Sternum is an IoT cybersecurity company providing embedded protection and unprecedented real-time visibility for connected devices. The company was founded in 2018 by a team of highly experienced research, development, and business leaders, many coming from the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) elite Unit 8200.
With a profound understanding of embedded systems, deep insights into defenders’ and attackers’ mindsets, and a goal of creating a new standard of cybersecurity and visibility for IoT devices, Sternum is building uncompromising, innovative technology poised to enable the IoT revolution. Sternum’s product suite consists of two key solutions: Embedded Integrity Verification (EIV) and Advanced Detection System (ADS). Both answer the unique needs of IoT device manufacturers in medical, industry 4.0, smart cities, energy, and beyond.
Sternum is based in Tel Aviv, Israel.
What made you decide to leave your former job and team up with Natali Tshuva at Sternum?
Answer: 3 factors played a role in me leaving my former job and moving to Sternum:
- The opportunity to work with an inspiring leader like Natali Tshuva, she is one of the most impressive CEO’s I have met
- The opportunity to work with an exceptional leadership team, this team can truly achieve any goal we set for ourselves
- The opportunity to be part of a disruptive technology that will change the way that we use IoT today and improve people’s lives
What made you decide to change career paths and move into sales when you were always in a technical role?
Answer: I made this move over 20 years ago. I realized that alongside my technical abilities, I manage to convince people to buy into my vision and invest in it. Besides the financial benefits in sales, I was comfortable taking the driver’s seat.
Like anything in life, success in sales was a combination of talent, good guidance, and luck. Retrospectively, I never left my technical role and leveraged my technical abilities to my advantage. Sternum’s deep tech makes selling our product exciting and I keep learning new technical elements daily.
More from Interviews
- Interview with Steve Elcock, CEO and Founder at UK HR Tech Company: elementsuite
- A Chat With Kirsty Sharman, Founder at Referral Software Company: Referral Factory
- Meet Tobie Morgan Hitchcock, CEO & Co-Founder Of SurrealDB
- Meet Stephen Kines, COO And Co-Founder Of Goldilock
- Meet Henry Wilkinson, Co-Founder at Drop-in, Ahead Of The Opening Of Drop-in Richmond
- Meet Oli Cook, CEO and Founder of ekko.
- Meet Marko Maras, CEO and Founder of Trustfull
- Meet Jeff Warren, Chief Technology Officer at Netwrix
How has the company evolved during the pandemic and how have you had to adapt as VP of Sales when no one was able to meet face to face?
Answer: I joined Sternum in mid-2021, by then, all meetings and evaluations were done remotely. In the last couple of months, we hired local team members and opened a local office. We worked in a hybrid mode and also started meeting customers in the field.
As VP Sales of a cybersecurity company, what advice would you give to other engineers looking to stay in tech but move into more of a client-facing role?
a) Find a company with a product that even as a seller will allow you to express your technical ability
b) Chose a role within the customer-facing team that will give you the right balance between your business abilities to your technical abilities (sales engineer for example)
c) Work with your sales management to enhance your business abilities, adding additional tools that will support the sales team
What can we hope to see from Sternum in the future?
Answer: If current cyber companies secure the Servers, the network, and the endpoint computers, I expect Sternum to secure all the rest. In short, I expect Sternum’s technology to become the base for the security and observability for all the devices that are not servers, endpoint computers, or networks.
When we reach that MS, we will fulfill the vision we have set, to create a better world by enabling those devices.