( ESNUG 595 Item 2 ) ------------------------------------------------------- [12/08/23]
Subject: 48 past and present Synopsys employees on Sassine as SNPS' new CEO (part 1)
WHAT THE NEIGHBORS SAY ... one of my favorite TV shows that I love to watch is a long
running police/legal/mystery series on NBC called "Law & Order".
In every "Law & Order" episode -- whether it be figuring out a murder victim or a
murder suspect -- the first thing the detectives do is ask the neighbors about him.
Why? Because neighbors often know the dirt on the people who live around them and
what these people are REALLY like.
In our case here, Sassine's "neighbors" are the co-workers who've been around him for
the past 25 or so years.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
READING ASSIGNMENT so just like "Law & Order" to better get a sense of who Sassine is,
here's a boatload of SNPS co-worker comments below where you'll find the 14 herculean
EDA tasks Sassine did that explains why Aart chose Sassine to be the new CEO.
And since 14 tasks aren't easy to remember, as an exercise for the reader, I suggest
you get a note pad and write down each task as you find them.
The first 7 or 8 tasks are easy to find; getting to all 14 isn't. Good luck!
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
THUMBS UP
I can think of three examples that show why Aart chose Sassine:
1. Sassine created DSO.ai. It was Sassine's vision from the very beginning.
He saw the future for artificial intelligence (AI) in EDA and brought that
intelligence into our EDA tools. (Years ago, EDA was well behind other
segments of the technology industry for AI.)
Sassine was the internal champion for what became our DSO.ai product.
He made happen. He started it very early and brought people together
to look at the what we had, what we needed to build, the merits, what
was feasible, what we needed to buy -- and then expanded it to be
more than just applying Machine Learning to specific projects, but
instead to build a platform that would be extensible to all EDA.
DSO.ai is a great example of Sassine gathering the right teams. It's
almost part of Sassine's outlook to question everything but also to
believe his people can do many things if they just put their heart
and mind into it.
Our DSO.ai just passed about 270 customer tapeouts.
Over the past 24 months everyone in EDA has been talking about AI; but
Sassine put our SNPS AI team together 5 years ago back in 2017.
2. Sassine created SNPS' chiplet flow. In 2017, long before Cadence and
Mentor, Sassine foresaw that for Moore's Law to keep up, multi-die IC with
advanced packaging would become tremendously more important.
Sassine built the foundation -- building from inside Synopsys, creating the
team, and aligning people to actually create something completely new,
which became 3D-IC Compiler.
At the time it was a major risk of R&D $$$$ and resources to build one of the
most complex platforms we had ever put together.
For multi-die PnR, we had to think about the system and analysis, how we're
going to design them, prototype them, verify them -- and how to get our
Synopsys SW to do chiplets. Every Synopsys engine had to be integrated into
this one single platform.
That was Sassine's idea and his baby. He did the funding. He prepared the
people. Early on, he attended a lot of the feasibility assessment meetings
covering the technology and manpower needed to execute.
Synopsys is now working with some of the "big name" advanced packaging users
and foundries who are depending on multi-die to make designs work.
3. Sassine created the Synopsys partnership with Ansys. Back in 2017, he realized
our PowerMill was seriously behind in power integrity signoff. SNPS R&D and
marketing had *major* internal discussions on it. Should we keep developing
PowerMill? Or should we acquire something? Or should we partner?
Sassine orchestrated the ANSS-SNPS partnership in a way that was a win-win for
both of our companies over the past 5 years. And both companies understand the
rules of this engagement -- where we compete, and where we partner.
At Synopsys, we're known for having golden signoff in digital timing and
extraction. Ansys has a similar stature with expertise in power integrity
and IR drops -- they remain the industry force there for signoff.
At the end of the day, most "big name" customers want to do sign off with our
SNPS PrimeTime timing and our SNPS Star-RC for extraction and want to do a
power signoff with Ansys Redhawk-SC -- so this has been a happy marriage for
the users (that has also worked out for 3D-IC.)
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Sassine isn't afraid to take on the more established players.
He was the key figure inside SNPS on this, not only in investing -- but also he
doubled down on those investments when a lot of other leaders would have closed
the funding. His commitment has paid off.
1. Sassine pushed ICV, our physical verification product, which competes against
the well established Mentor Calibre.
One thing Sassine helped us understand is how we must still differentiate
to compete. Take our best technology at the time (Hercules 2017), and
work with a few lead customers and foundries to create SNPS ICV where
Calibre has been unable to deliver on -- because Mentor was too busy
protecting a franchise that they may not want to disrupt.
For ICV, we changed the DRC/LVS market with better performance where Siemens
is following behind us after we produced a ton of new performance data.
2. Sassine drove Custom Compiler into besting the Cadence Virtuoso franchise.
For custom design, it's about the pain engineers face as they migrate their
IP from 7nm to 5nm to 3nm. How do you migrate your designs without pain?
Our differentiation with Custom Compiler is to not just copy Virtuoso, but to
also offer an easier migration path. It's actually taking hold now; we've
done papers and user case studies where they talk about our custom migrations.
Both of those are examples of where it was Sassine's idea to go and break a
rival's franchise. His idea was to not to just go and copy them. He went
into a lot of strategies as to how we could disrupt this market and offer
something differentiated, starting with a few engaged customers.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Aart has been working on this transition for years -- his mentorship has been
important and Sassine learned a lot from him. IMHO, Sassine's is going to be
an exceptional CEO to run the business operations -- managing our margins,
where we make our investments, and when and where we cut those investments
-- he is going to run a very lean business. We saw that in 2022 where we did
very well, with almost no cuts to our staff. That was because Sassine was
disciplined enough to not overstaff during our 2021 double digit growth ramp.
He will keep Synopsys healthy.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
THUMBS UP
Sassine is the best possible choice to succeed Aart as CEO.
I worked at Synopsys in the early 2000s and Sassine was the most unassuming
leader in the company. He can relate to anyone and values everyone's input.
Synopsys will be in good hands.
- [ A former SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
THUMBS UP
Yes, I'm very bullish that Aart found the best possible CEO for Synopsys.
When I moved to DG from another business unit, Sassine was co-GM of the
SNPS Design Group. Later, he took over the whole business unit, and grew his
role from there.
Sassine is a very charismatic leader, has all the right skills, and is a
strategic business operational leader.
Most of all, he's a tech visionary. He is the one who had the Fusion Compiler
vision many years ago, combining RTL synthesis and PnR under one umbrella.
That really helped Synopsys to deliver against Cadence Innovus.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Another vision he had was to invest in AI well before the AI buzz. I remember
6 years ago, when people were just starting to talk about AI, Sassine already
knew AI would become mainstream, and that he needed to have Synopsys be ready
for it -- making sure that our tools used AI to speed up our design process.
Sassine likes to run his "new idea" projects inside Synopsys like a start-up.
He did so by hiring a number of AI experts from outside of EDA. These
AI/ML experts did not know anything about EDA -- the fact that they came in with
a fresh perspective to look at our problem was important.
He paired these new AI people with our EDA experts, and then went after the high
value problems. He would say,
"Where can we apply AI so we can solve the most important the key
problem for our customers?"
This led to Sassine leading the DSO.ai effort. Because of this, today our SNPS
Fusion Compiler gets double digit better PPA with DSO.ai -- and we have already
have had 270 tapeouts with DSO.ai.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Sassine also anticipated the move from single die to multi-die and came up with the
vision for 3D-IC Compiler. Sassine didn't just build a new tool for multi-die; at
that time, he also anticipated all the problems that multi-die would have.
For example, when you build multi-die, you have the power delivery network on the
bottom die. So, when you power up the entire chip, you create thermal issues.
Sassine also understood very early on that 3D-ICs would have more timing problems
and that there would be a corner explosion; he made sure that everyone at Synopsys
was ready for that revolution. This is how 3D-IC Compiler was born.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Another thing Sassine anticipated was the mass transition from gas cars to electric
cars, and that these cars would come with self-driving capabilities. At that time,
no one would have bet that we would already have self-driving cars this soon -- but
just look around as you walk around San Francisco.
Like a start-up, Sassine pushed us into automotive by bringing in Walter Wottreng,
an outside guy from Bosch, into Synopsys R&D in 2021 to design our best selling
AI accelerated automotive IP. (Sassine brings in outside experts when he can.)
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
I'm an R&D guy and manage R&D engineers for a leading SNPS product. I have a PhD
and I have developed many, many algorithms. Sassine is Synopsys' president and
COO, and soon to CEO of the company. So, obviously he's not going to come to
me and say, "Develop this algorithm this way."
But he will make sure that I am working on the right thing. That's Sassine's mark.
He quickly identifies the areas where we should invest our R&D. There are 20,000
people at Synopsys, yet we can instantly jump into collaborating with customers
to develop the best possible solution.
What I've learned from Sassine is that the R&D investment of whatever I make has
to be tied with business. You have to solve a high value problem for the customer,
you have to be differentiated, and you have to build it to a lower level of cost.
You need to pay attention to your revenues and your operating margin.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Sassine obsesses staying plugged in with the customer CEOs, their CTOs, and
their key engineering people. He meets with them regularly and really listens
to what problems they have today. Then he obsesses on what problems these
customers are going to have tomorrow.
Then he comes back and works with his SNPS GMs and his team to make sure our tools
are fixing these customers' high-level problems.
This transition from Aart to Sassine is natural, because Aart and Sassine have
been working on it for several years. Things will happen very smoothly and that's
why I am confident that Sassine will be able to take Aart's legacy and scale SNPS
into the next generation of EDA.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
As long as my SNPS shares keep going up, THUMBS UP.
- [ A former SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
THUMBS UP
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
THUMBS UP
Sassine is the right person for Aart to pick as the new CEO.
Aart and Sassine have worked together for many years. Aart let Sassine transform
the way Synopsys engaged with customers, came up with new products, defined road
maps and reorganized our various teams in response to customer needs.
Sassine has proven himself. Synopsys has been growing phenomenally since Sassine
was promoted to president and COO. We grew 21% in our fiscal year 2022, with
revenues of more than $5 billion, compared to $4.2 billion for our FY 2021.
We also announced double digit growth in the first half of FY 2023 and increased
our operating margin guidance.
I actually came to Synopsys because of Sassine. When I was at my prior company,
I kept hearing about him and his high level of energy, passion, and insights.
He was someone I hoped I could eventually work for. Ultimately, he and I started
talking. He was generous with his time -- we would get together once a quarter.
Sassine created a sense of purpose and mission around what he was doing and looking
to do and got me excited about it.
When I was ready and he brought me into Synopsys, he was my direct manager for a
time, and then he moved up very quickly after that.
He already had a road map in mind when I first joined. He essentially collapsed
multiple teams into one team, established a common mission and gave me the charter
to run it as a startup and to change the growth trajectory.
When I started, Sassine pretty much said:
"In 6 weeks, I want you to come back and tell me your turnaround plan.
During your first 6 weeks, I'm not going to bother you. Do what you need
to do. You will have access to all the resources you need. You can talk
to anyone in Synopsys -- use my name if you need to. But come back with
a plan."
That was how Sassine empowers people.
In 6 weeks, we gave him a plan. Obviously, it had very measurable, quantifiable
milestones. When I look back, we later either met or exceeded all the targets
that we had defined. It was a fantastic journey getting people aligned,
understanding the roadblocks, engaging with customers, and making them successful.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Sassine looks at the big heavy problems that SNPS needs to solve, then he makes
strategic hires and placements as needed, and then he empowers these people.
Key names that come to my mind are Ravi Subramanian, who now runs our hardware
business, and Shankar Krishnamoorthy, who runs our EDA group.
Two examples where Sassine had the idea, set the initial charter, and nurtured
their development are:
- Fusion Compiler. Historically for SNPS PnR to get GDS2 tapeout our
customers used 6 different SNPS engines over 4 different SNPS databases.
For Fusion Compiler, we combined synthesis and PnR into one unified
tool merging in our sign-off PrimeTime and Star-RC, so signoff became the
backbone to implementation. This way our sign-off engines guided PnR to
slash the # of design iterations for a much quicker PPA closure. To do
this, SNPS R&D had to create a single new data model that enabled all of
this in one new architecture. Sassine drove this.
- Custom Compiler. For three decades, analog designers were locked into the
CDNS paradigm and the CDNS use model with Virtuoso. They had no alternative.
For Custom Compiler, we fused Star-RC into it so it could do visually assisted
layout automation with GPU accelerated SPICE. Sassine drove this, too.
Due to this, we picked up 45 new analog customers in 2022. Large, advanced
node and mature node customers like Samsung and Panasonic now use Synopsys
analog tools.
Many SNPS people worked hard to make it happen, but Sassine is the one who had
those two visions and took that chance.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Aart set a lot of Synopsys' cultural elements. There is a saying that's written
on the inside SNPS Building One's hallway walls:
"DO WHAT YOU SAY AND SAY WHAT YOU DO"
Sassine reiterates that message consistently and emphatically. It's a culture
definition of how we operate as a team, how we act with our customers, our partners
and even with our suppliers.
Sassine has an incredible ability to listen. In meetings he gives everyone an
opportunity to voice their concerns and give their feedback. He takes it all in,
dissects it, and comes back with a decision. Our key customers and partners know
and trust him.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
I give Sassine a THUMBS UP.
Sassine likes to run totally new projects as start-ups within Synopsys.
One example is artificial intelligence. AI did not originate from Synopsys -- and
when something is not "birthed" at a company, people can have different reactions.
Some want to keep doing their own thing because that's what they are good at,
others might not believe in it or just don't want to take the risk.
Sassine not only brought in the concept of AI, but he invested in it and made sure
we delivered on it with DSO.ai.
He also brought in cloud as the way forward during a time when Synopsys was still
not very proactive with it.
Another example is Synopsys Silicon Lifecycle Management (SLM), that was announced
in 2021. Sassine brought in someone from outside of EDA, Amit Sanghani, a very
senior DFT-scan-ATPG guy from Intel and Nvidia to drive our SLM effort, again
treating it like a startup.
Prior to SLM, Synopsys was not using big data analytics nor silicon monitoring
anywhere. Now Sanghani's SLM combines Synopsys analysis software along with our
PVT/structural sensors embedded in your chip to give you visibility into system
performance problems -- which can then be tweaked to hit your performance goals.
SLM is a new growth area at the strong adoption stage now.
Without Sassine we wouldn't be in this space.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Sassine is creative and likes to drive change -- he never settles for status quo.
When we report to him about a certain product, he frequently says:
"You've been at this job for this period of time. Come back and tell me
what you need to change."
If the status quo means things are going great, he will ask us what it would take
to make our growth exponentially higher. If we are stuck, he tells us to lay out
a new canvas and try new things, rather than continuing on the same path harder.
Sassine would often mention:
"It's okay to make mistakes, but every time you make a new mistake learn
from it faster. Even if you had a great innovative idea, if it didn't
work, if it didn't catch fire, don't get stuck with it. It's fine to
get out to find the next new idea."
Which is why I give a THUMBS UP for Aart's pick of Sassine as CEO.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
THUMB UP
I saw firsthand how he turned around the Design Group. He did so both by
bringing his own experience and expertise -- and also by hiring external
subject matter experts.
Sassine then created a number of internal start-up teams around these
strategic areas that have taken off.
While Cadence Virtuoso is still the market leader for the custom space,
since Sassine got involved, we've invested in our Custom Compiler), and it
has grown.
The same with our DRC/LVS (Synopsys ICV).
Another startup-like initiative Sassine created inside Synopsys was around
artificial intelligence, which led to the release of DSO.ai.
When Google's AI software beat South Korea's "Go" champion in the 2016 "Go"
strategy game championship, Sassine said we can do this for SNPS -- we need
to invest in AI. His strong conviction gave us the first movers advantage.
Now our DSO.ai is one of the fastest growing AI EDA solutions today.
And we are building on top of it. We've moved from DSO.ai to Synopsys.ai, which
was announced in early 2023. Shankar took the DSO.ai tech we had for digital
PnR, and put it in analog, verification, test... That's what Synopsys.ai is.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
THUMBS UP
I've known Sassine for a long time and have seen him wear different hats. I've
seen his technical AE side in the very early days. I've seen him run sales. I've
seen him as the head of a business unit. I've seen him as President and COO.
I first worked with Sassine 20 years ago, back when he was the head of the account
and AE team for a couple of major customers. Even back then, he understood the
technical value proposition, what it meant to drive IC Compiler, engage the user,
and make it a win-win for everybody.
Comparing what I saw then vs. what I'm seeing now -- he's become even better than
what I remember. I've been impressed with the series of moves he's made over the
past few years, first as a General Manager of the business unit and then as a
president and COO.
He understands what the market needs and what we can develop. He then gets the
right people in the right seats on the bus. For me, it's been a textbook execution
of coming up with a strategic vision strategy and then executing on it.
When he was the Design Group GM, I saw him turn around the whole IC Compiler II
saga by building and delivering the Synopsys Fusion Compiler that is the market
leader today.
Sassine also led our whole DSO.ai artificial intelligence and machine learning
effort -- he is the one who had the idea and made the investment.
In fact, I remember a time when folks insode SNPS were questioning that AI
investment, but Sassine truly believed in it and continued to invest.
It's a great example of the early visions he has. DSO.ai is thriving today and
now as a company we have all these "dot AI" technologies (Synopsys.ai) because
of Sassine's insistance. Our Fusion Compiler momentum is getting a boost the
new our AI/ML technologies.
The way Sassine engages with SNPS product teams is different for different products.
I've seen him handle when a product is not doing well (like PowerMill). He got
into the guts of why it was not doing well and what we needed to do to fix it.
Compare that to something he believes in strongly, like DSO.ai, which he nurtured
from the start, to established SNPS products like PrimeTime and Star-RC,
which are still market leaders.
Sassine adapts to the situation. He can talk to anybody. He talks to an engineer
with the same ease as he talks to his SNPS salesmen.
I've seen him quiz our SNPS R&D engineers at the algorithm level and then Sassine
listened to share his future vision. He also goes into customer and product
strategy details with our sales or marketing teams.
Synopsys has had a co-executive leadership model for decades. Chi-Foon Chan and
Aart did it for 25+ years, first with Chi-Foon as COO, then as co-CEO, and
until he retired.
So, when Sassine took the President and COO role, we were all used to that style,
where Aart took care of one side of the coin and then Chi-Foon or Sassine took
care of other side. And as Chairman, Aart is not going away; he's still going
to be in the huddle.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
NEUTRAL, tending to THUMBS DOWN.
Synopsys will forego having a CEO with a strong technical background
and engineering expertise (Aart) to someone with more of a business
and management background (Sassine.)
Also, as a charisma and a level of enthusiasm goes, Sassine is I think
much more standard and neutral, one could even say boring.
Whereas, Aart comes forward as much more approachable and inspiring
in his talks.
- [ A former SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Neutral really...
Aart has been a good CEO, and Sassine has been 25 years at Synopsys
and molded by Aart, so there shouldn't be many big changes coming.
And on his internal message Aart said about 20 times that Sassine
has his full support and that he believes in him.
So again, neutral.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
In personal terms, I really like working with Sassine and the energy he brought
to the DG organization at the end of 2016. In the 3 years since he became COO
(and then later SNPS President & COO), he has had the same kind of mental model
that he now exudes across all of Synopsys.
Synopsys' business units used to operate in silos. Each SNPS GM was focused on
how they grow their own BU's pie. There was collaboration, but for anything that
required more than one business unit, the question that would come up was:
"What's in it for us? How does it help grow my BU's bottom line?"
As a COO, one of the first campaigns Sassine started driving was for us to change
that thinking to:
"What's in it for Synopsys overall? How do we create a multiplicative
effect with multiple business units working together?"
We still have the business units, but he has influenced the thinking process of
our GMs and other leaders. And as our leaders start thinking that way, the
entire organization does also.
This matters a lot. The only way for a company like Synopsys to grow faster than
the market and our competition (and do it at the right operating margin) -- is
for the SNPS business units to create a multiplicative effect.
As Sassine progressed to the role of COO (where he focuses on the entire company's
operations) the strong relationships he has with key customers -- CEOs, engineering
heads, and the GMs -- help us a lot.
Sassine gets the right guy in the right place and creates the right team around him.
Shankar is one of his best hires. Or, more correctly, one of Sassine's best
rehires. In 2017, Shankar returned to run the SNPS digital implementation group.
Now he's running the whole EDA tools group.
For a personal anecdote, when Sassine asked me what my career aspirations looked
like, I said "I want to learn business."
Sassine broke it down very simply. He said, "It's all about people and trust."
The way he manages business with customers is to always do what he says he will do
and say what he does. Sassine has deep connections with our lead customers. To
Sassine, business is about customer trust and demonstrating value.
When he's on the SNPS campus, he always goes into the cafeteria to have lunch.
If he's rushing somewhere, I think Sassine still budgets 15 minutes to say hello
to people. It's very impressive.
In our quarterly SNPS earning calls, Sassine was not the face of Synopsys during
them, but he has been the brain behind so many areas driving our higher revenue
growth and profitability.
Aart plans really well, and he has been planning for this change for many years.
The question internally was more about when it would happen, not if. THUMBS UP.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
THUMBS UP
Sassine is systematic and disciplined in executing his vision, including lining
up the right people necessary to get there. He is skilled at selecting leaders
and has brought in a number of new people into Synopsys after vetting them very
carefully.
He wants the right person who knows what to do now rather than trying to teach
somebody who doesn't know. He also knows how to deselect people -- not because
they're bad, but at some point, they just might not be the right person for the
job. That is part of his execution discipline.
Ravi Subramanian is an awesome new addition as the GM of Hardware. Rick Mahoney
is an awesome new addition as the GM of Sales. Alessandra Costa is an awesome
new addition as the SVP of Customer Support. If we go back a bit, Sassine bringing
in Shankar Krishnamoorthy, and the later promoting him to run the EDA group, was
also absolutely awesome.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Sassine's a people person by nature.
I took him to a restaurant one day. We had 30 minutes for lunch between two
meetings, so we ended up in a small place with unusual Middle Eastern food.
When the restaurant owner came by, Sassine started asking him about his
business, his family, and the food. And how he (Sassine) REALLY loves different
types of Middle Eastern food.
He could have just relaxed for lunch, but instead he was there engaging with
the restaurant owner. That's Sassine.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Roughly 20 years ago, Aart used to internally talk to us in SNPS about:
"What is the "N plus 1" version of myself? How do I push myself outside
of my comfort zone and reinvent myself? What is version "N plus 1" of
Synopsys? How does Synopsys as a company push and reinvent itself to
what it needs to be tomorrow?"
We do this because you can sometimes find yourself in a situation where you
have created something and achieved certain results -- and then find yourself
just nurturing it. Sometimes, you may a bit afraid you might kill your own
baby if you do something new.
You become captive of who you are -- and what you've already done.
Early on, Sassine eagerly adopted Aart's "N plus 1" philosophy as his own and
already thinks "N plus 2" and "N plus 3" for Synopsys. Sassine is looking at:
"How do we go from a 5-billion-dollar company to an 8-billion-dollar company?
What will it take? How do we surf on this huge AI wave? What opportunities
does it bring? How do we become the go-to EDA vendor for AI tools?"
It's difficult to do, as you must be able to extract yourself from where you are.
You have to be able to take an outside view of yourself to see how you project
yourself into this "N plus 1" state.
This is why I give Sassine a THUMBS UP.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
THUMBS UP.
Sassine is really the right pick for sure.
If you look at Synopsys' last 10 years where SNPS grew from $1.7 billion (2012)
now to $5.1 billion (2022), Sassine's fingerprints are everywhere from sales,
to product strategy, to operations, and even financial performance.
In those last 8 years, he led many of our key Synopsys initiatives.
As SVP of SNPS Sales, he drove many of the important foundry partnerships and
engagements with our key customers.
As GM of the SNPS Digital Implementation BU when ICC1/ICC2 were failing, Sassine
stepped in to fix those mismatching database issues and then came up with the
fusion idea to merge PrimeTime and Star-RC and ICC 2 into one far better tool
aptly called "Fusion Compiler" which is dominant in its space.
He got SNPS into AI way before CDNS and MENT did, resulting in our DSO.ai;
which created the core AI across our entire solution stack for custom design,
test, verification, and silicon life cycle management.
He also created an annual internal Synopsys Shark Tank Event to get his BU to
think outside of their usual thought patterns to grow the BU ever further.
As SNPS COO, he drove changes in SNPS operations to cut costs and strengthen
focus on our customers, and EDA innovation.
As the SNPS President with an even broader responsibility, he did this even more.
And as Sassine moved up, he widened his annual Shark Tank event to involve the
rest of SNPS, too.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
What I love about Sassine is that he listens and learns all the time; with
customers, foundries, IP vendors, and his own SNPS employees.
He is a confident leader. He will share his views about areas that he cares
about and then invite us to provide our opinion and align as a team.
I enjoy working for him.
- [ A current SNPS employee ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Related Articles
309 hands-on EDA users speak about Sassine becoming SNPS' new CEO
48 past/present SNPS employees on Sassine as SNPS' new CEO (part 1)
48 past/present SNPS employees on Sassine as SNPS' new CEO (part 2)
48 past/present SNPS employees on Sassine as SNPS' new CEO (part 3)
Join
Index
Next->Item
|
|