Some called it a bubble, others called it a bust. Whatever label was attributed to the collapse of dotcom companies in the period between 2000 and 2002, it was a bad time to be the chief executive officer of a fledgling technology business.

Yet, that’s the position that John McAdam (pictured), then the chief executive officer at F5 Networks Inc., found himself in as the NASDAQ Composite Index lost 78 percent of its value and a lot of companies in the new world of internet commerce folded.

“The big issue for F5 was it had 90 percent dotcom business, so the revenue collapsed completely. It was very much a survival phase,” recalled McAdam, who is now a board member for F5 Networks, Tableau Software, Apptio and Nutanix.

McAdam visited the set of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and spoke with host Stu Miniman (@stu) during the Nutanix.NEXT EU event in Nice, France. They discussed the economic storms that F5 weathered and hot topics in today’s corporate boardroom. (* Disclosure below.)

F5 saved by deal with Nokia

Scrambling to save F5, McAdam and his board brokered a deal to sell 10 percent of F5 to Nokia. F5, which today specializes in application delivery networking, embarked on a period of growth that carried well into the new decade.

“We announced a new version, a new architecture, and boom, we jumped into growth mode,” McAdam said.

But F5 was overtaken by economic forces again in 2008-2009 when the combination of a housing bubble and credit crisis combined to hammer financial markets. The S&P 500 lost 57 percent of its value, bottoming out at 666 in March 2009 (the index currently sits above 2,700).

“At the end of 2008, customers just stopped buying,” McAdam said. “It was pretty mind-boggling.”

F5’s CEO made what turned out to be a prophetic decision in 2009 to keep hiring despite the downturn in the economy and the company’s own business. As customers began buying again in the second half of 2009, F5 was well-positioned to take advantage of what would turn out to be nearly a decade of strong economic growth.

“I don’t think you can ignore global issues,” McAdam said. “But you still have to focus in what you know is your business … and just see yourself through it.”

As a member of four different technology company boards, F5’s former CEO has found himself at the center of conversations that often revolve around a topic very much at the forefront of enterprise concerns: security.

“It’s high up on the list of discussion topics at board meetings,” McAdam said. “Every company is vulnerable.”

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