There are moments in life when you realize you’ve come full circle—not because you planned it, but because something inside you knew it was the right place to be.
In early 2019, I walked into the Arista Networks sales kickoff in Florida after a four-year detour. My friend Tom Flaherty called me to the stage and handed me what might be the most comical “award” I’ve ever received: a Nerf boomerang screwed onto a piece of plywood, signed by others who had left Arista and later found their way back. It wasn’t elegant, but it was honest. When Tom asked why I came back, I looked at the audience, smiled, and said, “I missed you *$#!ers.” That was my entire speech. The room laughed and cheered a bit, and in that laughter was something I’ll never forget—shared experience, shared purpose, shared respect.
That day reminded me that companies aren’t just balance sheets and products; they’re people. The right people. The ones who make you better, who challenge you, who make the impossible feel inevitable. That’s why people come back.
Now, years later, I find myself in a similar moment at Qumulo. I keep meeting people who have ‘boomeranged’ home—engineers, systems architects, sellers, and leaders. People who helped build the company’s early DNA, left for one reason or another, and returned because they felt the pull of something real. I take time to sit with them, to listen. I ask questions: Why did you leave? And why do you want to come back?
Their answers are nearly universal. They say this is the best company they’ve ever worked for. The smartest team. The most fulfilling work. The only place where they felt their fingerprints actually mattered. They tell me they left because the company drifted from its core—but they’re back because it’s found its way again. Because we’ve rebuilt our momentum. Because we’ve rediscovered growth, clarity, and purpose.
I believe them. Qumulo has found its way again. We’ve reconnected to the essence of what made this company special: brilliant people united around solving the hardest data problems in the world. We’ve reaffirmed our mission—to be the enterprise data platform for any data, in any location, with total control. We’ve dedicated ourselves to our clients and rebuilt a foundation of profitability and growth. And in doing so, we’ve reignited that spark that draws the best back home.
To me, that’s what this moment represents. A rebirth. A re-founding. A homecoming.
This is not a call for nostalgia—it’s a call to action. To the people who helped shape this company, who remember the thrill of building something from nothing, who remember what it felt like to be surrounded by brilliance and to push boundaries together—the door is open. Come back. Come home.
To those who have never been here before but have that same hunger, that same need to build something that endures—to create something magnificent, to change an industry, to leave a legacy—you’re invited too.
Because Qumulo isn’t just a company. It’s a mission. It’s a movement. It’s a place where the best minds come together to solve problems that matter. Where every line of code, every idea, every late-night brainstorm contributes to something bigger.
And just like that Nerf boomerang from years ago, it all comes back—purpose, people, passion. The physics are simple: when something is built with meaning, it finds its way home.
To every boomerang, past and future—welcome home.
Love this……!! So true.
Welcome home boomerangs!