The job description for most corporate chief revenue officers is to optimize the sales pipeline and generate a healthy profit stream. When Lou Attanasio (pictured) stepped into the role for Nutanix Inc. this month, he knew the challenge would be to keep a fast-moving hyperconverged infrastructure company on its rapid ascent in a highly competitive market.

“The growth path that Nutanix is on right now is incredibly steep,” said the newly-appointed executive. “My job is to continue the growth, but also make sure that the foundation upon which this growth is going is solid.”

Attanasio paid a visit to the set of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, and spoke with host Stu Miniman (@stu) during the Nutanix.NEXT EU event in Nice, France. They discussed the company’s approach to licensing agreements, its evolution to becoming a software-only supplier, and the value of a family-oriented corporate culture. (* Disclosure below.)

Seeks to avoid ELA trap

A common revenue tool in the information technology industry is the enterprise licensing agreement, or ELA. Many enterprise computing providers rely on these agreements for major revenue spikes, because they often require customer lock-in for an extended period of time.

Nutanix intends to take a slightly different approach. “Other companies will get you to do a big ELA and then they’re going to trap you into that ELA,” Attanasio explained. “Our whole premise is start small. You can go in, and then you can grow.”

The company is pursuing a strategy to move from being a bundled hardware/software supplier to one that is software-only. This new model generally leads to higher gross margins. This pivot is viewed by Nutanix as a way to give network, server infrastructure and storage customers more choice by offering software tools that can run on multiple hardware platforms.

“You need to change,” Attanasio said. “Any company that stays in one place for too long will get crushed in the environment that we have.”

When Nutanix brought Attanasio in to be interviewed, company executives made it clear that the firm took a family-oriented approach not just toward employees, but clients as well. “I started realizing that was the kind of company I was used to,” said Attanasio, who previously worked at IBM and Informatica Corp. “Great products don’t make great companies; great people make great companies.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Nutanix .NEXT EU. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Nutanix .NEXT EU event. Neither Nutanix Inc., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE