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Elemental Security is Moving in on Security Compliance Management with Bessemer's Backing
April 5, 2005
Courtesy of Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal
Recently, Jack Martin spoke with David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners to discuss Bessemer’s investment in Elemental Security.
Jack: So the audience can get a flavor for who you are and what you do. What’s a typical day look like for you?
David: A typical morning might consist of a business plan presentation by a team of entrepreneurs and several phone calls with IT directors and industry analysts to help me understand market needs. The afternoon might consist of a board meeting at one of our portfolio companies followed by a volley of phone calls to help that company in any way I can around recruiting, financial transactions, and strategic planning.
Jack: Elemental Security has made a very, interesting announcement and what I’d like to ask you, as one of the people that invested in Elemental, why Elemental?
David: At Bessemer, before assessing business plans for investment, we prefer to first step back and look at major disruptions in the world economy. Those disruptions inevitably expose opportunities for new entrants to establish successful businesses, and that’s where we look to invest. Two of the top ten major disruptions we see in the world today stem from (i) attacks on computer infrastructure and (ii) a breakdown of trust in corporate governance. These two trends are both driving businesses to establish computer security policies consistent with best practices and regulation. So we set out to find the best team out there for developing a technology platform that can demonstrate policy compliance, even across vast, heterogeneous computer networks. It was obvious to us that Dan Farmer was the visionary to bet on.
Jack: So, you’re looking at them as a platform play as opposed to a widget play?
David: Yes.
Jack: You mentioned before the emerging regulatory markets - I’ve seen that many countries are now looking to apply corporate governance and they are starting to regulate how businesses behave in a very different fashion. How do you see that trend going?
David: To remain competitive with US financial markets, foreign exchanges and issuers will have to keep up with the wave of reform, as shareholders value rising standards of corporate governance. By developing software that helps US companies lockdown their networks and demonstrate policy compliance, we believe that Elemental is positioning itself to serve the needs of business on a global basis.
Jack: Elemental Security has some incredibly qualified people working on this. As they roll out their product and separate themselves from the bulk of the companies and products that I see coming to market, I think Elemental Security has the potential to really do some very, very interesting stuff. Starting with Dan Farmer, the inventor of Satan as your CTO, inside of the world of technology everybody knows his work. Where do you see this company going and what’s going to happen with them?
David: Well, there are lots of things to like about the Elemental platform, but there’s one aspect of it in particular that I think will establish Elemental’s product as a standard, and that is the policy language that underlies the platform. In coming versions of the software, this policy language will be exposed to users so that they can define their own security policies in a simple easy-to-understand syntax. Just as Ashton-Tate did with their dbaseIV language, and Lotus did with their macro language, Elemental will extend security management from the domain of a scarce, few experts to a much larger class of business users. This will position Elemental very strategically at the center of the data security market.
Jack: Is this product going to evolve to the line-of-business-person eventually being able to institute these policies or is it going to be a play where it stays with the technology guy?
David: So your question presumes that there are two kinds of people, a technology guy and the line of business guy?
Jack: Correct.
David: I think that based upon the emerging need for organizational attention to corporate governance, a hybrid role is emerging. Computer policies fall into the domain of IT, but also finance, and so compliance departments will have to employ both skill sets. Elemental’s product targets those users.
Jack: Could you tell me about the Elemental team?
David: The company’s founder, Dan Farmer, has an unbroken record of success developing security tools that enjoy widespread acceptance. We have been fortunate as well to recruit Guido Von Rossum, author of the Python language, to craft the policy language. We have also brought on a star executive team led by Peter Watkins, the former President of McAfee.
Jack: Is Elemental a game changer in your opinion, the way that Netscape was at one time or am I taking what you are saying too far?
David: No… Netscape was only around for five years. This is a game changer that’s going to be around for much longer