center; India New England News).
Later board and investment roles
After leaving Netezza’s day-to-day leadership, Saxena joined a series of technology-company boards. In August 2010, Actifio announced he had joined its board of directors, with its chief executive saying the company was “very fortunate” that Saxena had accepted the invitation (Actifio via Data Storage Connection). On April 12, 2012, software-testing company uTest announced Saxena’s addition to its board along with a personal investment in the company, with uTest’s chief executive, Doron Reuveni, crediting him with “a track record of success, serving as CEO and founder of two companies that disrupted incumbents and went public” (uTest via GlobeNewswire). Marketing-automation company Mautic later announced that Saxena had joined its board and made a personal investment as well, alongside fellow board members Michael Skok and Bill Wiberg, with Mautic’s chief executive, Matt Johnston, citing his “incredible track record of success” as “an entrepreneur, an investor and a board member of technology companies” (Mautic via PR Newswire). Saxena has also served as a board member at venture firm Pillar VC, whose team page credits him with the same Applix and Netezza track record (Pillar VC). Separately, the India New England News interview reports that Saxena, who lives with end-stage renal disease, has advocated for kidney-transplant awareness (India New England News).
What this profile does not claim
This profile does not repeat the 2009 acquisition year or $1.78 billion price given in two of Saxena’s own board-appointment press releases, since they conflict with the independently corroborated November 2010 closing date and $1.7 billion price established elsewhere on this site (see “openItems” above). It does not repeat a 2003 date given in one interview for Cognos’s acquisition of Applix, following instead an independent 2007 trade-press report. It does not independently verify Saxena’s reported 2003 and 2008 award recognitions, which come from a single press release, and it does not attempt to list every board he has served on, since his later career includes numerous private-company board seats not all independently documented.
Timeline
- 1983
- Founds Applix, Inc., a Massachusetts software company, and becomes its chairman and chief executive.
- 1994
- Takes Applix public.
- 2000-09
- Co-founds Netezza with Foster D. Hinshaw and becomes its chief executive.
- 2007-09-05
- Cognos announces it will acquire Applix, the company Saxena had founded and left years earlier, for about $339 million.
- 2008-01-31
- Steps down as Netezza's chief executive in favor of Jim Baum, remaining chairman of the board.
- 2010-08
- Joins the board of directors of data-protection company Actifio.
- 2010-11-11
- IBM completes its acquisition of Netezza.
- 2012-04-12
- Joins the board of directors of software-testing company uTest and makes a personal investment in it.
- 2016
- Joins the board of directors of marketing-automation company Mautic and makes a personal investment in it.
What we could not verify
These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.
- Two of Saxena's own board-appointment press releases misstate the year IBM acquired Netezza: uTest's April 2012 release and Mautic's 2016 release both say IBM 'acquired' Netezza in 2009 (Mautic's release also gives the price as '$1.78 billion'). This site's independently sourced Netezza profile, drawing on IBM's own announcement and independent reporting from TechCrunch, Fortune, TDWI and Washington Technology, establishes that the deal was announced in September 2010, closed on November 11, 2010, and was valued at $27 a share, about $1.7 billion net of cash. This profile follows the independently corroborated 2010/$1.7 billion figures rather than the press releases' 2009/$1.78 billion figures.
- A regional-newspaper interview (India New England News) states that Applix, the company Saxena founded, 'went public in 1994 before being acquired by Cognos/IBM in 2003.' An independent technology-trade-press report (eWeek) instead places Cognos's acquisition of Applix in September 2007, for approximately $339 million; Cognos itself was later acquired by IBM in 2008, which this profile treats as a separate, later transaction. By the time of the 2007 Cognos deal, Saxena had already left Applix (his tenure there is independently reported as running from 1983 to 2000), so the acquisition is noted here only as the eventual fate of the company he founded, using the independently corroborated 2007 date rather than the 2003 date given in the interview.
- Saxena's 2003 Ernst & Young 'New England Entrepreneur of the Year' award and 2008 'Mass High Tech All-Star' recognition are reported only in a single company press release (Actifio's 2010 board-appointment announcement, republished by Data Storage Connection) and could not be independently corroborated against the awarding organizations' own records for this profile, so they are not included in the facts above.
Sources
7 sources (3 tier 2, 4 first-party), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Statements the subject makes about itself are marked as such and are not treated as independent evidence. See the source policy.
No Wikipedia article on Jit Saxena was found or used; this profile relies on an academic-institution bio, a regional newspaper interview, a technology-trade-press report on Applix's later acquisition, and several first-party company press releases announcing his board appointments, all fetched and read in full. The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship's profile of Saxena and an India New England News interview with him, neither affiliated with Netezza, Applix or any company he has joined as a director, independently corroborate his founding of both Applix and Netezza, his education and his 1994 and 2007-era public company milestones. eWeek's independent 2007 report on Cognos's acquisition of Applix corroborates that company's fate after Saxena's departure, and is used only for that narrow fact. Saxena's later board seats at Actifio, uTest and Mautic are documented through those companies' own announcements, which are identified as first-party above rather than presented as independently verified; where those releases conflict with the independently corroborated Netezza acquisition date and price already established on this site, the discrepancy is flagged in "openItems" and the independently corroborated figures are used instead.
- Jit Saxena Supports: Confirmation that Saxena founded and led both Applix (taken public in 1994) and Netezza, and an independent summary of his career as a technology entrepreneur.
- On Chai With Manju, Entrepreneur Jit Saxena talks about his life and entrepreneurial journey Supports: Saxena's upbringing and education in India, his degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Michigan State University and Boston University, his founding of Applix and Netezza, his later board seats, and his advocacy around kidney-transplant awareness following his own end-stage renal disease diagnosis.
- Cognos to Acquire Applix for $339 Million Supports: Independent, dated confirmation that Cognos announced its acquisition of Applix on September 5, 2007 for approximately $339 million, used to establish the company's eventual fate after Saxena's departure.
- Actifio Names Industry Veteran Jit Saxena To Board Of Directors Supports: Saxena's August 2010 appointment to Actifio's board; his prior management roles at Data General; Netezza's growth to more than $180 million in revenue and its $124 million 2007 IPO; and his 2003 Ernst & Young New England Entrepreneur of the Year and 2008 Mass High Tech All-Star recognitions.
- uTest Announces Addition of Netezza Founder, Jit Saxena, to Its Board of Directors Supports: Saxena's April 2012 appointment to uTest's board of directors, his personal investment in the company, and uTest CEO Doron Reuveni's description of him as having "a track record of success" founding two companies that went public.
- Mautic Adds Former Netezza CEO, Jit Saxena, to its Board of Directors Supports: Saxena's appointment to Mautic's board of directors alongside Michael Skok and Bill Wiberg, his personal investment in the company, and Mautic CEO Matt Johnston's description of his track record.
- Jit Saxena Supports: Confirmation of Saxena's board role at Pillar VC and its own summary of his Netezza and Applix careers.
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