In the present times, categorizing leadership into different styles is very mainstream. Leaders are often distinguished based on their unique styles or personality. To understand leadership, both nature (the genetic component) and nurture (the environmental influences) must be considered.
“In my opinion leadership is not about picking one or another style. It’s a process of continuous self-discovery,” asserts Seemant Sehgal (CEO and Founder of BreachLock). As a leading entrepreneur, Seemant has built several high-performing teams cutting across cultures and geographical boundaries. During this process, he learned that leadership is as simple as empowering others to succeed, which can come from defining a clear vision, articulating it in an easy-to-understand format, and facilitating an environment where the team can execute.
Unconventional and a Self-made leader
Speaking of his educational background, Seemant recalls never being fascinated or excited by formal education. With that being said, he did, however, go through the educational process and pursued an MBA degree from a recognized Indian B-School. However, he experienced a complete turnaround when he started his professional journey. During the two decades of his cybersecurity career, he worked with some of the most talented people in the industry and earned the opportunity to be coached by the brightest global leaders.
In 2019, Seemant started BreachLock after recognizing that the industry was spending far more on adding more security tooling than testing to confirm if any of it delivers the expected ROI. The automated solutions to test security were not precise and the consulting approach, though precise, was not scalable. Seemant believes each process has its merits and weaknesses. He began wondering if it was possible to combine both approaches for better results and went on to do so. BreachLock created Pen Testing as a Service (PTaaS) that combines the creativity of humans with the scalability of machines.
A Pioneer in Pen Testing
BreachLock is a pioneer in the Pen Testing as a Service space. The company offers a cloud-based security platform to give customers the optimum speed, accessibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness from its continuous pen testing. BreachLock stands out in the crowded security market with its following exclusivities:
• Cloud-based Platform:
Within his decades-long experience in the cybersecurity industry, Seemant has witnessed an accelerated shift to the cloud and has always believed that cybersecurity must adapt to this change. Cloud-based security platforms like BreachLock make it possible for companies to secure their assets as fast as they develop them
• Provides automated and manual security testing:
Most security vendors either use scanners to check for vulnerabilities or have human consultants evaluate an attack surface using a checklist. If they discover vulnerabilities, they do not follow up, assuming the customer’s security team fixed those bugs. Unlike legacy vendors, BreachLock has combined automated tools like AI with security experts and re-tests attack surfaces to ensure that the customer fixed any existing bugs.
“It’s crucial for an entrepreneur to listen to the market and respond to what people need. BreachLock was created with customers in mind,” remarks Seemant.
Empowering Peers for Success
At the helm, Seemant focuses on building a great team, empowering them to succeed, and casting a clear vision that is practically executable. He also ensures that the company maintains its promises to clients, employees, and vendors.
Under Seemant’s stewardship, BreachLock has earned wide recognition. In 2019, the company was picked for the Industry Innovator award by SC Magazine. Despite the pandemic, the company has grown 100% YoY and currently serves over 600 clients across the US and UK. In addition, the company has also been recognized as a market disruptor by several leading industry analysts. In 2021, it was acknowledged by Gartner as a sample vendor in the Pen Testing as a Service (PTaaS) space.
Team of Mission-driven Professionals
As the leader, Seemant spearheads the young team of mission-driven professionals at BreachLock. The company’s hiring process is exhaustive, Seemant adds, searching for professionals who are excited about BreachLock’s work.
The team is ambitious about its mission of changing the way the industry perceives pen testing and aims to make it simpler, easier, and more scalable. As the leader, Seemant’s focus is on sharing his experience with his team while giving them the autonomy to solve real-world problems their own way.
Understanding the Crux of Entrepreneurship with Seemant
Seemant believes entrepreneurship is a path that presents you with one challenge after another, and in many cases, multiple challenges at the same time. The only way, he recommends, to overcome those challenges is to truly understand why one chose to become an entrepreneur in the first place. At the same time, it is also important to be self-aware, he says. Self-reflection and awareness are pivotal to the success of any entrepreneur and without that, course correction cannot be achieved.
Further elaborating his take on entrepreneurship, Seemant explains: “Entrepreneurship for me is scaling your abilities in a way that it transcends yourself and becomes an institution that can operate seamlessly, independently, efficiently, and ultimately beyond you.” He adds that any entrepreneur who is fully committed to building such an institution and is capable of inspiring other bright minds to join them in their pursuit is an ideal entrepreneur. The scale of the pursuit may change with the goals and potential of the people involved with it. However, the process to achieve the outcome remains the same.
Lastly, Seemant believes that if one exchanges their time for money, they are not an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is about creating an enterprise or an institution that can function with or without the founder. This suggests that an individual needs to work with other individuals and continuously inspire them to contribute towards a common goal—which is leadership in action.
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