Aaron Khoo: Knowing When Success Is No Longer Enough

Loretta Nelson has spent more than 30 years navigating the technology industry, holding senior roles at Intel, Cisco, VMware, Dell and ServiceNow, and working alongside leaders including John Chambers, Bill Gates and Michael Dell. But her career has been shaped as much by relationships and judgment as by strategy. In this conversation, Loretta shares how being sent to Kenya at 16 changed her perspective, why sales is really about service, and what she learned from operating in rooms filled with influential personalities. She also reflects on the importance of telling leaders the truth, building relationships that last, and making more room for family, mentoring and adventure as her definition of success evolves.

Arnold Blinn has spent more than four decades building software and leading technology teams, from the early days of personal computing to Microsoft, GoDaddy and LegalShield. In this episode of Zero to Prove, Arnold joins Anthony Bay to reflect on the people, decisions and unexpected opportunities that shaped his career. He shares stories from the early days of e-commerce, working alongside Pierre Omidyar, encountering Steve Jobs and helping build services used by millions of people. He also discusses why empathy became one of his most valuable technical skills, what he learned from taking risks, and why financial freedom didn't mean he wanted to stop working. Today, Arnold still wants to solve difficult problems, but with the freedom to decide when, how and with whom he works.

Peter Zatloukal has spent his career building at the intersection of software, engineering and artificial intelligence, from Microsoft Kinect and Amazon Alexa to leading Xnor.ai's engineering organisation through its acquisition by Apple and later running applied AI research teams inside Apple. In this episode of Zero to Prove, Peter talks with Anthony Bay about the decisions behind that career: leaving secure roles for uncertain opportunities, learning from people who were better than him, discovering how leadership changes at the executive level, surviving the realities of startups, and why the work itself has always mattered more than status or money. Now in a different stage of his career, Peter reflects on what it means to stay in the game, keep learning and pass forward the lessons others once shared with him.

Aaron Khoo spent nearly 30 years in technology, including ten years at Microsoft, time working on the early body-camera team at Axon, and almost ten years at AWS. In this episode of Zero to Prove, Aaron talks with Anthony Bay about the decisions that shaped his career, from leaving Microsoft shortly after a promotion to eventually stepping away from Amazon without another full-time role waiting. He discusses why successful careers can become difficult to leave, the loss of identity that can come with stepping away from a senior role, and the conversation with a friend that made him question whether he needed another job at all. Aaron also shares how curiosity now shapes his life, from writing and technology projects to improv, music and learning new skills, and why fear can be present without being allowed to determine what comes next.

Jeff Teper has spent more than three decades at Microsoft, helping build products including SharePoint and Teams and repeatedly reinventing his work as technology moved from the PC to the internet, the cloud and now AI. In this conversation, Jeff reflects on taking a 50% pay cut to join Microsoft, choosing opportunities over titles, learning from failed products, and the leaders who continued to bet on him before success was obvious. He also explains why taking more “shots on goal” matters, why grit and humility can coexist with fierce competitiveness, and why, at a stage when many of his peers have stepped away, the arrival of AI has given him another reason to stay in the game.

Dennis Hoffman spent 22 years at EMC and Dell Technologies, moving deliberately from role to role, engineering, strategy consulting, startup founder, corporate fixer, and division builder, driven by what he calls his one real motivator: the fear of lost time. In this conversation, he traces the mentors and moments that shaped that instinct, from a business school application that changed the trajectory of his career to founding and selling a company in the wreckage of the dot-com crash, to the open-heart surgery that finally pushed him to ask what came next. He talks about staying authentic inside large organizations, why people work with people they like rather than people who are merely right, and how a personal health scare led him to build The Retirement Strategy, a framework and AI-assisted tool for the parts of retirement that have nothing to do with money. It's a conversation about noticing when a path has stopped working, and having the discipline to act on it before time makes the decision for you.

Paul Suzman moved from South Africa to Seattle in 1980 with few connections and went on to build a successful commercial real estate business by pioneering an approach focused entirely on representing tenants rather than landlords. But his story extends far beyond business. In this conversation, Paul reflects on immigration, integrity, relationships, and the experiences that led him from farming and real estate to helping guide VillageReach, a nonprofit working to improve healthcare access in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach communities. He also shares why maximising wealth was never his ultimate objective, why he continues working and serving decades later, and the two things he fears most as he gets older: losing curiosity and losing relevance.

Paul Clarke has spent his career helping some of the world’s most influential professional and financial services organisations navigate transformation, crisis, and change. In this conversation, he reflects on the collapse of Arthur Andersen, the lessons he learned inside organisations including Deloitte, EY, McKinsey, Prudential, and Paul Hastings, and why calm, attentive leadership can be more powerful than commanding a room. Paul also shares how relationships shaped nearly every major career opportunity, why he repeatedly chose learning over status, and what led him to leave corporate life to build something of his own. This is a conversation about trust, curiosity, cultural perspective, and recognising that the most meaningful careers are often built around people rather than plans.

Terry Garcia has spent his career at the intersection of public policy, law, exploration, conservation, and storytelling. After leaving a successful legal career, he became the second-ranking official at NOAA before spending 17 years at National Geographic, where he helped fund and support hundreds of explorers, scientists, filmmakers, and conservationists around the world. In this conversation, Terry shares what he learned from backing unconventional people and ambitious ideas, why exploration requires optimism, and how science and storytelling can work together to create real change. He also reflects on leaving established institutions, building a portfolio life, and why he believes pessimism is ultimately irresponsible.

Bryan Gillette never measured success by title or wealth. Instead, he spent decades intentionally building the financial freedom and career flexibility to live life on his own terms. In this conversation, Bryan shares how choosing great leaders over great companies shaped his career, why surrounding yourself with exceptional people accelerates growth, and how a series of personal experiences—including attending multiple funerals in a short period of time—caused him to fundamentally rethink success. Together, they explore optionality, intentional living, financial discipline, family, community, and why the most fulfilling careers are often built around contribution rather than constant striving.