Yoav Regev - Co-Founder of Sentra

The founder formula brings you in behind the curtains and inside the minds of today's brave executives at the most future-leaning startups. Each interview will feature a transformative leader who's behind the wheel at a fast-paced and innovative tech firm. They'll give you an insider's look at how companies are envisioned, created, and scaled. We hope you're ready.

Let's get into the show. We've had one episode under our bell. We recorded one earlier, which went dynamite. Yeah.

And um we're about ready to do another one. But I wanted to ask you, like uh so what do you think of the show so far? Uh what do you think of the crowd? So far, it is incredible.

You know, the energy that Evolve brings to the table is uh it's it's incredible. There's nothing like it, and it's um contagious. And if you are walking out of this elevator a bit tired or sleepy, there's an instant wake-up vibe that happens because everybody's just excited to be here. We also have a lot of incredible minds walking the floor, yeah, including our guests whom we are about to announce.

Yeah, incl including our guests, and you're right, it's great, it's great because once a year there's so many people that we don't get a chance to see live. But here we are, once a year uh at the end of September, beginning of October. Yeah. All the friends in the business, clients, uh, uh the partner community, for sure, um, fellow employees.

So this has just been really great. It kind of increases the energy. So we're really excited to get going here. But um uh so today we are joined by a founder who has two decades of experience in cybersecurity, cloud, big data, and machine learning.

Uh, before starting his company, he served nearly 25 years in the Israeli military intelligence, where he rose to the rank of colonel and led the cyber department unit of Get This 8,200, which is an amazing number. Wow. Today he's applying that experience to protect how organizations manage and secure their data in the cloud. He is the co-founder and CEO of Centra.

Please allow me to introduce Joav Ragev. Thank you very much uh to having me today. Great to be here, specifically for that uh uh uh episode, and of course to be here with the uh Evolve and all the Tracery people. Yoav, we it's our pleasure to have you.

Um I'd love for you to share with the audience. Tell us about Centra, what is the the sort of the problem space that Centra solves for, and why you started it? Okay, great question. So, first of all, when we think about Centra and data security, uh it's about the business.

And when we started the company, we we we thought about the business. And at the end, it's all about the data. Most of the like the biggest differentiation between companies is about how they can leverage the data they have and push it and be the best company in their uh space. And we are here to help them to move faster, to do better.

And uh of course, we we do that with the with the idea to know and to understand the data they have and to make sure they handle that in a responsible way. And that's the story behind Central. How to do it, how to take the data, you can leverage it as a big company, large enterprise. And of course it's data security.

Yes uh uh and that was even before the AI booms that for sure we are going to speak a bit later. Of course. But uh let's keep it for the uh the next uh chapter. Yeah.

Okay. You know, Centra is um fairly unique in that it has four co-founders. Your role as one of the founders is the CEO. Um, how do you divide responsibilities with with the other three and maybe share a little bit about how how the four of you came together and decided to kind of divide and conquer these responsibilities?

Yeah, perfect. So, first of all, we know each other for many, many years, more than 20 years. Uh we met in the army. Uh we served together, we we we solved uh very challenging problems in the past.

And uh when we entered uh the service, we decided that we want to work together and to solve one of the biggest problems that we have these days. So uh it was pretty easy for us when we started to speak about what we want to do, like to do it together. Uh and about the roles. Again, each of us uh came from a different experience.

Uh, as an example, Ron, he is the techie guy. Yeah, he is the one that started to develop when he was nine. Okay, one of the first hackers, one of the best uh technological uh persons that I ever met, and I met many. So very easy.

He's the CEO, okay, he knows everything about technology, right? Yair, he's the VP product, and again, huge experience. Just before Senta, he worked for a large enterprise in the US, Microsoft, Datadog. He knows his staff.

And the staff is an amazing uh leader. Uh he is the uh uh uh uh the customer interface, it was very intuitive. He's the bus dev guy, he's our president that uh presents us in many many uh places. Uh so it was very easy, also.

So the last thing that uh I could take is the CEO. So I took it. It was the last, it was the last job. Well, somebody's gonna run the whole thing.

Somebody needs to do it. Yeah, okay, well, great. I always said that the CEO is uh, you know, like the the the the other founders, they have the only the fun part. Yeah.

And the CEO it's the fun part with some other responsibilities. I'll say, yeah, sure. Well, you know, that must have been an incredible bond that you forged together on the battlefield. Like that's that's incredible.

Um when you uh we mentioned you spent over two decades in the military. Uh do you find that there are lessons from those years that you embed in sort of your daily leadership and practice as a founder? Sure. Yeah, many people ask me what is the difference between the army and the uh the current situation and the current position.

And uh, you know, when I left, when I ended my service and I left the army, I thought that it's gonna be a bit boring and the pace is not gonna be good enough. And I can tell you what I was totally wrong. And totally wrong because it's amazing to see what's going on every other day, it's very different. And uh if I need to choose one thing, it's about resilience.

So during uh my service I learned and adopted like how is to be more resilient, how to to understand like in uh very uh complex and uh complicated situations. And that and the resilience is pretty great thing to take from the past uh because as a founder you have the same complex situations few times each day. Yeah, it's a roller coaster, it's something that uh you know you wake up in the morning, you think or you believe that you know what's going on. Yeah, but you you're going to find that it's uh it's a it's a very uh chaotic way, a chaotic word, uh, and you need to handle that and the resilience uh uh uh to understand what you should do what we should do, what you should go.

Most of the people speak about the happy moments and the fan facts, but behind the scene there is a lot. Joel, is that a characteristic that you look for in in who you hire as well? Like I know it's hard to kind of really determine whether somebody's got that or not. So most of the uh uh the people that I really like to work with, it's about passion, not specifically resilience.

I like the when I meet people I always said I want to see passion and winning. This is like the the thing that I really like. I believe this is something that when you have it, you can be the best. Yes.

If you don't have it, for sure you're not going to be there. Yeah, and that's that's the that's the place that I'm looking for. Yeah, it's foundational, yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's an it's huge and tangible that you gotta pick up on when you when you meet somebody.

Before we move on to the to the question I was gonna ask, um in Israel, uh it's uh it's required to spend some time in the military, am I right? Yeah, it's a mandatory service. Okay, mandatory service. But um you went 20 years, so you went beyond probably what was considered mandatory.

Um when your moment came to you know go back and become a civilian or continue on, um what went through your head? Did you were you really enjoying uh the the service part of this? Yeah, for sure. You know, I always said we have like about statistically 80 years to be here on Earth, right?

Yeah. So there is no time to wait. You should enjoy for any moment. And every time I take a decision and specifically about myself and about the future and about what I do and how I act, it's about passion and to like joy.

Yeah. And uh it was for me, every moment in the uh military was like that. To uh very challenging, to work with the best people and to see what can I achieve for the next uh uh step. So that was uh I did during that time.

And in the moment I understand that now it is time to change. Yeah, I took that decision. And I'm I'm I'm very lucky and it was great to have such kind of a great experience and great service. Yeah.

Uh uh challenge. Uh I learned a lot and of course uh I gave a lot. Yeah. And now I use that experience for the next chapter.

Right. Um so you recently uh raised 50 million from what I understand, just this last summer. Is that is that correct? Yep.

That's awesome. Congratulations. Thank you very much. So, talking about fundraising, um can you tell us a little bit about your pitch?

Was it difficult to get that first round? Did the did the four of you have to get together and and and really work at getting that initial investment? Did it come easy? Tell us a little bit about that.

So, first of all, during my uh uh my journey, I could learn that everything I did it's very easy, everything that I didn't, it's pretty hard. So, you know, now now I can tell you it's very easy, of course. Yeah. For sure.

But uh but and this is like when you when you speak about it, it looks like yeah, it was easy, but it it's not that the case because always there is something again. You wake up in the morning, you don't know what's going on. However, when we started a company, and and it wasn't so cool to speak about data security, it wasn't uh uh uh uh so cool to to say yeah, I'm going to solve that problem. Uh it was much more cool to speak about cloud security and such kind of things.

And today, like in the last few months, maybe even the last two years, it's much easier. And it's very cool to deal with data security. Yes. And and and during the uh the last round, uh we were very uh lucky to be in the right place with the right technology.

So I I I I don't want or don't like to say it's easy, but it was very compelling uh uh to speak about the problem we solved. Yeah, because it's everywhere. The momentum, it's what's going on in every organization in the world uh uh they need such kind of technology and solution. We have the best technology in the market.

When you know when the investors, when the other they they they spoke with the market, yeah, with the companies, they could learn. So when you combine those things together, we're very lucky to be there in the right timing and to raise uh and to capitalize the company so we can move on, right, and we can accelerate everything and to be part of the next chapter of data security. Awesome. Well, I mean you're you're you're so right that data security is is absolutely kind of the the headline in the industry right now, and I'll ask you to kind of lean into that a little bit more, put your CMO hat on, and um you know the reality is a great headline, incredible emerging trend.

Um but everybody is vying for the attention and the mind share of the technology buyer, the budget holder. And and that is it's it's very hard to sort of harness that attention as a as a technology manufacturer. What goes into choosing the right message, or said differently, is there a specific message you want our audience to walk away with related to Centra that you think really differentiates you in what is a very competitive space? Alright.

So I'll split my answer into different branches. The first one is a bit generic and not specific for Sentra. What I learned, by the way, it took some time, some some failures, but uh to to listen. Most of the people, including me, we like to speak, we like to talk, we like to share, and we feel that whenever we meet people, yeah, let's tell them that what we have, which the great technology and such kind of thing.

And that's not the best way to be uh to get that attention. Yeah but it's it's about to listen, to listen to the problems, to listen to the priorities, and to understand what the other side needs. So this is uh the the best uh practice that I learned by the way in the hard way. Uh um and that's very generic.

But on top of that, it's about central and uh and and if I need to choose one word for differentiation is scale. We uh in this data it's about a lot of data, it's about AI that uh they uh uh the technology needs a lot of data. And we shine at scale. So we every time we help organization to solve that basic uh problem uh about the data and the the the the the technology they need to adopt and the security they need and the uh privacy and compliance and many others, it's about data at scale, how to perform at scale.

And we do that in the best way and with the best uh uh solution. That's amazing. Uh and it's it's great to have that type of focus, it makes it easier uh as you know the leading part of a conversation scale, as you said. Um you talked about earlier about passion and and and winning and and for you resilience, these are key words when you're developing culture.

Can you tell us a little bit about how the four of you um build culture, some foundational elements? Uh tell us about building culture, etc. Great. So catcher, there's a few different aspects.

There are some people that talk about culture, put some uh uh papers on the wall. Yeah, posters, yeah. Exactly, all that stuff. I don't believe in that uh in that way.

It's about how you behave. So the first steps is to understand what is the right behavior for yourself, and people see that. You know, we are smart, we have smart people, they see you and they understand exactly what they need to do. And again, number one, uh you start to hire the right people, as I said before, the passion, the winning.

But on top of that, as a as a company, we decided to do uh two things from from the early days. Number one is transparency. I'm saying that again. Transparency.

Okay, excellent. So the company uh uh we are in a full transparency about everything with the company, with the people. Even I can give you one good example that I learned from someone. Every time when we have a board meeting, the week after, we show the same presentation to the company.

Oh, that's awesome! Fantastic. Everyone can understand and can be on the same page about the good stuff, about the bad stuff, about decisions, about uh uh everything. Right.

So this is kind of a good example. And when people see that, yeah, they know that you don't uh uh uh uh just say that we are in a transparency environment. Right, the board loves us, everything's great, exactly, yeah for sure. No problem at all.

No, we have a few. So uh transparency, this is something we work, and and the second one is about customer driven. So each of us, including me, I always tell to people we are here, we are the assets that help the people that meet the customers. It can be the uh uh the salespeople, it can be the channels people, it can be the customer success, it doesn't matter.

People that they are the king. Yeah, we are here to help them, to make sure they have whatever they need on time to do the job. And if you go to Tel Aviv and ask the engineer, or if you go anywhere in the States and ask the people, should be the same answer. Yes.

I can like if someone needs me tomorrow night, I'll take uh a flight, it doesn't matter where and when to ensure that they have, in that case, myself, yeah, as part of the discussion as an example. So this is something that we work very hard to ensure we have those uh we have that culture. Yeah, customer first. Combine that customer first, customer driven, yeah, to use a full transparency.

That's awesome. That's what that's what great companies are are made of, very reminiscent of of Trace 3 culture as well. That's how we describe ourselves. Speaking of clients and customers, um is there a gratifying moment?

I'm sure there are many knowing center on the quality of your technology, but uh is there one in particular you want to highlight you've had recently with a client and how you've been able to help them or their organization? Yeah, for sure. That's those are the best moments, and yeah, and you know we don't talk we don't speak a lot about those moments because always we speak about the problems and what we can do more than that. Right, right.

There's always a client who needs something else. So that again I'll take it uh to two different uh uh uh uh places. One, of course, when you when the company, when they uh they tell us, yes, you won, we are going with you. That's and and of course when you do it with a big enterprise, one of the fortune, those companies is is is is a great achievement.

Yeah, yes. However, even a better moment that one of our current customers, they have a problem that we solved. And that's the best, the best moments. Like one of the it can be a practitioner, it can be one of the executives, they call you and say, you know, last week, last day, this morning, we had an incident.

We had a problem, and because of Centra, we could solve it very fast, and they show you and the evidence and show you the case. That's the best moment because we founded the company for those moments, yeah, to ensure the other sides get the value by the way. Hopefully, none of them will need to use it, right? Yeah, because we don't like breaches and we don't like problems.

Yeah, however, this is the way of life, and when you see it, you know that you did something good, like you founded something that really solve real problem, and that's the best moments. Yeah, when you get a call from the client and it's on your phone, you're like, oh my gosh, and here you are, you're getting praised for the work that you and your team are doing. Who knows what's going on? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Uh 50-50 chance. Um, okay, so uh this has been great. I think it's been really great uh chatting with you. Um is there anything else that maybe any other advice you'd like to give budding founders?

Um anything we didn't discuss, Joab, that you'd like to cover? Yeah, for sure there are as many. Take your time. Yeah, yeah.

But I uh you know, before I we before we founded a company, I met many, many people. And you know, we are great, great culture in the tech environment, and specifically we have it also in Israel. It's a small place that we know each other. And I already uh always asked people like, give me some best practice.

I would like to learn. And one of the best advice that I got is move fast or fail fast and move fast. And this is something maybe I want to share because there always are moments you want to say, maybe let's wait. Let's see what's going on.

But I learned and based on that uh uh tip that I got is much better to act, much better to move on, much better to move fast. Yeah. And even though you fail fast, you learn fast and move fast again. And this is something that I believe this is the best practice, very hard to do, by the way.

I I I I tell it to myself every other week because uh it's very easy to say, very hard to do. But this is something that whenever you do that, you know, you do the right thing. So that's my yeah, my advice to others. Yeah, because I got it from uh great people.

Yeah, going from your background where you probably had to you probably had a lot of adrenaline and and you know with the military, and then you know, forcing yourself, you know, to move fast is probably a little bit of the same thing. You're experiencing some of that, and and that's great advice. Thank you for the wisdom. Thank you for your time and for your mind.

It was really our pleasure to have you on our podcast and to get to know you and Sentra a little bit better than we already do. Thank you, Yoab. Thank you very much. Welcome.

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