Alexander Garcia-Tobar, CEO and co-founder, Valimail, on what time in tech has taught him.
What would you describe as your most memorable achievement?
One of my most memorable personal achievements was winning the 1986 Karate World Championship.
From a work perspective, it has been building a world-class organization at Valimail with a global impact on email impersonation.
What first made you think of a career in technology?
Working in Boston in 1991, it was clear that a young, ambitious and risk-tolerant person could do a lot in the ‘Wild West’ technology industry. The rules were still being written and output/skill outweighed seniority. Indeed, as a 20-something, I was fortunate enough to be an executive at three IPO companies. Plus, I’m a geek at heart…
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position?
It starts with realizing that the order of focus is People, Product/Tech, and Revenue. Without the right people, we can’t build the best products. Without the best products, it’s so much harder to grow revenue. Revenue growth (or lack thereof) is a lagging indicator that you have a good team and a good product/market fit. So, if it starts with people, adhere to the following: be trustworthy and inclusive, measure and learn, encourage direct communications and have a bias towards velocity and iteration. These principles are critical to how we run Valimail.
What do you think is the current hot technology talking point?
Clearly AI is red hot right now. What will become hot very soon are the implications. For example, if we can now create 1,000s of realistic articles in minutes, mis/disinformation is going to get much, much worse. We need to think through how to authenticate the sources, build up reputations for that source, and only then will we be able to assess how trustworthy that information is. A recent example is how Chinese and Russian state actors wrote 100’s of realistic posts claiming the Maui fires were a US military secret weapon test. The posts all reinforced each other and the social media algorithms pushed these to the top. What was missed was authenticating the source of the posts – all fake accounts.
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office?
This is a big one – initially, I struggled to sleep due to business scenarios bouncing around my head all night. I’ve found that a mix of exercise (biking, swimming, running) to calm my mind and body and moving to a book 30mins before bed, have helped me sleep a lot better. And my take is that sleep is the basis (along with healthy eating) for health, stress reduction, and clarity of thought.
If you could go back and change one career decision what would it be?
I would’ve founded a company earlier in my career. I didn’t have the confidence at the time. Once I was fortunate enough to experience both IPOs and failures, I realized, “I can do this, and I have enough scars and grit to weather the tempest!”
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry?
Applying AI to cybersecurity (and then the authentication that needs to go hand in hand with it), especially in networking, cloud, and email. Email is still our primary communications platform (B2B and B2C). A utility of sorts. Investors, CIOs, CISOs and Governments keep getting reminded that email security is still not a solved problem.
What are the region-specific challenges when implementing new technologies in North America?
There are very distinct attitudes by region towards technology (level of investment and where to invest), willingness to buy best of breed or a bundle, and whether to buy from a new startup or an established larger vendor. There are pros/cons to each, of course. The coasts tend to rush into new technologies and be more open to smaller vendors, whereas other parts of the country will take a bit of time to adopt new tech and usually with larger vendors. This is changing quickly and becoming more of an industry-specific vs regional trait. Vertical industries are learning from each other, and competitive pressures force rapid adoption of similar technologies.
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months?
The biggest change has been the shift from a larger startup to a scale-up. The additional complexity in the organization and the need to plan further ahead require the CEO to shift from a ‘jack of all trades’ dealing with monthly/quarterly views to a strategic planner able to look 2-6 quarters ahead. It also takes discipline to enable the team vs a well-meaning but not scalable ‘I’ll just do it myself’ approach.
What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain a C-level position in your industry?
- The difference between a manager and an executive is the ability to see both the forest and the trees. The ability to zoom in or out depending on the issue at hand. Think hard about both and which to apply.
- A C-level executive needs to learn to lead through their team. It’s about thinking ahead, setting goals, and aligning the team. The team will perform so much better if they have both short-term targets and a longer-term sense of where the company is going.
- The organization takes its cues from its leaders. Be the person you want your team to be. Lead by example.
