Summary
In this episode of the DTC podcast, Deepak Jeevankumar interviews Karl Mattson, a senior security leader at Endor Labs, discussing the RSA Conference's significance in cybersecurity, the impact of AI on security, and the current concerns of CISOs. They explore strategies for startups to maximize their presence at the conference and the importance of aligning security strategies with business objectives. The conversation highlights the evolving landscape of cybersecurity and the role of innovation in shaping the future.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to RSA Conference and Key Themes
02:57 The Role of AI in Cybersecurity
06:00 CISO Perspectives and Current Concerns
09:03 Maximizing ROI at RSA Conference
11:57 Advice for Startups and Founders
14:55 Endor's Strategy for RSA Conference
17:14 The Success of RSA Conference
SUMMARY
In this conversation, Deepak Jeevankumar interviews Ben Carr, the Chief Security and Trust Officer at Halcyon Security, discussing the evolving landscape of cybersecurity, particularly in relation to AI and the RSA Conference. They explore the challenges of AI adoption in enterprises, the changing role of the CISO, and the importance of building relationships with the board. The discussion also highlights the significance of the RSA Conference for networking and learning, as well as strategies for startups to stand out in a crowded market. Ben shares insights into Halcyon's unique approach to ransomware solutions, emphasizing the need for differentiation in a competitive environment.
TAKEAWAYS
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to RSA Conference 2025
01:11 The Evolving Themes of AI in Cybersecurity
03:41 Challenges of AI Adoption in Enterprises
07:02 The Changing Role of the CISO
11:30 Connecting with the Board: A CISO's Perspective
15:07 The Importance of RSA Conference for CISOs
17:49 Startups at RSA: Standing Out in a Crowded Market
20:08 Halcyon's Unique Approach to Ransomware Solutions
SUMMARY
In this episode, Deepak Jeevankumar interviews Renee Gutmann, a seasoned CISO with extensive experience attending the RSA Conference. They discuss the evolution of the conference, advice for new CISOs, emerging trends in cybersecurity, the role of AI and automation, and the future challenges posed by quantum computing. Rene shares insights on navigating the conference, engaging with startups, and the importance of reducing friction in cybersecurity practices.
TAKEAWAYS
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to RSA Conference and Its Evolution
04:03 Navigating the RSA Conference as a CISO
09:53 Emerging Trends and Technologies in Cybersecurity
16:08 The Role of AI and Automation in Cybersecurity
20:04 Future Challenges: Quantum Computing and Cybersecurity
24:09 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Building the Future of Cybersecurity with AI – Benny Porat, CEO of Twine Security
Episode Description:
In this episode of the DTC Podcast, Deepak Jeevankumar sits down with Benny Porat, co-founder & CEO of Twine Security. Benny shares his journey from co-founding Claroty to launching Twine, diving into the evolving cybersecurity landscape, the challenges of product-market when you're a plane that's already in flight, and how AI-driven digital employees are reshaping identity and access management. He also discusses lessons learned in scaling a startup, choosing the right investors, and building high-performing teams.
Key Topics:
Listen in to hear Benny’s insights on the future of cybersecurity and the journey of building an AI-first cybersecurity company.
DTC's Radhika Malik in conversation with RunPod CEO and Co-founder Zhen Lu on the company's modest beginnings, accelerated growth, and learning to evolve with and for your ideal customers.
“Confidence is the manifestation of having clarity and conviction. Focusing on these “Three Cs” is what helped us make the hard decisions at CloudKnox.”
In a recent episode of the DTC podcast series “Exit Interview,” Raman Khanna sat down with Balaji Parimi, the founder of CloudKnox, to discuss the journey of his company from inception to category leader and then later, being acquired by Microsoft.
Key takeaways from this episode:
Find the solutions gap: Parimi’s motivation to start CloudKnox stemmed from his customer-facing experiences at VMware and CloudPhysics. He built products to deliver automation and efficiencies in multi-cloud environments but found that proper governance controls to manage and secure those automated cloud environments didn’t exist.
First mover advantage: Building for an emerging issue versus an established one comes with risk but can also reward in big ways. CloudKnox’s focus on creating hybrid and multi-cloud environment solutions played a pivotal role in the company being able to establish and lead a new category in the market.
Don’t underestimate the analysts: When Gartner introduced the cloud infrastructure entitlement management category, they did it with data attributed to CloudKnox. This was a direct result of proactive, early engagement with analysts who play a crucial role in educating the market, creating awareness, and prioritizing issues for their enterprise clients.
Don’t go it alone: Early traction with Fortune 100 customers was achieved through trusted partners. These partners, already vetted by large enterprises, provided a level of credibility that facilitated introductions and trust that led to landing big logos early on.
Founders are your 1st sales leaders: Initially, Balaji believed he was a product founder and that he needed to hire a sales team for GTM. He quickly realized that in the early days, it was his deep knowledge and passion that were crucial in landing customers.
From GTM partnership to acquisition by Microsoft: Initially, CloudKnox engaged with Microsoft to establish a joint go-to-market partnership, but as Microsoft’s product strategy evolved to focus on multi-cloud security solutions, they saw the value in acquiring CloudKnox. The acquisition has provided CloudKnox with a vast distribution channel and the opportunity to see their product deployed widely, fulfilling a key entrepreneurial dream.
Clarity + Conviction = Confidence: Balaji shared his three C’s of success for founders: Clarity, Conviction, and Confidence. Clarity in understanding the problem and solution leads to conviction, which in turn builds confidence. This clarity and conviction are crucial when communicating with customers, investors, team members and when making pivotal decisions.
Balaji Parimi’s journey with CloudKnox is a testament to the power of identifying and addressing real-world problems. His experience at VMware and CloudPhysics provided the foundation for a customer-focused approach that ultimately led to the creation of a new cybersecurity category and the eventual significant acquisition by Microsoft. While good timing played a role, tactical decisions around product, sales, and go-to-market strategies are what made CloudKnox a success story.
"We do have to hire to some extent ahead. And that's a bit of a bet. But again, when you've developed the conviction that you're onto something big, then we haven't waited. We move forward pretty forcefully building teams."
Arthur Bellamy talks with DTC's Scott Darling about scaling Exotec to a global company with more than $1B in systems sold. They dive into sales strategies behind modernizing warehouse technologies. Arthur shares actionable tactics for entering new markets, how to hire the right sales leads for $10M+ system installs, and the importance of being able to show potential customers -- not just tell them about -- your product lines.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Overview of Exotec
05:32 Origin Story of Exotec and the SkyPod System
09:25 Scalable Product vs Customized Designs in Material Handling
10:26 Expanding Internationally/Coming to America
16:29 Scaling the Sales Team and Hiring Ahead of Growth
21:17 Navigating Channel Relationships for Success
What's it like to be the first communications leadership hire at a hypergrowth, IPO-bound startup? In this episode of The DTC Podcast, Ronda Scott talks with Lindsay McKinley, the first comms hire and director of communications at Samsara. She shares advice on how to swing for the fences when you're at a resource-constrained early-stage startup and how to hit the ground running when you join a fast-growing company to take it all the way through an IPO.
Key Takeaways for Comms Success
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
04:06 Getting scrappy and successful at 15-person edtech company ClassDojo
12:15 Joining the hypergrowth team at Samsara
15:00 Three tactics to thrive in your first 30 days
18:42 Building a world class team
28:06 IPO experience through the communication lens
In this episode of the DTC Podcast, Deepak Jeevankumar interviews Slavik Markovich, co-founder of Sentrigo, Demisto, and Descope. Slavik shares lessons learned from his previous startups and discusses the acquisition of Demisto by Palo Alto Networks. He also talks about his current venture, Descope, which focuses on authentication and authorization. Slavik emphasizes the importance of solving real problems for customers and offers advice to founders. He predicts that AI (of course) and consolidation across cybersecurity vendors will be key themes that follow the 2024 RSA Conference.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and initial challenges in founding companies
08:17 Lessons learned from building multiple startups
10:34 The journey of scaling Demisto and the acquisition by Palo Alto Networks
21:59 The importance of solving real problems for customers
31:17 Maintaining a strong company culture and open communication
33:30 Looking forward: challenges and opportunities in cybersecurity
Ankit Gordhandas, a staff engineer at Zapier, shares his journey from being a biomedical engineer to a startup founder and his current role at Zapier. He discusses how Zapier embraced AI and the impact it has had on the company. Ankit also talks about the pivot at his previous startup, Intersect Labs, and the decision to join Zapier. He explains the focus on AI at Zapier and the projects they are working on. Ankit discusses user demand for AI and how Zapier is meeting those demands. He shares his thoughts on measuring success in AI projects and how he continues to scratch his entrepreneurial itch at Zapier. Finally, Ankit offers lessons for founders based on his experiences.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Embracing AI at Zapier
06:34 Ankit's Journey from Biomedical Engineer to Founder
13:13 Joining Zapier and the Pivot at Intersect Labs
18:26 Transitioning to Zapier and the Focus on AI
21:13 Zapier's Code Red and the Adoption of AI
24:30 User Demand for AI at Zapier
26:20 Measuring Success in AI Projects
27:44 Scratching the Entrepreneurial Itch
30:00 Lessons for Founders
Geeta Schmidt, co-founder and CEO of Humio, discusses the founding of the company and its evolution into a cybersecurity focus. She shares the importance of customer validation and the pride, as a Nordic-based startup, in acquiring Bloomberg as one of the company’s first major customers. Geeta also talks about how the leadership team evaluated the opportunity to be acquired by CrowdStrike and the post-acquisition integration experience. She highlights the learnings from CrowdStrike and talks about her current role of advising and investing in early-stage startups.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Background
01:35 Founding of Humio and World Domination Plan
08:29 Importance of Customer Validation
10:22 Proud Moment with Bloomberg as a Customer
11:49 Transition to a Cybersecurity Company
15:04 Acquisition by CrowdStrike
20:10 Announcing the Acquisition
21:47 Post-Acquisition Experience
23:23 Learning from CrowdStrike
25:19 Next Steps for Geeta
26:45 Investing in Early Stage Startups
27:13 Key Qualities in Founding Teams
In this episode, DTC's Victoria Kinnealey talks with Rick Berends, a veteran BISO, about the importance of startups in driving innovation and growth within enterprise organizations. They discuss the traits that startups should have to establish partnerships at an early stage, including agility, the ability to reduce complexity, and a focus on smarter approaches to security. Rick emphasizes the importance of trust and building relationships when engaging with startups, and advises startups to be honest, avoid over-representation, and steer clear of jargon. He also highlights the value of EQ (emotional intelligence) in startup teams and the benefits of white labeling products for instant buy-in from enterprise clients.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:30 Introduction to Rick Berends
01:13 Understanding the Role of a BISO
03:03 Traits of a Startup for Partnership
05:02 Startup's Role in Building Roadmap and Strategy
08:22 Advantages of Startups in Meeting Customer Needs
09:50 Importance of EQ in Startup Engagement
11:19 Importance of Building Trust and Avoiding Jargon
15:41 Understanding the Customer's Perspective
19:06 Importance of Flexibility in Enterprise Partnerships
20:31 Considering Long-Term Relationships and Value Adds
22:58 The Notion of 'Good is Good Enough'
28:45 Importance of Flexibility and Contract Length
30:12 The Need for Startups in Innovation
Julie Crabill, a fractional CMO, discusses the benefits of the fractional C-suite model for early-stage startups and how it can help scale their marketing and go-to-market teams. She emphasizes the importance of understanding business priorities and having empathy for founders. Julie also shares insights on engaging with technical teams and determining readiness for a dedicated marketing hire. She highlights the need to build marketing into the DNA of a business and adapt to changes in the industry, such as the impact of generative AI on marketing roles.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:17 Background and Journey to Becoming a Fractional CMO
02:38 Empathy for Founders and Understanding Business Priorities
04:30 Scaling Skill Set to Become a CMO
06:45 Benefits of Fractional CMO Model for Early Stage Startups
07:43 Engaging as a Fractional CMO
09:08 Determining Readiness for a Dedicated Marketing Hire
13:21 Engaging with Technical Teams
15:42 When Fractional CMO Model Works and Doesn't Work
18:08 Tactical Considerations for Engaging with a Fractional CMO
20:22 Hiring Plan and Time Horizon
25:54 Impact of Generative AI on Marketing Roles
27:46 Building Marketing into the DNA of the Business
28:43 Conclusion
In this conversation, DTC Managing Director Deepak Jeevankumar interviews Varun Badhwar, co-founder and former CEO of RedLock and co-founder and current CEO of Endor Labs. They discuss topics such as creating a new category in cybersecurity, building a customer-centric company, and the challenges and successes of scaling a startup. Varun shares insights into the importance of starting with the simple problem, productizing simplicity, and nailing an efficient demo. He also discusses the acquisition by Palo Alto Networks and the key factors that contributed to the successful integration of RedLock into what became Prisma Cloud. Finally, Varun shares his thoughts on starting a third company with Endor Labs and the future of application security (AppSec) in the context of software supply chain security and AI.
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:26 Creating a New Category in Cybersecurity
06:09 Starting with the Simple Problem
07:37 Productizing Simplicity
09:00 The Cloud Security Intelligence Team
12:04 The Acquisition by Palo Alto Networks
21:03 Starting a Third Company
25:43 The Future of AppSec
28:38 Building the Right Team and Culture
30:32 Choosing the Right Design Partners and Investors
33:29 Building in the Open and Embracing AI
36:18 Embracing Change in the Software Supply Chain
36:46 Closing Remarks
Introducing The DTC Podcast. These episodes feature Exit Interviews with enterprise founders who've gone from square one to major acquisition, conversations with the CTOs, CISOs, and CIOs interested in the latest enterprise innovations, and deep dives into strategies and tactics with the sales, marketing, and brand practitioners leading the go-to-market charge.