Thought Leaders in Cyber Security: Stellar Cyber CoFounder and CTO Aimei Wei (Part 4)

Aimei Wei: We already know what we need to build. Whoever can execute and provide the value to protect the customer effectively still needs to execute. There are three ways. First is detection. Detect at the earliest stage of an attack. The next stage is how to automatically respond, disrupt, and stop the attack before it causes more damage.

Then the third way is to proactively build your security assessment exposure and continuously close the doors and open windows to make sure your environment is as safe as possible and leave a very small chance for the hacker to come in. To do this effectively across the continuously growing attack surface is a challenge.

Sramana Mitra: Especially in self-healing networks and self-healing attack prevention, that’s very hard.

Aimei Wei: In the digital transformation, we see a proliferation of SaaS providers coming out. That enables a lot of businesses and it makes a lot of businesses much more efficient. On the other hand, there are security risks. Now we are much more exposed. All a hacker needs is to find one vulnerable spot. The damage they can cause is also bigger than the supply chain attack. Just with one compromise of credentials, they can get into the environment of hundreds of companies.

Sramana Mitra: I’m going to ask you about your entrepreneurial journey. You worked for big companies, startups, and then you started your own startups after your children were grown up. Firstly, how did you transition from being a heavy-duty technology person to becoming an entrepreneur? Do you have a partner who’s a business kind?

Aimei Wei: That’s what Steve always tells me, “Come out of your engineering mode.” It’s a big transition. I learned a lot. I grew tremendously during this journey. Something I want to reveal is, my husband did a startup. He founded AeroHive in 2006 when our kids were still young. He brought the company to IPO in 2013. Then I saw the growth in him.

He, later on, took over as the CEO of Stellar Cyber. He’s more responsible for the business side and I’m more responsible for the technical product side. He definitely helped me a lot during this journey. When I was an engineer, technology was the most important thing. Now it’s not like that.

Sramana Mitra: There’s a big learning curve in going from a technical person to a full-fledged entrepreneur. You have to position the product. You have to get your early customers. It’s a whole big portfolio of skills that you have to pick up. We see this often. Entrepreneurs pair up with somebody who’s from the business side. Sometimes, they groom themselves to learn the business side. We see different kinds of permutations.

Aimei Wei: I learned a lot about product fit. The way you operate also is different at different stages. I also learned from a lot of other entrepreneurs.

Sramana Mitra: That’s one of the things that we try to do in One Million by One Million. We do case studies of successful entrepreneurs. We have the ability to give you access to those kinds of conversations and see their journey.

Aimei Wei: That’s why when I saw what you did, I felt it was so meaningful. It’s more like entrepreneurship at scale.

Sramana Mitra: I’m a computer scientist from MIT. I started my first company while I was still a graduate student. I love hardcore techie women. It’s great to meet you because you are deeply knowledgeable about the cyber security field. You’re innovating at the cutting edge of this field.

It’s very inspiring for a lot of women entrepreneurs, especially deep tech women entrepreneurs who are trying to go from being a techie to an entrepreneur. That’s great to see.

Aimei Wei: Thank you.

Sramana Mitra: It was a pleasure talking to you. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 4 in the series : Thought Leaders in Cyber Security: Stellar Cyber CoFounder and CTO Aimei Wei
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