This cybersecurity CEO says we're in an AI bubble. These are the 3 things he looks for when investing in a startup.
· Business Insider
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- Cato Networks CEO Shlomo Kramer said we're experiencing an AI bubble.
- As a serial entrepreneur, he said he invests in companies that align with team, market, and product.
- He said products need to have a hook, the potential to become a platform, and the ability to be monetized.
The CEO of cybersecurity company Cato Networks believes we're experiencing an AI bubble — but he's still writing checks.
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Serial entrepreneur, Shlomo Kramer, told Business Insider that although the promise of AI is "happening at a pace that is much slower" than expected, he still believes in its ability to deliver results in the long-term.
He compared the current moment to the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, which led to the demise of many companies.
"There was a lot of devastation," said Kramer, who runs the company aimed at securing organizations' digital and AI transformation. "But e-commerce is obviously a major part of our life, and the same is going to be with AI."
While Kramer believes some AI startups are overvalued, he said many are also reasonably priced — and he continues to invest in companies he thinks are promising.
He said that every startup needs a "good combination of team, market, product." When evaluating the company's product, he said he looks for specific criteria that make it a worthwhile investment.
Checking three boxes
Kramer said he looks to check off three boxes when evaluating a product.
First, he said it needs a "hook." The concept should be "quick to understand," he said, and something that he grasps intuitively without having to overthink or rationalize it.
"It feels right," Kramer said.
Second, the product should have the potential to evolve into a platform, or at least a "mini platform" that can expand into something broader over time, the CEO said.
Third, Kramer said the team should have a clear vision for the use cases that will ultimately turn the platform into a monetizable business.
Investing lessons
Kramer has made roughly 67 investments, according to PitchBook, including in several successful enterprise software companies, such as Palo Alto Networks, Gong, and Trusteer, which was acquired by IBM. However, he's also made some mistakes, he said.
While he said he's mainly invested in cybersecurity, he's "intellectually curious" about many areas, which has led him to invest in AI sectors outside of cyber, like pharmaceuticals and marketing. He said many of those investments into other realms have been mistakes, and he's recognized that it's "much easier to get excited about things you don't understand."
"A deep understanding of something gives you granularity," Kramer said, adding that excitement usually comes from looking at the big-picture vision.
Kramer said his "perfect startup" is a homegrown application that evolved from a team's need for a product. He said that it's crucial for entrepreneurs to "really understand the category" the idea is rooted in and to understand it from a customer perspective.
Kramer said that's how the first startup he co-founded, Check Point Software Technologies, got its start. He said "the secret sauce" was that Gil Shwed, the previous CEO of Check Point, was a system administrator and understood the customer problem, which allowed him to create the right solution.
Check Point's market cap today is roughly $18.9 billion, according to PitchBook.
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