Cisco is taking a bold step by entrusting a 27-year-old employee with the massive task of rewriting 98% of its legacy code. Jeetu Patel, Cisco’s president and chief product officer, has given Padmanabhan Krishnamurthy, affectionately known as Paddy, unlimited AI tokens to refactor the company’s codebase. Krishnamurthy, who joined Cisco in 2025 after the acquisition of his startup EzDubs, was initially buried in the organization doing unstrategic work. Patel discovered him during a visit to Cisco’s San Francisco office and was impressed by his vision to rewrite the legacy code with just a two-person team.
Patel has given Krishnamurthy four weeks to prove his approach, with the goal of rewriting 98% of Cisco’s legacy code within 24 months. Patel is also on the hunt for more young hires who can challenge the status quo and bring fresh ideas to the company. He believes that Gen Z employees should be teaching veterans rather than doing data entry, and he embraces the tension that arises from mixing experienced staff with young innovators.
Patel isn’t alone in his bet on Gen Z. OpenAI investor Josh Kushner and musician Will.i.am are also actively seeking young, hungry talent. Kushner prefers hiring people with less than four years of industry experience, while Will.i.am believes the next big tech breakthroughs will come from young innovators at top universities. Alon Chen, CEO of Tastewise, echoes this sentiment, highlighting that Gen Zers bring unbounded thinking and innovative ideas.
Patel emphasizes the importance of having a diverse team with a mix of experienced operators, systems thinkers, and entrepreneurial founders. He believes that the combination of these groups creates magic and is essential for accelerating innovation, especially in the age of AI.