<p>In 2016, Russian hackers broke into John Podesta’s Gmail during the US election. That single breach exposed how vulnerable email really is – and it directly inspired a billion-dollar cybersecurity startup.</p><p><br></p><p>At the time, even the most powerful people in the world couldn’t fully secure their inboxes. Once hackers got access, there was nothing stopping them from reading everything: drafts, attachments and sensitive documents. </p><p>Instead of trying to prevent email hacks, three ex-Dropbox engineers — Abhishek Agrawal, Ryan Noon, and Chris Park — asked a better question: What if you assumed the breach would happen, and protected the inbox anyway?</p><p><br></p><p><a href="material.security" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>Material Security</strong></a> built a powerful layer on top of Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, locking down sensitive emails, verifying identity before access, and giving security teams real visibility — all without requiring a migration.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, I sit down with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhishek--agrawal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>Abhishek Agrawal</strong></a>, Co-founder &amp; CEO of Material Security. We dive into their journey from pre-idea validation to scaling to a billion dollar valuation in about 5 years, lessons in management and leadership, and most importantly understand how Material Security is redefining email security for enterprises. </p><p>If you&#39;re starting out or searching for your billion-dollar idea, this is a masterclass on going from zero to scale.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>⏳ Timestamps:</strong></p><ol><li>Trailer (00:00) </li><li>Intro (01:39)</li><li>How Material Security began? (03:30)</li><li>Why and how did the team visualize exit scenarios? (09:45)</li><li>What did their pivot feel like? (11:58)</li><li>How they used feedback to create their product (24:51)</li><li>How did they deal with rejections? (26:15)</li><li>How did the early version of their product look like? (33:44)</li><li>Did they consider changing ICPs? (38:17)</li><li>Was it easy to convince investors? (40:46)</li><li>How did the internal mindset shift feel like? (50:51)</li><li>What specific shifts did Abhishek have to bring in? (57:15)</li><li>What are the things Abhishek would do differently, if starting now? (01:07:17)</li><li>What’s Abhishek’s advice to his younger self? (01:24:01)</li></ol><p><br></p><p>🎥 Subscribe to see watch more unfiltered, unscripted conversations that will inspire, educate, and entertain!</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Support the podcast:</strong></p><ul><li>🔗 SUBSCRIBE on <a href=" https://youtube.com/@thedesivc?si=f3U31CkDeiFzk21c">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></li><li>🎧 Follow us on <a href="https://spoti.fi/41OVDhM">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></li><li>📸 Follow us on <a href="instagram.com/bhatvakash">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></li><li>🐦 Follow us on <a href=" ⁠https://x.com/bhatvakash">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter/X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></li><li>💼 Follow us on <a href="linkedin.com/in/bhatakash">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></li><li>🎵 Follow us on <a href="https://tiktok.com/thedesivc">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></li><li>💌 BTS content on <a href="https://thedesivc.substack.com⁠">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a> </li></ul>