Yotam Segev, a security expert with over 15 years of experience in offensive cybersecurity and security architecture, is the CEO and co-founder of data security company Cyera. Before founding Cyera, Yotam and his co-founder, Tamar Bar-llan, built and ran the cloud security division in the Israeli Military Intelligence’s Cyber Department. During that period, Yotam gained firsthand experience in leading teams and deploying cybersecurity technologies in the field. This led to the pair recognizing the challenges and the need for a solution to secure data in sprawling cloud environments.
Leadership-Building Experiences
Surrounded by high-performing individuals, Yotam spent his military days operating in and adapting to high-pressure environments. He rose through the ranks, led teams, and ran the cloud security division with a focus on enabling individuals to achieve remarkable outcomes.
“It was in the military that I realized the true power of bottom-up initiatives to enact change, and how leaders need to remain in touch with their employees to successfully lead and inspire them to achieve their potential,” shares Yotam. Those experiences shaped him into the leader he is today. If any of his team members say that something cannot be done, Yotam partners alongside them, and pushes them to find creative solutions. He believes that any task can be accomplished, and any challenge can be conquered with hard work, focus, passion, and a healthy measure of hutzpah.
Cyera: Reshaping the Cloud Data Security Landscape
The industry’s most advanced cloud data protection platform, Cyera enables businesses to unlock the value of their data, securely. With Cyera, security professionals can find and identify all of their cloud data, secure sensitive information, ensure alignment to compliance and regulatory schemes, maintain user privacy, improve ransomware resilience, and achieve least privileged access to sensitive data, all without slowing the business down.
Growing at Lightning Speed
From the beginning, Cyera’s growth has been nothing short of extraordinary. Cyera’s journey, which began with a team of just 12, has expanded to over 60 team members between its Tel Aviv office and the United States. “We have received over $60M in funding from elite investors like Sequoia, Accel, and Cyberstarts. We’ve also been fortunate to have many incredible F1000 customers trusting Cyera to help unlock the value of their cloud data securely,” mentions Yotam.
Customer-Centric Focus Sets Cyera Apart
While commenting on what makes Cyera unique, Yotam states, “The company-wide focus on our customers gives us an edge over others in the space.” This focus applies unilaterally across every function, action, and decision made at Cyera. As a result, customers are the heartbeat of Cyera.
Yotam feels that genuinely listening to customers keeps the team humble. Cyera team members continually question their assumptions to fully understand what customers want and need: nothing is taken for granted. As a result, the Cyera team succeeds in delivering thorough, strong, and quick results. “Sure, sometimes we eat late dinners in the office. But the difference it makes to the end customers is completely worth it,” adds Yotam with a smile.
Overcoming Challenges
“What we are building at Cyera is not only incredibly ambitious, it’s brand new,” reveals the Yotam. Cyera’s most prominent challenges include operating at the cutting edge of technology, creating a new category in data security, and building education around it. To tackle these challenges, Yotam and his team align on Customer-Driven engineering as their core philosophy. Cyera’s product managers, engineers, and researchers listen to and understand what their customers need and want firsthand, and then work together with those customers to deliver the best solutions. “This approach has dramatically accelerated our product market fit and narrowed our focus to better utilize our engineering efforts,” asserts Yotam.
Motivating Team Members
According to Yotam, the key to motivating his team is effective communication. Asking about their challenges, keeping them in the loop, and, most importantly, recognizing and appreciating their efforts in front of the entire team goes a long way. Moreover, as the company’s CEO, Yotam ensures the alignment of his team members with Cyera’s vision so that all members work towards the same goals and remain excited and engaged throughout the journey.
The Art of Balancing Cost with ROI
In today’s cut-throat competitive landscape, business leaders must calculate the ROI when investing in new technology. “My compass, my north star is the customer,” shares Yotam. “Because that is where the R on your I comes from.” When Yotam and his team gauge a very strong customer demand, they readily invest in building the best possible solutions to solve those demands. Because both the need and the desired outcomes are clear, the investment is justified.
Racing Past the Milestones
In the last 18 months, Cyera has achieved one milestone after another. Beginning with the initial seed investment from Cyberstarts, from moving into their first offices, to experiencing their customer’s satisfaction with the initial version of the product, to landing an impressive Series A funding from Sequoia and Accel – Yotam couldn’t be prouder of everything the Cyera team has accomplished. Each new milestone is even more meaningful after facing incredible challenges to build something new that delivers such remarkable proven value to customers – all in a very short amount of time.
A Typical Day in the Life of a Leader
For Yotam, there is nothing typical about his workdays. His schedule is packed with meeting customers & teams, attending calls at every hour of the day and night, and constant travel. But Yotam thrives in high-performance environments, enjoying every bit of the action, variety, and growth.
Future Plans
“We are building a strong, independent business. So, my focus remains on expanding the platform, delivering more value to a growing customer base, and accelerating our revenue acquisition” reveals Yotam. Since the company was founded in the post-pandemic world, its sales and go-to-market teams, along with its operations and processes, allow it to be agile, nimble, resilient, and spread worldwide. Looking forward to the future, Yotam and his team will continue focusing on Cyera’s global growth and pace.
For More info: https://www.cyera.io/