The following interview is a conversation we had with Rina Galperin, CTO & Co-Founder of PVML, on our podcast Category Visionaries. You can view the full episode here: $8 Million Raised to Build the Future of Data Access
Brett
Welcome to Category Visionaries, the show dedicated to exploring exciting visions for the future from the founders who are on the front lines building it. In each episode, we’ll speak with a visionary Founder who’s building a new category or reimagining an existing one. We’ll learn about the problem they solve, how their technology works, and unpack their vision for the future. I’m your host, Brett Stapper, CEO of Front Lines Media. Now let’s dive right in today’s episode.
Brett
Hey, everyone, and welcome back to Category Visionaries. Today we’re speaking with Rina Galperin and CTO and Co-Founder of PVML, a data access platform that’s raised 8 million in funding. Reena, how are you?
Rina Galperin
I’m great. Russ, how are you?
Brett
I’m doing great. I’m super excited for our conversation and appreciate you taking this end of day on a Friday in Tel Aviv. So thanks so much for taking the time. Let’s go ahead and kick off with the big question here of what are you building? Talk to us about it.
Rina Galperin
Well, I mean, currently, a lot of organizations have a very strong coupling between their permissions management and their databases, bi tools, legacy systems, all that. And this sets them back anytime they want to introduce a new tool or new data source to their tax stack. Think about a company that implemented information management in, let’s say, power BI. So a year later, the analysts come and they want to use tableau. So now this company is quite a because it can either implement a whole new set of access rules in tableau and then double its admin overload by having to manage two sources of permissions, or the company will simply avoid adding this new bI tool to its toolset, which is also a bad option.
Rina Galperin
So our mission is to basically help organizations ensure that data access is never a barrier where they want to innovate or be more productive. So what we basically do is allow them to create agnostic data access using the PVML infrastructure. We centralize access to all their data sources without having to move or duplicate anything, and then we enable the management of permissions for all access interfaces. So bi tools, API, and now even.
Brett
AI Ian, talk to us about the founding of the company. Take us back to 2021. What was it about this problem that made you say, yep, that’s it?
Rina Galperin
Well, two years ago, I was working as a software engineer at Microsoft. I was part of a team building a virtual classroom solution, which means there was obviously sensitive people, data involved. So students, information, exam tasks, performance reports, and so on. Then one day, my product manager asked me to give her some stats on an average exam grade in a specific region so that we can compare the impact of the system we’re building on exam performance. Now, it sounds like a legitimate two second analysis, right? Well, turns out not really. I mean, this was the first time ever I actually encountered the complexities of analyzing production data. I mean, an average exam grade could potentially be traced back to a specific student given additional information or queries. So it turns out statistics are tricky.
Rina Galperin
They can either tell a broad story, a very precise story, or even a malicious story. It all depends on the data, the question, and the user’s intent. So, long story short, instead of extracting simple average statistics, I was only allowed to calculate approximate and very high level figures. And as cliche as it sounds, I swear I told myself there has to be a better way. I mean, if one of the most powerful tech corporates is struggling with sensitive data access, then everybody else is just doomed. And turns out there really was a solution. Because during that time, Shachar, my Co-Founder, was finalizing his PhD in computer science, and he was specializing in something called differential privacy, which is a mathematically quantifiable definition of privacy. And yeah, that’s a thing. It actually exists.
Rina Galperin
This definition was formulated precisely to help you unlock analytics without compromising privacy. So that’s kind of how problem met solution. And it just clicked and we decided to found PVMl.
Brett
And how long did it take for you to acquire your first paying customer, and what did you learn from that process?
Rina Galperin
I think it took us about half a year, something like that. I mean, we both were quite new to the whole entrepreneurial world, first timers, two techie people, and we really just went door knocking. So we had close to zero inside connections, and we’re new to the startup ecosystem. We just started reaching out to people on LinkedIn and email and just trying to get meetings booked. So we spent a lot of time digging into the problem domain and understanding the pain of not only our potential clients, as in the companies, but specifically the buyer in the company, what drives and motivates him, what sets him back, and so on. So it really helped us target our ideal customer profile very well and lend our first clients.
Brett
Talk about the marketing approach. How would you best summarize the approach that you’ve taken to marketing?
Rina Galperin
So we’re doing both inbound and outbound. So LinkedIn, email, phone, all that being positioned between data protection and AI creates significant demand sense. We’re basically stepping into a gap in the market right now. So we’re definitely surprised by the traction we’re gaining. But these are the main approaches that we currently take.
Brett
And what about your market category? I had introduced you as a data access platform. Is data access the actual category, or what’s the category that you’re in?
Rina Galperin
Yeah, so I think our category can be classified as data access, but we’re definitely changing it. So up until now, data access included security and privacy solutions that aim to restrict and limit users, which makes sense because existing data protection solutions are not technological. You have a set of techniques and practices like anonymization, masking encryption. So basically, let me hide or remove your data because I don’t want to risk a data breach. What we’re doing differently is, first of all, our unique data protection technology. So the first technology that actually helps unlock more data for analysis without altering it and without risking it. And the second thing we’re doing differently is we provide an agnostic data access so you can manage access to all data sources without having to customize anything. So I would say it’s data access, but it’s enabling instead of limiting.
Brett
And let’s talk about the go to market motion. What does the go to market motion look like? How are you acquiring customers today?
Rina Galperin
So I would definitely say that we believe in creative marketing. So I think it’s important to be bold and take risks with marketing. Otherwise you’re just blending in. So it can be as simple as going to conferences and handing out coffee vouchers to land coffee dates with prospects, or making customized mugs for clients onboarding days. I mean, you sometimes need to risk having a door shut at your face to potentially land something big and suppress competition. We definitely also have some market education to do because we’re using a very unique solution for our product. So these, I would say the two things we’re doing differently in marketing to.
Brett
Land customers and in terms of positioning, how are you positioning? Or maybe a better way to ask that, can you paint a picture for us of what the competitive landscape looks like?
Rina Galperin
Yeah. So as I mentioned, security solutions are typically based on restrictions. I mean, it’s not their fault, it’s inherent from the tools that were available at Dash R. But I would say we’re definitely like an oxymoron because of the security and enablement combination. We’re the first solution to use differential privacy to both protect companies and enable them to unlock the full potential of their sensitive data at the same time. So yeah, that’s how I would say we’re positioned.
Brett
And let’s talk about the top go to market decision that you’ve made so far. So let’s look at this whole journey. What’s the number one go to market decision that was made and how did you make that decision?
Rina Galperin
Wow. Number one marketing decision. I mean, bringing ahead of marketing, which I wish we would have brought sooner. We’re also really trying because the cybersecurity space is so crowded. We do try to look for clients not specifically in, I mean, you mentioned events and not specifically in cyber events, but maybe branch out more to domain specific events that we’re seeing traction specifically in fintech, mobility, healthcare. So going directly to clients in the space, and not just in the broader context of cyber or data protection, is a decision that we strategically decided to take.
Brett
What have you learned from building out that marketing team and hiring a marketing team? What have been some of those lessons? And the reason I ask is a lot of founders struggle with that.
Rina Galperin
Yeah, I think a lot of founders probably don’t come from marketing, which I’m the same way and my Co-Founder is the same way. So the recent probably, I would say six months or so, we started to really dig deep into marketing because were looking for our head of marketing and we found out how difficult it is to find this unique person, the person that is creative enough, bold enough, but also deeply understanding the buyer Persona. I think there are many people in marketing that are either closer to the sales and understand the sales process and others who are more like proactive and more technical. Maybe so. I think the difference between the two types of marketers is something that we’ve recently learned and I mean, both are good. It really depends on what the company needs at a certain point of time. Right.
Brett
And what about fundraising as I mentioned there in the intro, you’ve raised 8 million today. What have you learned about fundraising so far?
Rina Galperin
So I’ve learned that fundraising is a skill that you can learn and improve on. But I think the main thing is that frame is key in fundraising. So first you need to frame the fundraising ground, right? I mean, even if we take the. It’s a marathon, not a sprint cliche, even a marathon has a fixed link. So you have to frame the fundraising ground, and you need to find the right clinic to kick it off and decide how long you’ll keep the opportunity open for investors to join. Stan, by the way, may not see it that way as an opportunity, but that’s okay. I believe this should be your mindset anyway. And the second thing is you need to frame the meeting so you have, let’s say, 1 hour to cover everything that’s important.
Rina Galperin
It’s not an easy task, and it kind of goes back to the mindset again because you need the confidence to manage the meeting effectively and stay in control. So I would say framing the round, framing the meeting is the key thing here.
Brett
And final question for you. Let’s zoom out three to five years into the future. What’s the big picture vision look like?
Rina Galperin
So I would definitely say we want to conquer the european and american markets, especially in areas where we’re market leaders, such as mobility, transportation, but also healthcare and fintech, where we see significant traction. We’re currently starting to branch out and expand into the us market, so we’re kind of on the line between Tel Aviv and New York. And hopefully the ground demand will turn into more business in the United States, which is definitely our vision for the next few years.
Brett
Amazing. Love the vision. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation. We’re up on time, so we’ll wrap here. Before we do, if there’s any founders that are listening in that want to follow along with your journey, where should we send them?
Rina Galperin
So you can follow me on LinkedIn. I post weekly about various trends and challenges about entrepreneurship and also technology. So would love to have more people come and follow me there.
Brett
Amazing. Well, thank you again, really appreciate it.
Rina Galperin
Thank you, Brett.
Brett
This episode of Category Visionaries is brought to you by Front Lines Media, Silicon Valley’s leading podcast production studio. If you’re a P two B Founder looking for help launching and growing your own podcast, visit frontlines.io podcast. And for the latest episode, search for Category Visionaries on your podcast platform of choice. Thanks for listening and we’ll catch you on the next episode.
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