Former CEO & President of Internet Systems Consortium — the organization that runs BIND9 and resolves the majority of the world's DNS. Twenty years operating at the intersection of deep technology and commercial reality. Now advising the companies building what comes next.
20+ years building and scaling enterprise technology companies.
Kannan Ayyar has spent two decades operating at the intersection of deep technology and commercial reality. As CEO and President of Internet Systems Consortium, he led the organization responsible for BIND9 — the software that resolves the majority of the world's DNS queries — and shaped the strategic direction of critical internet infrastructure at global scale.
Before ISC, Kannan held senior leadership roles across enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, and AI-driven platforms. He has built go-to-market organizations from scratch, scaled revenue in competitive enterprise environments, and advised founders navigating the gap between technical capability and commercial traction.
His perspective on AI commercialization is shaped by having operated the systems everyone else builds on. He has seen what works at infrastructure scale and what doesn't — and he brings that operational clarity to boards, founding teams, and organizations confronting the strategic questions that AI is forcing every enterprise to answer.
Through the Grand Design Systems podcast, he shares a practitioner's view of enterprise technology — direct, grounded, and stripped of the hype that clouds most conversations about AI and the future of infrastructure.
CEO & President. Led the organization responsible for BIND9 and critical global internet infrastructure standards.
Deep expertise in taking AI from proof-of-concept to enterprise production — strategy, GTM, and organizational design.
Active board director and strategic advisor to technology companies at critical inflection points.
Host of the Grand Design Systems podcast — conversations at the edge of enterprise technology and infrastructure.
Two decades of operating at the edge of enterprise technology produces a perspective that can't be replicated by consulting alone. These are the domains where that experience translates directly into value.
Translating AI capability into enterprise revenue. From POC to production — the organizational, GTM, and product decisions that determine whether AI investments actually scale.
Building go-to-market machines for technical products. Designing sales motions, channel architectures, and pricing frameworks that work in complex enterprise environments.
Experienced board director with a technical operator's lens. Providing governance guidance on technology strategy, AI risk, infrastructure investment, and talent at the executive level.
Defining the technology roadmap that connects to business outcomes. Build vs. buy decisions, platform strategy, and the architectural choices that create or destroy competitive advantage.
Advising technical founders on the transition from product to company. Revenue organization design, enterprise sales readiness, and the operational decisions that define trajectory.
Unique operational experience running critical internet infrastructure at global scale. DNS, open-source protocol standards, and the business models that sustain the infrastructure layer.
Why do the majority of enterprise AI pilots die before reaching production? Breaking down the organizational, technical, and commercial barriers — and what the operators who've actually shipped at scale know that consultants don't.
The infrastructure you've never thought about that everything depends on — and what running it teaches you about resilience.
AI has landed in the boardroom. What questions should directors be asking — and what does technical illiteracy cost your company?
The tension between moving fast and building a repeatable enterprise sales motion. How operators who've done both think about this trade-off.
The ISC case study — how open-source infrastructure can sustain a global organization. What founders building in open source need to hear.
Why the most durable technology businesses are built on infrastructure that most people ignore. The operator's case for what everyone depends on.
What happens when you stop running the organization and start advising it? The shift in perspective — and what operators see that advisors miss.
Most enterprise AI initiatives fail between prototype and production. The reasons aren't technical — they're organizational. Here's what the autopsy reveals.
You don't need to write code to evaluate technology decisions at the board level. What you need is a framework that separates signal from engineered narrative.
Five years at the helm of the organization that powers the world's DNS. The lessons about reliability, trust, and the invisible work that the internet depends on.
Enterprise buyers are drowning in product pitches. The sales motions that work now operate at the level of outcomes — and require a fundamentally different organization.
The most durable companies in enterprise technology are built on open-source foundations. Understanding why requires revisiting what we mean by value in a networked world.
Two decades of operating at the edge of enterprise technology produces a perspective that can't be replicated by research alone. A limited number of board and advisory engagements are taken each year — with companies where the work is serious and the stakes are real.
Formal board roles with technology companies navigating critical strategic inflection points.
Ongoing advisory relationships with founders and leadership teams on AI commercialization and GTM.
Keynotes, panel discussions, and executive sessions on AI strategy, infrastructure, and technology leadership.
Technical diligence support and market framing for VCs and PE firms evaluating enterprise technology investments.
Advisory engagements, board opportunities, speaking requests, and media inquiries welcome. Every submission is reviewed personally.
Request received. Every inquiry is reviewed personally. Qualified engagements typically receive a response within 48 business hours.
Advisory and board capacity is deliberately limited to ensure genuine engagement. The most productive conversations come prepared with context about the company, the challenge, and what a successful engagement looks like.
Response time: All inquiries are reviewed personally. Qualified engagements typically receive a response within 48 business hours.