Simplilearn's CPO Anand Narayanan resigns after 8 years

Simplilearn's Chief Product Officer Anand Narayanan has resigned from the edtech company.

"After an absolutely amazing 8+ years with Simplilearn as their Chief Product Officer, I have decided to move on and find my next passion project. "why?" you may ask...sometimes the "why" is simply that you realise that someone else can take your role and bring a lot more energy to it since you have been doing it for a bit too long," Narayanan said in a LinkedIn post.

"As a shareholder and well-wisher of the company I couldn't see past that...so it is time to move on and retain that passion and energy in me that my team respects and values (albeit somewhere else)," he added.

Narayanan joined the edtech firm in 2015 as Vice President of Product, and was elevated to CPO in 2018.

At Simplilearn, Narayanan led the development and rollout of programmes in the fields of data science, AI, machine learning and digital marketing. In addition, Narayanan led the integration of Market Motive, a prominent digital marketing training company, into Simplilearn.

While he didn't disclose what he would do next, Narayanan expressed a desire to move to a new industry.

"I am quite energised by the thought of changing industries (for the 5th time) and getting back to a lot of personal learning and growth. Edtech has been kind to me..but it's time for another personal disruption!" Narayanan said.

Funded in 2010 by Krishna Kumar, Simplilearn provides online courses in cybersecurity, cloud computing, project management, and data science to students and professionals worldwide.

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Simplilearn raised $45 million in funding from a consortium led by GSV Ventures, with participation from Clal Insurance and DisruptAD, ADQ's venture platform, in 2022.