Pulling in Top Talent to Push Next Level Performance
by Michael Matesic
Norman Sadeh, founding CEO of Wombat Security Technologies, always knew the day would come when he would hand over the keys to his fast moving startup.
Prior to launching Wombat, a leading provider of cyber-security training and filtering solutions, Sadeh was deeply anchored in academia. Together with his collaborators, he developed Wombat’s technology platform while a professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He is passionate about research and teaching, and yet he’s also driven by the desire to see his academic work provide innovative solutions to real-world problems.
When the opportunity came to create a business around his latest research – innovative anti-phishing training and filtering solutions – he couldn’t resist the chance to push his technology out of the lab and into the workplace.
However, Sadeh was not willing to give up one passion in exchange for another, and he found himself pulling double duty as both entrepreneur and university professor.
From the outset, though, Sadeh knew the arrangement was temporary and that at some point the effort needed to grow a business past the startup stage would require a CEO who was singularly focused. Preparing for that eventuality was a priority in the way Sadeh approached the growth of Wombat. He knew that to attract the highest caliber management to a small, early-stage startup, he’d need to build a stellar team, prove the technology, and demonstrate enough market upside to balance the inherent risk.
It took him three years -- and significantly more energy than he ever thought he could muster – but his forward thinking and goal setting paid off. According to Sadeh, “With an international user base of millions, SBIR grants providing additional R&D funding, and a tremendous team that I was able to pull together from from my CMU network, I felt we had what we needed to secure top-flight talent to take us to the next level.”
Tapping into his support network, Sadeh embarked on an executive search to find a candidate with the traits he believed were imperative for a good “marriage” -- a proven track record for scaling a business, the ability to restructure a company if required, and, a rather esoteric trait—the ability to work with academics. Sadeh explains, “It was really important to find someone who could provide the team with the right balance of structure and freedom.” Laughing, he offers, “The right candidate would have to be patient—but not too patient…”
After several months of evaluating multiple candidates, all the pieces seemed to come together when Sadeh was introduced to Joe Ferrara, whose 20 years of experience in the technology sector included successful CEO stints at Tollgrade Communications and Marconi Communications.
Ferrara was actively looking for an opportunity to lead a startup that was in need of experienced management to grow. According to Ferrara, “I was looking for a company with cutting edge technology, engaging people, and an exciting market segment where my knowledge and experience could make a significant contribution to the company’s growth and success.”
Sadeh and Ferrara took their time getting to know each other, developing a rapport and ultimately, a real trust between them.
Sadeh believes that trust was critical to the smooth transition of leadership that has occurred since Ferrara assumed the CEO role and Sadeh stepped into the Chairman and Chief Scientist position. Trust, he says, is established when both parties are upfront and honest about their goals and current positions so that expectations are understood and managed.
He offers this advice to entrepreneurs who are hoping to lure top-flight management to their startups, “Don’t oversell. Be open and honest about where you are so that there are no surprises. You must create trust if you want to secure the talent to take your company to the next level.”
And in Sadeh’s case, it secured him the ability to step aside gracefully and confidently, knowing that Wombat was in good hands.
Start Me Up appears monthly in the print edition of TEQ Magazine.