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The Story of Building Armorblox (Cisco Exit)
Welcome back to The Enterprise GTM Podcast! Today, we are joined by the CEO of Armorblox, DJ Sampath. Armorblox was a cybersecurity startup that built the world’s first natural language understanding platform to intelligently detect, alert, and protect identity-related attacks and data loss.
DJ is the quintessential engineer turned CEO. He has a PhD in computer engineering and started his career as a software engineer before starting Armorbox.
Tuning in, you’ll hear about his startup journey, the most challenging part of being a CEO, why everyone can sell, how he knows when a product is ready for market, the importance of dissecting the rejections and having conviction in your work as an entrepreneur, and so much more! AI…
Key Topics From This Episode:
* Being part of an early-stage startup is incredibly valuable in preparing you to be a startup founder.
* DJ shares some advice on overcoming the fear of selling, including amazing mental hacks.
* How do you avoid the trap of over-building or delaying the launch of your MVP? DJ provides a concrete framework for this and shares some concrete examples.
* The importance of having conviction in your work as an entrepreneur.
* A crucial point about unpacking ‘nos’- whether they are from customers, investors, and others. DJ talks about primary and vital skills to unpack the ‘nos.’
* DJ tells us about the lessons he learned when engaging with enterprises. Putting yourself in the enterprises’ shoes is a big part of it!
* Why timing is important for building the right partnerships and channel relationships and how it is crucial for success.
* How AI is affecting the creation of products all comes down to connecting with real humans over a beer in the Bay Area!
* Small models are the future of AI.
Quotes:
“As a CEO, you never have an off button. You don’t just go to your home and be with your kids and watch Netflix or something. You are always thinking about what you need to do next”. — @djsampath [0:06:00]
“If an engineer comes to you and tells you that they don’t know how to sell, they’re flat out lying” — @djsampath [0:07:00]
“Everybody is a salesperson, and once you accept that, things start to change.” — @djsampath [0:08:00]
“The best salespeople can build a personal relationship and rapport with who they are selling to.”— @djsampath[0:22:00]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
DJ Sampath on LinkedIn
DJ Sampath on X
Armorblox
Tim Zonca on LinkedIn
Tim Zonca on X
Vidya Raman on LinkedIn
Vidya Raman on X
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit veenormous.substack.com
View all episodes
By Vidya RamanWelcome back to The Enterprise GTM Podcast! Today, we are joined by the CEO of Armorblox, DJ Sampath. Armorblox was a cybersecurity startup that built the world’s first natural language understanding platform to intelligently detect, alert, and protect identity-related attacks and data loss.
DJ is the quintessential engineer turned CEO. He has a PhD in computer engineering and started his career as a software engineer before starting Armorbox.
Tuning in, you’ll hear about his startup journey, the most challenging part of being a CEO, why everyone can sell, how he knows when a product is ready for market, the importance of dissecting the rejections and having conviction in your work as an entrepreneur, and so much more! AI…
Key Topics From This Episode:
* Being part of an early-stage startup is incredibly valuable in preparing you to be a startup founder.
* DJ shares some advice on overcoming the fear of selling, including amazing mental hacks.
* How do you avoid the trap of over-building or delaying the launch of your MVP? DJ provides a concrete framework for this and shares some concrete examples.
* The importance of having conviction in your work as an entrepreneur.
* A crucial point about unpacking ‘nos’- whether they are from customers, investors, and others. DJ talks about primary and vital skills to unpack the ‘nos.’
* DJ tells us about the lessons he learned when engaging with enterprises. Putting yourself in the enterprises’ shoes is a big part of it!
* Why timing is important for building the right partnerships and channel relationships and how it is crucial for success.
* How AI is affecting the creation of products all comes down to connecting with real humans over a beer in the Bay Area!
* Small models are the future of AI.
Quotes:
“As a CEO, you never have an off button. You don’t just go to your home and be with your kids and watch Netflix or something. You are always thinking about what you need to do next”. — @djsampath [0:06:00]
“If an engineer comes to you and tells you that they don’t know how to sell, they’re flat out lying” — @djsampath [0:07:00]
“Everybody is a salesperson, and once you accept that, things start to change.” — @djsampath [0:08:00]
“The best salespeople can build a personal relationship and rapport with who they are selling to.”— @djsampath[0:22:00]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
DJ Sampath on LinkedIn
DJ Sampath on X
Armorblox
Tim Zonca on LinkedIn
Tim Zonca on X
Vidya Raman on LinkedIn
Vidya Raman on X
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit veenormous.substack.com