A Conversation with Abhay Bhargav – The Founder of we45

Abhay Bhargav

Abhay Bhargav is the founder of we45, a focused Application Security Company and the Chief Research Officer of AppSecEngineer, an elite, hands-on online training platform for AppSec, Cloud-Native Security, Kubernetes Security, and DevSecOps.

Abhay is a speaker and trainer at major industry events including DEF CON, BlackHat, OWASP AppSecUSA, EU, and AppSecCali. His training has been sold-out events at conferences like AppSecUSA, EU, AppSecDay Melbourne, CodeBlue (Japan), BlackHat USA, SHACK and so on. He’s authored two international publications on Java Security and PCI Compliance as well.

What is we45 all about?

We45 is a focused IT Security company with a focus on Application Security. We deliver cutting-edge services, products, and solutions around Application Security, Cloud Security and DevOps

Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your business?

My qualifications actually have nothing to do with my business and specialization. I came from a finance background, passed my CPA exams in the US and realized I wanted nothing to do with finance. I always loved computers and helped my dad set up an ERP consulting business in the early 2000s, which gave me a great deal of insights into how IT can help (and mess up) businesses. I decided to combine my shared skill-sets of “understanding business” and “understanding IT” into IT Security

How has the pandemic affected you or your new business?

We were always a result-oriented, remote-friendly environment. This helped us immensely during the pandemic. Our transition to remote was really easy. Now, we have decided to become 100% remote, post-pandemic as well. It just makes sense for our employees.

Our revenues actually grew during the pandemic. It would have grown at a faster rate if not for the pandemic (some of our clients in Oil and Gas had to clamp down on spending) but we’re quite happy with where we are. We have had 0 layoffs and rolled out new products at this time as well.

We launched a new business of online training, called AppSecEngineer during the pandemic and we’re extremely happy with the outcome. It validated our thought that companies need remote-friendly training options and our solution was met with a lot of enthusiasm from the market.

We still have a long way to go in making ourselves a great remote company. For instance, this year, we’re rolling out OKRs, and employee satisfaction, learning and development in a remote environment are big factors of success for us.

What was the biggest problem you encountered starting up and how did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge as an entrepreneur was to find:

1. What we’re good at

2. What we can be the best in the world at

3. What drives our financial engine.

I think a good company needs to find the convergence of these elements to be great. I believe we’ve found ours and we’re going full steam ahead.

Being a bootstrapped company, we’ve had to deliver profits YoY (Year-over-year) to make things work. In the short run, it sounds scary, but it makes for a very satisfying future knowing that you are free to take decisions that impact your company.

What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it

Good entrepreneurs focus on product, Great Entrepreneurs focus on Distribution. This is a hard-fought lesson that I learned, and I am still figuring it out.

Hire for the long-term and hire people who care about things they do. A lot of people don’t care about excellence and don’t care about the quality of their work product. Learn to look for this trend and hire people who care, even if they don’t appear the most qualified.

You may have to fire some clients. Some clients are unreasonable, drain you of valuable energy, time, and morale. Do not work for such clients. Have the gumption to fire bad clients. You’ll be much better off in the long run.

Via-Negativa. You find what you’re truly great at, by “process of elimination”. Don’t try and do everything. Remove the unnecessary things and focus on the trifecta of 1. What we’re good at, 2. What we can be the best in the world at 3. What drives our financial engine.

What is one thing that you do daily to grow as an entrepreneur?

Every day, I look for ways to make myself obsolete. I delegate a lot and I believe that’s the only way to focus on things that matter and focus on what you do best for your company. Trust your people and delegate.

Make a TODO and Not TODO list every day

Document as much as I can. Write more. This way, it helps you and your people later.

How do you manage running a business while traveling?

I write. A Lot. I document ideas in our project management tool (we use basecamp) and start assigning tasks on that. This way, I have a clearly defined set of things I want to accomplish and distribute this to people who can get it done.

I use video a lot as well. If it’s an idea or something I want to convey, I create a video and share it with my team. This helps because they get a clear idea of what I want, and better yet, they have a video explainer of what I want that they can come back to.

Everyone at we45 has clearly defined areas of focus. I DON’T get into sales or marketing unless the people who run that, want me involved.

I work in bursts. This helps me focus on work when I work and gives me some time to rest and chill out. I don’t like over-working and I don’t like doing it incessantly. I have done that, and it’s not fun.

What are three books or courses you recommend for new entrepreneurs?

  • AntiFragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Really opened my eyes to several new ideas.

What was your first business idea and what did you do with it?

My first business idea was to create a software plugin for India’s largest ERP and Accounting Software, Tally. This plugin allowed users to capture scanned copies of invoices, receipts and tag them to the accounting entry and store this data on the cloud. This sold a lot of copies and was a success.

What are you learning now? Why is that important?

Building successful remote teams. I am looking at how Gitlab has done it and I am trying to learn it.

I am looking at learning more around WebAssembly and applying AI/ML to Application Security use-cases.

What is the one thing you wish you knew before starting your business?

I wish I had known how important it was to find the right niche to be in business. I was young (and a little stupid) when I started, and I thought that being a “one-stop-shop” for something was the way to go. I realize now that the opposite is true.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

  • Speaking at conferences
  • Writing articles
  • Releasing new Open Source tools and Research
  • Training

If you only had $1000 dollars to start a new business, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?

The only long-lasting businesses are ones that create great content. That is hard to automate, replicate or duplicate. Building a content business based on video would be the first thing I would do.

What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Focus on Product, then distribution

Don’t be rigid on things that you think are great. The market is the great leveler. Focus on ensuring a Product-Market Fit

Keep spending low and value-based. Unnecessary overheads and low-cash flow kill businesses that seem to be healthy.

What’s a productivity tip you swear by?

No notifications on my phone

Time-blocking. Ensure that you block out chunks of time for important work

How do you personally overcome fear?

I speak to my father. He’s amazing at logically eliminating most of my fears

Playing with my 3-year-old daughter. It’s amazing how little you think about business problems or fears when you have a kid to come home to.

Playing a round of golf.

What are the top 3 most useful tools or resources you’re currently using to grow your business?

  • A good project management tool to keep everything in one place (Basecamp)
  • A good communication tool (we use Slack)
  • Cloud Platforms like AWS give you the amazing benefit of running world-class infrastructure at a low cost.

How can readers get in touch with you?

You can DM me on Twitter @abhaybhargav connect via Email: abhaybhargav@gmail.com, or Linkedin Messaging

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