Last weekend, I had the opportunity to appear on NBC's Press:Here to discuss Zscaler’s billion dollar valuation. If you have not had a chance to see it yet, I have included the video below.
I told Scott that the two hottest markets are mobility and cloud and that the key to unlocking these markets was to look for market segments with the potential to become big, where others have not yet gone. No one has a crystal ball, so you have to rely on your gut.
If there is analyst data about a market segment, it is too late to compete. You become a me-too.
As an entrepreneur, I generally look for new areas where others have not gone.
This was my approach with my previous company, AirDefense, which capitalized the emerging Wi-Fi security market as a first-mover; demand catalyzed in parallel with the growth of the company and its solution because we anticipated market needs. AirDefense ultimately had a very successful exit when I sold it to Motorola.
Zscaler was birthed from a similar, but greater, thinking of creating a new market segment into an upcoming market. As I mentioned on Press:Here, the two hottest markets right now are mobility and cloud, so I wanted to create a solution designed with the express purpose of enabling these emerging technologies securely.
Traditional security appliances struggle to provide visibility and control into mobility and cloud services; often they simply get bypassed. Traditional appliances often result in increased costs, complexity and reduced productivity, as traffic is backhauled over MPLS lines and introduces latency.
The Zscaler Direct-to-Cloud Network has created a new market category for itself in the cloud and mobile markets, emerging as the only solution that enables organizations to securely enable direct access to mobile and cloud environments. Now, when you look at what the market analysts have to say about our market segment, you will find that Zscaler is the leader. We got here by anticipating a new market, identifying a segment with the most potential and executing on the development and delivery of our world-class Direct-to-Cloud Network.