A few years ago, as Cybereason began to acquire customers and grow, many people asked me how would I know when the company was successful. I’d respond with a number since that’s how success is typically measured in business. Sometimes it was the number of customers I wanted us to have, or the number of endpoints that I wanted Cybereason to protect. Other times I gave them a sales figure.
But there was also a less quantifiable metric that I had in my mind: being named Israel’s most promising startup by Calcalist, the country’s top financial newspaper. I knew that countless other Israeli startups (especially in the information security space) harbored the same goal. Taking the top spot would mean overcoming obstacles and building an organization that worked as one in addition to creating a fantastic product.
Well, after tons of tireless work, I’m humbled, happy and honored to announce that Cybereason reached that milestone this week and was ranked by Calcalist as Israel’s most promising startup. This achievement was only possible by the entire company, from developers in Tel Aviv to marketing in Boston to sales people in the U.S., Europe and Asia, working together. I’m proud of my team for all they give to Cybereason.
I remember when network security was the rage and our decision to develop an endpoint security product was questioned. And I remember the confused looks on people’s faces when they learned that we selected Boston for our headquarters instead of Silicon Valley or New York City. There were times when every day brought a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Truthfully, those days never go away and our resiliency will always be tested. But experience has taught us how to better handle those days and the obstacles they present. Our employees are dedicated to making Cybereason a fantastic company with an amazing product and, no matter how they’re tested, they’ll prosper.
While I appreciate this honor and its significance isn’t lost on me, I tend not to reflect on accolades for too long. Accomplishments like this one should be celebrated. But linger on them and you risk being eclipsed by another company. This is a situation I’d prefer to avoid. After all, we’re still a startup with a lot to prove.
Now that we’ve topped Calcalist’s list, what comes next? I honestly don’t have an answer. There are the obvious and expected goals like earning the trust of more customers, increasing revenue and improving our endpoint protection, detection and response platform. But I feel like a more abstract one is also needed. Maybe it’s this: never losing our ability to work together to handle whatever problems we encounter. Inevitably, there will be more as we attempt to build a great company. I hope that we remain determined and realize that this perspective is the only way to guarantee success. Thanks again for the honor, Calcalist.
