"The entrepreneurial journey is an adventure, and we need to savor every twist and turn."
Welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview with Shahar Azulay, the visionary CEO and Co-Founder of groundcover. In this candid discussion, Shahar unveils the dynamic journey that led him from the corridors of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office to pioneering the revolutionary eBPF technology in cloud-native application monitoring.
As a seasoned R&D leader with a background in cybersecurity and machine learning, Shahar’s insights promise a compelling exploration of groundcover’s inception and the challenges overcome in the quest for redefining observability.
With an impressive professional history that includes leadership roles at Apple, DayTwo, and Cymotive Technologies, Shahar shares the pivotal moment that sparked the creation of groundcover in 2021.
Offering a sneak peek into the company’s DNA and the crucial role of effective internal communication, Shahar sheds light on the intricacies of maintaining a resilient organization amidst the uncertainties of the business landscape.
Join us as Shahar Azulay unravels the secrets behind groundcover’s success, his views on the evolving industry, and his strategic vision for the future.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Shahar Azulay: I’m Shahar – CEO and Co-Founder of groundcover, father of two adorable boys and spouse of one incredible woman.
I’m a serial R&D leader with a background in cybersecurity and machine learning. Before founding groundcover, I worked as a leader in companies such as Apple, DayTwo, and Cymotive Technologies.
I spent many years in the Cyber division at the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and during that time worked on three degrees in Physics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology as well as Tel Aviv University.
I launched groundcover in 2021 with my partner and acting company CTO, Yechezkel Rabinovich (previously Chief Architect, CyberMDX). The two of us served together in the Prime Minister’s office and dealt with a lot of frustration caused by application performance monitoring issues, so we decided to build a robust, reliable solution by redefining observability with a technology never used in the space before – eBPF.
groundcover is a cloud-native application monitoring solution that reinvents the domain with eBPF.
Built for modern production environments, it enables teams to instantly monitor everything they build and run in the cloud without compromising on cost, granularity, or scale.
The company has raised $24.5M to date from VCs such as Zeev Ventures, Angular Ventures, Heavybit and Jibe Ventures.
What advice do you wish you had received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Shahar Azulay: As the CEO and co-founder of groundcover, a startup on a mission to revolutionize application performance monitoring, the one piece of advice I wish I’d received when starting this journey is all about patience and breathing into the ongoing art of developing a go-to-market strategy.
I hold the single best group of individuals anyone could wish for – a real-life A team of tech warriors with an everlasting founder mentality. In just under two years, we’ve been able to reach a product that gives legacy vendors a run for their money. But creating a top-notch product isn’t enough to reach your go-to market overnight.
It takes trust building, credibility, and lots of sweat around initial customers rightfully yearning for a one-stop-shop solution. It would’ve been nice to have been reminded that there are no silver bullets in the world of startups. It’s not about overnight success or quick fixes. It’s more like nurturing a garden – you plant the seeds, water them, and patiently wait for them to grow. Developing a sustainable business takes time, and it’s essential to embrace the unknowns and enjoy the process.
The entrepreneurial journey is an adventure, and we need to savor every twist and turn. In the upcoming quarter, we intend to focus on diving deeper into our go-to-market strategy. We continue to adapt to the needs of our existing users while communicating our clear differentiators to dev teams across the globe who deserve more, for less.
We’re excited about the opportunities ahead and the chance to uncover the right path for our unique product. As authority leaders in the realm of eBPF based cloud observability, we’re committed to providing a sustainable solution for this exciting, ever-changing landscape.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Shahar Azulay: Alongside economic uncertainties, it’s amazing to witness how the digital landscape continues to rapidly evolve and anticipate that this upward trajectory will continue into the year ahead. groundcover’s Application Performance Monitoring (APM) is uniquely positioned to make a significant impact on these industries.
Our application performance monitoring (APM) solution has been purpose-built to cater to the needs of fast-growing companies at scale. We understand that in this digital age, success hinges on the seamless performance of online services and applications. Our APM technology enables teams to navigate the complex and often noisy landscape of unobserved cloud environments.
We empower them to focus on what truly matters – ensuring their applications perform at their best, providing an exceptional user experience, and ultimately driving business growth.
As the driving force behind this ongoing impact, groundcover not only equips organizations with the tools to monitor and optimize their digital operations but also offers a clear path to success in a world where online presence is paramount.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Shahar Azulay: Absolutely, in the current business landscape, the real challenge lies in navigating the volatile economy and making strategic decisions to sustain and enhance growth. One of the most pressing issues many companies face is identifying where to cut expenses and reduce costs without negatively impacting their business operations.
At groundcover, we recognize this challenge and have tailored our approach to address it. Our unique value proposition centers on providing granular visibility into all aspects of production.
We understand that in these uncertain times, it’s crucial for businesses to have a precise understanding of where their expenses lie and how they can optimize their resources without compromising performance.
Unlike legacy vendors in the space, we’ve introduced a new pricing structure that is not based on data volume. This means our clients can access comprehensive insights without the fear of escalating costs, enabling them to better control their expenditure.
Our goal is to assist companies in overcoming cloud cost challenges while maintaining the highest level of user experience and reputation. By removing unnecessary overhead and offering more predictable pricing, we empower our clients to make data-driven decisions that drive cost savings and ensure that they can weather economic uncertainties while continuing to provide exceptional services.
This way, we contribute to the resilience and adaptability of businesses in today’s ever-changing economic landscape.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Shahar Azulay: In my experience, one of the most underestimated aspects of running a company is maintaining strong company DNA and understanding the critical role of effective internal communication.
Often, as companies grow, leaders can underestimate the importance of keeping everyone on the same page and ensuring that there’s a clear and shared vision across the organization.
People sometimes tend to fear having “too many cooks in the kitchen”, but I make it a point to allow any and all interested employees to take part in all aspects of our output, no matter how unrelated it may be to their daily RnR.
I find that this creates engagement and a sense of accountability within the team and rarely leads to the much-feared noise and duplicate work that people think may come with this approach.
In my eyes, knowing you can count on each and every one of your team members to provide well-rounded value across various domains while maintaining clear and open lines of communication is a cornerstone of successful company management.
What does “success” in 2023 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Shahar Azulay: Around a month ago Yechezkel, my partner and co-founder, was out of town and sat down to work at a lesser-known coffee shop.
A DevOps leader he had never met before walked over to him and asked whether the image on his screen is related to eBPF and a company called groundcover.
That’s the true measure of success for us at this stage in the game – gaining the recognition we deserve, from the right people, at the right time to skyrocket and grow out our vision for a redefined APM space that truly caters to those who need it.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Shahar Azulay for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Shahar Azulay or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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