theCUBEd Awards | Shlomo Kramer, Cato Networks (Most Innovative Tech Startup Leaders)

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Shlomo Kramer

Founder & CEO

Cato Networks

play_circle_outline Cato Networks' innovative cloud platform approach to network security and networking markets

play_circle_outline Importance of taking a contrarian approach in startups for competitive advantage

play_circle_outline Balancing innovation with operational efficiency and business agility in creating security solutions

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Shlomo Kramer, Cato Networks (Most Innovative Tech Startup Leaders)

Shlomo Kramer

Founder & CEO Cato Networks

In an exclusive interview, theCUBE’s Bob Laliberte sits down with Shlomo Kramer, founder and CEO of Cato Networks, to discuss his recent recognition as one of the "Most Innovative Tech Startup Leaders" at the Tech Innovation CUBEd Awards and the transformative strategies driving Cato Networks' success.

Kramer shares Cato Networks’ pioneering approach to reshaping the network security landscape. Laliberte talks to Kramer about his expertise, highlighting his company's cloud platform and its role in simplifying and converging network security solutions a... Read more

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What was the approach taken by Cato Networks in response to the market's reliance on appliance and point solution based cybersecurity solutions? add

What approach did the speaker take in each of the three startups they co-founded? add

What is the key to success in delivering security capabilities efficiently and with agility in today's digital age, according to the speaker? add

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Shlomo Kramer, Cato Networks (Most Innovative Tech Startup Leaders)

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Bob Laliberte

>> Hello and welcome to theCUBE's Tech Innovation CUBEd Awards, where we celebrate our inaugural program winners. Now, this year, the competition was fierce and we received exceptional number of high-caliber entries that really showcase the incredible innovation that's happening across the tech landscape. Today, I'm fortunate to be joined by Shlomo Kramer from Cato Networks to discuss their award-winning entry and how he and his company are driving the industry forward. Now, Shlomo, you took one of the top honors in the most innovative tech startup leaders category, so congratulations.

Shlomo Kramer

>> Thank you very much.

Bob Laliberte

>> Great. Yeah, and let's get started. I mean, clearly, innovation is central to these awards. I'm wondering if you could share with everyone a specific example of how you or your company approached a challenge in an innovative way and what impact that had.

Shlomo Kramer

>> Yeah, so at Cato, for example, we looked at the market, the network security and networking markets. And there were still very much appliance and point solution based, which was the fundamental method for which innovation has been created in the cybersecurity market for 30 years now. And we said, "No, CISOs can't have dozens and dozens of solutions anymore. We'll create a platform, a cloud platform that will simplify, converge all these point solution into a single cloud service. Very much like AWS did for data centers, we want to do it for networking, network security." That was completely contrarian at the time, and today it's part of a whole movement of the platforms, the cloud platforms and endpoint security platforms and SASE, which is the network security platform.

Bob Laliberte

>> Yeah, absolutely. It's clear that with the highly-distributed and complex environments and highly-dynamic environments, you can no longer rely on maybe a dozen individual technologies to be able to drive... You really need a lot more efficiency. So, that platform approach, that ability to, what I also refer to as the principle of least astonishment, when you go from one function to another, to be able to have that platform that enables you to drive that operational efficiency is really so key. So, I'm wondering if you look back over this journey, and in yours specifically, it was to creating the platform for SASE, was there any specific either point decision or a key turning point that really helped lead you to where you are today?

Shlomo Kramer

>> I can't look at a single point. These were more a series of progressions. Each startup has a different kind of challenge. Some startups in security address a yet unaddressed market, mobile devices, IoT. The challenge is, hey, will this market happen? Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. We came into a market with a completely new how, a platform, a AWS approach. And the challenge was, can we do it? Can we achieve it from an engineering perspective? Can we deliver a rock solid five nines network on the one hand, and on the other hand, the most dynamic network security stack? So, that required multiple points of progression and invention. And each one of them looked like, "Hey, we've made it," and then you have the next hilltop to climb, until we made it to the pass before winter, as the expression says.

Bob Laliberte

>> Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, and there's certainly a lot that goes into the SASE technologies and building that out. So, it would make sense that it wasn't maybe one singular point, but the fact that over time, working with organizations, understanding what were the most important technologies to be included in that platform which were the priorities and then building it out. So, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So, turning to you maybe a little bit more on a personal side, throughout your career, what's been your most unconventional approach or perspective that initially may have raised eyebrows, but ultimately prove transformative and driving innovation or change?

Shlomo Kramer

>> So, in each one of the three startups where I was a co-founder, Check Point, Imperva, and Cato, it was a completely contrarian approach. And in actuality, I think it's really important for a startup to have a contrarian approach, because that's the arbitrage you are working on and building on the fact that nobody else thinks that if you're right, you'll have the advantage. So, with Check Point, the market was proxy firewalls. We came out with staple inspection firewall. At Imperva, nobody thought data security and application security are important, niche markets. And while they're combined today, it's obviously they're combined and it's one of the biggest pillars in security. And in Cato, it was clear that the telcos on this and they are the only ones that can provide the network. And the security vendors are the arms dealers for the security, so the telcos are going to provide it. And AWS, that's an approach that will not work in. So, yeah, in each one of them, a contrarian approach.

Bob Laliberte

>> Oh, that's great advice. And then, certainly, like I said, if you're just going along with something just a little bit better, it's hard to make an impact. So, taking that contrarian approach, standing out, being able to identify what the value is that you're bringing. And in this case, that converge networking and security across highly-distributed environments made a lot of sense and has led you to where you are today. So, congratulations on that. I guess for the last question, we see that technology's always accelerating, it's always evolving. How do you and your team stay ahead of these industry trends while you're ensuring that you're creating meaningful solutions, rather than just following the latest hype?

Shlomo Kramer

>> So, first of all, we have the benefit of the platform. Just in 2024, we came out with a digital experience management, IoT, EPP, XDR, and managed SASE platform for partners, which is like a banner year in terms of five different companies products. How did we do it? We have great engineering team, but still the key is that 80%, 90% of the engineering is in the platform. Each new function that uses the real estate that we have on the network and on the device takes 10% of the engineering. And so, our train of innovation is the fastest train in the market. And from a customer perspective, implementing that is the easiest way because just turning on a toggle and it's ready. I want to qualify all of that, that all of these are innovations on the what. I think that one of the most important things that we are doing, and we are the most advanced in the world, and actually that's the key to our success, is the how. We bring a completely new how to deliver these security capabilities in a way that is operationally efficient, in a way that is business agile, essentially, digitally transforming the how of security and networking.

Bob Laliberte

>> Yeah, it sounds great. And obviously, your ability to innovate is being driven by the work you put in upfront in that platform. So, that makes a lot of sense that you're not having to recreate the wheel every time you want to add new technology. You're able to slot it in at a fraction of the time, which is obviously going to enable you to continue to accelerate that innovation. Listen, this has been really great. Thank you so much for your time. And again, congratulations on your award.

Shlomo Kramer

>> Thank you.

Bob Laliberte

>> We certainly look forward to seeing your entry next year and all the innovation you bring out in '25. And wanted to thank all those who are watching theCUBE and following the Tech Innovation CUBE inaugural awards. We'll see you all next year.

Shlomo Kramer

>> Thank you.