In this week’s episode, we are joined by Pukar C. Hamal, CEO and Founder of SecurityPal, a company that makes security questionnaires. Pukar has a strong background in Startups and Tech having started out in San Francisco in the early 2010s in a time of booming innovation and creativity.
He talks about how startups ought to navigate the topic of data privacy. He also shares insights on what security leaders should look out for, understanding the context of your specific organization in managing data security, evolving with the times, advancing best practices, and more.
This discussion explores his experiences as a sales development representative, his philosophy on risk-taking and regret-minimizing, and some of his career lessons.
In this episode, you will learn:
- What sales development representatives do
- Data privacy: what it is and what it means for startups
- What security leaders ought to look out for
- Pukar’s career learnings
Episode Highlights
(1:33) Pukar’s background story and SecurityPal beginnings
(6:47) The future of the SDR rule with increased tech automation
(12:25) The challenging nature of SDR roles
(16:49) How the SDR environment has evolved over time
(21:15) Pukar’s journey in tech: taking risks and minimizing regrets
(27:40) How to resolve deals that are stuck in legal procurement
(31:41) Advice for sales development reps on closing deals
(45:30) What security leaders should be looking at
(50:35) Pukar’s key career learnings
Quotes
“Look within yourself and figure out what your motivations are. Are they purely monetary? Are you trying to rank yourself in this bizarre status game that we all play? Is that what motivates you? Is it something deeper?”
“You have to go try to do something. Do something big and ambitious. We’re all stardust, at the end of the day. We end up in the Cosmosis particles where we came from so it doesn’t matter.”
“I think it’s so important to go through that phase in your life where you’re just exploring, without an aim, having conversations about anything. I think some of the most creative ideas come from moments like that”
“I hope I can say that I lived a fulfilling life and that I lived up to the resources that were given to me. I’m a big believer in being a productive member of society. If you subscribe to a part of society and you have the faculties to be productive, you’re of able mind and are able bodied, you should produce more than you’ve received. I think that’s the social contract that I subscribe to. I want to make sure that I’m viewed as somebody that produced more than I was given. I think that brings me a lot of joy and fulfillment. I think those are important values to pass on to future generations.”
“Be extremely customer centric, play the long game, understand that we’re no longer islands anymore. Everybody knows somebody, and there’s a lot more information about you now. It’s more imperative for you to understand that you’re really playing a repeated game with a lot of people.”
“What most security leaders want to know is: what sort of data are you storing? What is the risk to them? What data are you fundamentally interacting with? Where is that data gonna be stored? Who are the people that have access to that data? How do you vet them?”
“Having a consistent growth mindset and trying to win as a team is much more fun than winning alone.”
The GTM Podcast
Don’t miss The .GTM Podcast dropping every Tuesday, discussing true stories and experiences including trials and tribulations in the Go-To-Market world.
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