Yaniv Vardi, CEO of Claroti (Photo: Duquart)
In the midst of the Corona year, the Israeli start-up company Claroti recruited Yaniv Verdi as the CEO of Shiznik the unicorn company, which under his management registered one of the most impressive fundraisings in the history of the genre - 540 million dollars, out of a total of 635 million dollars raised, and in addition acquired the company The Israeli Medigate doubled the number of customers and presented impressive global growth.
He did all this from home, at Zoom - recruited 140 employees, and could not come to the company's headquarters in New York because of the closures. "I strongly believe in the personal relationship between people, my most important decisions and the most My favors were concocted and made at dinners, in places where it is not Zoom and it is very difficult to get involved and connect with Zoom."
And yet it was successful. Not a bad record for two and a half years
"More than the truly impressive recruitment, and the largest purchase ever by one Israeli company purchasing another Israeli company, what excites me more is that we have doubled the number of our customers and we are approaching almost ten thousand websites and devices that we protect, we are actually protecting human lives. For me personally, it's more flattering to know that we've grown from protecting a few hundred to almost ten thousand. We're not a cyber security that protects data, here it's a net protection of people and more than the money, that's really the most significant thing."
If the grapes are not good, you cannot make good wine.
Even in entrepreneurship, everything depends on the people (Photo: Public Relations)
Claroty is an Israeli-global unicorn that focuses on information security of critical infrastructures.
The company was founded in 2015 by Tel Aviv.
The company's headquarters are in New York and it has a presence in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, with clients spread over more than fifty countries on all continents.
Among the prominent customers are the pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer, Coca Cola, General Motors, Siemens, Schneider Electric and many international giants, with dozens and hundreds of production sites.
"Unlike other software protection companies, we protect the world of critical infrastructures such as factories, production, hospitals and all physical devices such as MRI machines for example, or monitors, which in the past were not connected to the cloud or the network and today it is an integral part of their activity."
and break into them?
"During the Corona period, the phenomena of ransom attacks began to prevail, mainly on hospitals, but not only. This also happened not long ago in Florida, where they tried to attack the water plant through the beef plants that are connected to it, and could easily change the chemical composition and kill people. Attacks on hospitals can Sometimes elevators, operating rooms and critical devices are disabled, which causes the hospitals to transfer patients to another hospital, sometimes at the cost of their lives. In addition, we protect factories that produce medicines and up to the manufacturer that develops the vehicles that people drive."
25% of the attacks in the past year occurred in the world of industry and production even though we don't hear much about it in the media, and in the last year and a half more than 80% of hospitals around the world reported a cyber security incident.
"In the future it will be equivalent to a world war, and we are almost there. The number of attacks is increasing and in particular as we enter difficult times of crises, whether between governments and countries such as the Russia-Ukraine war,
You command a very large market share, with leading companies, you have broken every possible recruitment record, do you have anywhere else to aspire?
"We will never be in the comfort zone - in light of the hard data that is only increasing. The risks and challenges are constantly there and they are renewed. After the acquisition of Medigate, we moved to another stage and released one product to the markets that covers everything. So we are not only in the world of production but also in the world Health, and we have more challenges ahead of us."
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Warburg Winery (Photo: Public Relations)
occupation for the soul
Lordi has had several interesting occupations in the last two decades, and is an entrepreneur with more than twenty years of experience in growing companies as CEO and manager of global organizations. He was one of the founders of Sparta Systems and the CEO of the Israeli startup Panoramic Power that was acquired by the British energy giant Centrica.
In his previous role, he was the CEO of the business solutions division of the energy giant Centrica and led a global business entity to organic growth, from tens of millions of dollars to hundreds of millions of dollars in less than four years.
And if all this is not enough, he is also a winemaker and CEO of Warburg Winery, who has previously won several impressive awards in wine competitions.
How does it go together?
"Wine for me is an occupation for the soul. I don't make wine with a profit motive. Sometimes on Saturdays when I have time I put on my boots and the winemaker's clothes and start working with friends in the winery. I have no employees except for two partners. And how does it go together you asked? I think in the end also in the company itself I need to know that I'm also doing something for the soul, that we're doing something for the place we live in. And here I actually see a very clear connection between the two fields."
Vardi believes that there is a very close connection between entrepreneurship and wine and that the connection between grapes and people always makes the difference.
"If the grapes are good, you have the strong foundation from where you can start running and from where you can also destroy. If the grapes are not good, you cannot produce good wine, it will not go up. And it doesn't matter if you have the best barrels from France or the equipment The best you bought in Italy.
Even in entrepreneurship, a successful company is first of all people.
If you have the right people, even if you are not in the right market, you can make some changes and adaptations and you will have the best product.
There - with the people you can never compromise.
And this is the line that has always guided me in this world."
Yaniv Vardi Bakram (Photo: Public Relations)
Vardi came to the world of wine when he flew to the USA and had to find a way to finance his studies and his stay there. "I worked in almost everything that was possible, from renovations to limousines, and in the world of wine there I was actually first exposed to the processes and smells and fell in love." Then when he purchased a company in the Milan area and started his business As an entrepreneur, he began to learn the profession in depth from the best winemakers in the wineries of northern Italy.
"We would have meetings with the workers in regions like Piedmont, Valpolicella, along the way I realized that I wanted to learn from the winemakers who really wanted to share their stories, and beyond that I understood wine and that also launched Mine in business, it's more of a set of instructions that you work according to, there is something here that goes beyond the traditional process, tricks, intuition, risk taking.
Almost like entrepreneurship."
How much has it helped you in business?
It helped me a lot.
The desire to make something perfect that people will appreciate.
Know how to take risks and maybe understand that in order to make a good product and a good company you need to know how to take risks to the limit.
I think one of the most important qualities for a CEO is perseverance and determination, and if you fail, you must quickly come to your senses and move on. A few years ago, after the harvest, I realized that all the grapes I had in the cooling machines had mold. And you realize that it has gone and there is no vintage and no series. You make decisions and see how you deal with them. In entrepreneurship this is a super critical quality because in one day there are many good things and many bad things, and you need to know how to filter them and live through them because it's not getting any easier."
Verdi's management strategy is greatly influenced by being a winemaker at heart, and by the fact that even in the world of entrepreneurship and start-ups just like in the world of wine and grapes in an era of uncertain climate, everything can change overnight.
"When I am asked what my management concept is, I believe that there is no one correct answer. I always say that the line that guides me runs between strategy, structure and people. We want to lead the protection of the critical infrastructures, and now how do we do that? What is the product? How do we get there? And of course who The right and most suitable people for me so that we reach these goals. I believe that anyone who has the ability to lead a vision with a strategy, or connect a structure with the right people can succeed in the world of entrepreneurship."
How do you deal with the collapse of the markets and the crisis in the industry?
"The world of cyber and infrastructure is growing and the need has increased due to the many attacks, compared to the markets and Nasdaq and the financial world which is in crisis.
We continue to recruit.
Of course we feel the crisis in front of companies that are less durable and are going through a sale process.
The value of companies also varies.
But as in every crisis, we also have to look at the positive sides, we find that many companies are now being offered for purchase at more realistic prices than they were in the past.
This gives an opportunity both to society and especially to the good people in it, to the quality manpower to continue doing what they are doing, and to us opportunities for broad and high-quality cooperation."
While in the US they are very aware of this war that is only getting worse, here in Israel there seems to be a bit of indifference, ironically to the fact All the inventions come from the minds of our startup people?
"The beginning is very important, to be aware of it and be ready. In the US, the government is very pushing for it and it is a growing market.
And I want to encourage it here in Israel as well, that they look beyond cyber, and understand the risk involved.
At the end of all the production, the factories, the hospitals and even the machines that we didn't think of that are connected to the cloud or the network, they are what supports our life and we cannot do without it.
We all must wake up."
Do you have a dream to deal only in wine?
"Maybe one day, when all the crises are behind us.
Right now the goal is not only to succeed as a company but to succeed in this war that also threatens the lives of civilians.
We want to build a real global market leader, and it's not the money, it's a leading market that knows how to reflect on the world we live in.
One day when everything will be behind us?
Yes, the winery may and will take its place."
Of money
Tags
winery
start up
High tech
