Transcript
A (0:01)
Welcome to to the Point Cybersecurity Podcast. Each week, join Vince Spina and Rachel Lyon to explore the latest in global cybersecurity news, trending topics and cyber industry initiatives impacting businesses, governments and our way of life. Now, let's get to the Point. Hello, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of to the Point podcast. I'm Rachel Lyon, here with my co host, Vince Fina. Vince, welcome to the podcast. After a little hiatus.
B (0:31)
Yes, Rachel.
A (0:31)
Yeah. You ready for some fun?
B (0:33)
I am. I'm very excited about this. Thanks for. Thanks for letting me be in the chair next to you.
A (0:38)
Absolutely. All right, so I am so excited. Your first guest is going to be Yasser Ali. He is the founder and CEO of Polymer, which is no code DLP for SaaS applications. But really, Yasser, you are a man that wears many hats and I'd love for you to share a little bit more about your background with our listeners.
C (0:55)
Sure thing. So, yes, we are a data security platform for the modern business application stack listed on the cloud, SaaS and AI. Basically my background, I'm a developer by training, focusing on data. So training in building mortgage models first, training those models to arbitrage the market actually based on those analysis at hedge funds and various investment banks for a few years. Wow. And started a consulting business after the financial crisis, focusing on data governance, data privacy, intersection of technology and privacy. And just kind of like the security aspect of things at large investment banks. And that kind of got me into this space more directly. And we started this company, me and Usman, in 2020, focusing on data security, geared towards kind of the CISO. ICP.
A (2:00)
Nice. Wow. So you kind of touched on my very first question. Because we're always so fascinated here on the podcast. It's like the road to cybersecurity for many can be a winding path. I mean, we've had someone who was like medieval studies, PhD is somehow a CISO.
B (2:16)
Right.
A (2:16)
You know what I mean? So just kind of fascinating. Like, how did you know young Yasser, when you're starting out? I mean, how did you find your way on this pathway to being a developer and then ultimately to where you are today?
C (2:27)
You know, I think people have a tendency of like backfilling story of their lives in terms of it's all planned. Reality is a lot of these things just happen. Right place, right time, or wrong place, right time, whatever you want to call it. And I would say that, you know, in the recent kind of with the product launch, which we did in 2020, which led to Polymer kind Of getting started, focus was just understanding data flows. That was a construct which comes from the world of IT development. What information do I have, where is it stored and how is it moving around in my environment? And that was the initial thesis of the product. And we kind of stumbled upon this data loss prevention use case specifically based on what we heard in the market when we first unveiled the product on an MVP basis. And so it was kind of happenstance, kind of by luck, by chance. I never been in security per se specifically, so I'm a newbie, I'm still learning. And yeah, it's been fun.
