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 i...
Apr 27, 2025•18 min
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 stra...
Apr 27, 2025•24 min
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 Renee has attended...
Apr 26, 2025•25 min
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 manag...
Mar 09, 2025•29 min
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. RunPod launched with a classic tech startup story -- in the basements of co-founders Zhen Lu and Pardeep Singh, requiring some electrical rewiring and circuit breaker shenanigans at both homes. Immediately found traction with creatives playing around with Disco Diffusion but then began to attract developers an...
Jan 29, 2025•35 min
“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 s...
Dec 17, 2024•22 min
"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 rig...
Jul 26, 2024•44 min
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 Do the wo...
Jun 27, 2024•41 min
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 conso...
May 20, 2024•35 min
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 hi...
Mar 19, 2024•34 min
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 abo...
Mar 19, 2024•31 min
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 ...
Mar 19, 2024•33 min
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 indus...
Mar 18, 2024•29 min
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 acquisiti...
Mar 18, 2024•37 min
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.
Mar 15, 2024•1 min
