In 2022, DoControl matured from an earlier stage startup to a reliable, scalable, and powerful SaaS Security platform establishing significant ROI for top security teams. 

As such, we have learned many things about building this beautiful being.

Here’s the top 10 things we learned in 2022:

1. Customer experience is everything

When I buy a popsicle for my 6 year old, I choose the one he likes the most. But the overall experience is not determined by just the taste of it. What brings him joy is also the way it is packaged and served. Whether it’s colorfully decorated, to how easy it is to open, hold, and eat. In other words, the customer onboarding, ongoing maintenance, and value creation are all taken into account.

To me, selling a SaaS product is exactly the same. It’s not enough to solely provide an amazing value proposition. Customers want a phenomenal end-to-end experience. This is especially true for a cybersecurity solution where data accuracy, availability, and actionability make the difference between a solved and unsolved security incident. 

2. Every anecdote matters

Maintaining a continuous customer feedback loop is key to making sure you continue to build the right solution for your audience and customers. If you have customers that talk about your product and services a lot - you are very lucky and should be very appreciative. Listen to them doubles as much as speaking to them. Take note of every little bit of information from their user experience. Be sure to analyze and correlate across customers, and generate a legit product direction based on real practitioner feedback. 

However, the problem is, sometimes customers ask for something so specific you can’t imagine other customers would need it. That is called an anecdote and it actually matters a lot. Furthermore, you’d have to deliver anecdotal product improvements to ensure every customer feels like they are the only customer -  a feeling they will never ever get from non-startups / legacy vendors. 

3. Relationships are foundational

Sure, we all play the B2B enterprise sales game. The moment you realize your buyers are real people, with families, pets, and hobbies, that’s where you truly understand how to get into their heart and win more deals. At the end of the day, people wanna buy from people they like, or at least feel a connection to. Never underestimate the power of relationships. 

This is true not just for customers, but also vendors, partners, investors, and especially your very own employees. There is no excuse for not building meaningful relationships with the people powering your business. For me, it’s about saying good morning, asking how was the weekend, and laughing about the Lakers - keep it simple and casual - but consistent. 

4. Think long-term

Even though it’s been 2.5 years since we started DoControl, we feel like we’re still writing the first chapter in our book. This is because we genuinely want to be the default in all of SaaS Security. The one solution that provides the most value across multiple use cases, ecosystems, and industries. As such, we have to think long term when it comes to product development.

We constantly review our infrastructure and architecture against ongoing traffic and data to ensure we are positioned to scale up seamlessly. This requires never ending research on managed cloud services, multi-tenant architectures, enterprise readiness, and security. 

5. Measure everything

We as humans tend to forget, make mistakes, confuse things, and more. Data is just data. You can’t argue with it. For this reason, we strive to measure everything we do from our platform to sales, to customer success, and more. The more metrics we have in place the faster we can assess situations and make smart decisions without looking back. 

This is a growth mindset we’ve developed internally. Teams are constantly challenged with questions in relation to their top line metrics and what could systematically move the needle. We work against data instead of thoughts so that over time we can truly witness how success looks like. 

6. GRIT is the biggest source of success

You don’t have to be the most talented person, come from the best socioeconomic background, or bring experience from top companies. Nothing will make you more successful than having  GRIT. The will to never stop learning. The determination to always own things and to keep up with everything. Call it hustle or call it GRIT - it doesn’t matter. You either have it or not. We can’t teach it and you can’t learn it.

7. Processes scale things up

We can’t underestimate the importance of implementing as many  possible business processes internally to fuel our growth. Processes bring clarity, transparency, and consistency. It allows people to focus on what matters most, instead of getting distracted by ad-hoc requests. Every department must have processes in place, whether small or big, it doesn’t matter. 

Over time, the complexity of running a startup is just insane. Anywhere from product execution, customer success plans, sales playbooks, SE POV’s, and even performance reviews.Business processes ensure we are set up for success. 

8. Positivity is infectious 

As a startup founder and a CEO, people look at me every day to get a sense of my energy level. If I’m negative, they might be negative as well. If I’m positive, they might be positive. My well-being and presence affect the way the entire company operates on a daily basis. No pressure, right?

We have 70 employees. They all have their own personal and work related challenges. One of the greatest gifts I can give to them is staying extremely positive to a point where it’s actually infectious - so that no matter what’s going on, they get a little  more positive every single day.

9. Everyone is selling

At DoControl we have a monthly all-hands meeting called DoCatchUp in which we share ongoing updates and perform what we like to call the “brainwash” - a series of 3-4 slides describing our problem statement, unique approach, solution, and traction. We generally believe that every person at the company should be in the position to sell every single day. Either to a prospect, a candidate, or partner. It doesn’t  really matter. Everyone should be aligned on why, how, and what we’re doing here.

10. Say thank you every day

Do you know what is the one FREE thing with the highest ROI you can do every day? we do, it’s saying thank you. It costs $0 and truly brings people together. Appreciate all the hard work people around you are doing. Appreciate yourself. Say thank you to everyone you work with every single day and don’t take anyone for granted. People matter.

We can't wait for 2023!

Adam, Omri, & Liel

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