Every cybersecurity founder eventually gets asked some version of the same question: was I always going to end up here, or did the problem just find me? Eran Barak has lived both answers. After building and selling Hexadite to Microsoft, he spent years working inside one of security's messiest problems — data protection scattered across a dozen disconnected tools — before deciding to found Mind, an AI-native data loss prevention company, in 2023. In conversation with Jenny Brock, RSAC's Senior Manager of Innovation Programs, Barak walks through the decisions that shaped his path from first exit to second company: how he chose his co-founders, when to leave a comfortable executive track, and why he stepped back from angel investing once Mind became his full-time bet.

Listeners will learn:

• How to know whether a recurring problem is actually worth building a company around
• What to look for in a co-founder — and why Barak compares the choice to a marriage
• Why validating market pain matters more than product polish in the early days
• When angel investing helps a founder, and when it becomes a conflict worth walking away from