The Story of Esper: Building the Future of Device Management
Twenty years in big tech taught Yadhu Gopalan one crucial lesson: sometimes the biggest opportunities lie in the problems everyone else has learned to live with. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Yadhu shared how his experiences at Microsoft and Amazon led him to tackle one of technology’s most overlooked challenges – device software deployment.
From Engineering to Entrepreneurship
The journey to founding Esper wasn’t obvious for someone who describes himself as an “introvert by design.” As Yadhu recalls, “Had to kind of get over that, especially as I was doing more and more of the company and building the company, generating funding.” His ten-year-old self would have been surprised to see him as a CEO, but those years in engineering leadership provided the foundation for something bigger.
At Amazon, Yadhu led device infrastructure for Amazon Go stores, a role that pushed him out of his comfort zone. “I don’t know anything about retail,” he remembers thinking. But Amazon’s culture encouraged this kind of stretch: “You know how to build things. You’re going to learn how to build something completely outside your domain space and kind of pick that up.”
This experience proved invaluable when starting Esper. As Yadhu explains, “That’s something that I’ve taken away when I’ve started Esper is like I’m no longer just engineering. How do I learn about marketing and how do I learn about sales? All those things. So that gave me the confidence that I could do that.”
Building a New Category
The initial vision for Esper came from observing a stark contrast: while cloud software deployment had evolved significantly, device software deployment remained stuck in the past. Tesla had shown what was possible, making “software deployments to a car, a thing.” But most companies lacked the infrastructure to achieve similar results.
The journey wasn’t straightforward. A year and a half into building the company, they discovered their true category: DevOps for devices. “Early on, we were kind of playing with, this is security, this is this, et cetera, a lot of different things,” Yadhu shares. This exploration led to a clearer understanding of their mission: making software deployment to edge devices easier, faster, and more secure.
The Transformation
One of the biggest challenges was transitioning from engineering leadership to CEO. “It’s the breadth of trying to know how to go deep just exactly in places because it’s not your space,” Yadhu explains. He had to learn to rely on experts in different areas while maintaining strategic oversight – a significant shift from his engineering days of understanding every technical detail.
This transformation extended to how they approached the market. Rather than creating vertical-specific solutions, Esper identified the common thread across industries. Whether deploying software to restaurant point-of-sale systems or healthcare devices, the core challenges remained the same.
Looking to the Future
Today, Esper manages millions of devices, but Yadhu’s vision extends much further. “My goal is to be at billions in future years,” he shares, highlighting the massive opportunity in the device management space. The company’s success with major customers – including “five of the top ten restaurant chains” – demonstrates the broad appeal of their solution.
But perhaps most telling is Yadhu’s personal measure of success: “One of the joys I get is being able to walk around airport, a restaurant, a home, and see like, hey, that’s running Esper.” This vision of ubiquity speaks to the company’s ambitious goal – to make seamless device software deployment the new normal, not the exception.
As the world continues to add more connected devices, Esper’s mission becomes increasingly critical. For Yadhu, success means making software deployment to devices as natural as cloud deployments are today – a transformation that could reshape how we think about device management in the years to come.