HOBBIES: Traveling, Cooking, Dog Training. PEOPLE OFTEN DESCRIBE ME AS: Calm and Composed. SOMETHING THAT TICKS ME OFF: Ego and unnecessary boastfulness.
Sidd Gavirneni
Empowering organizations to withstand the digital unknown
DISCOVERING A BETTER WAY TO PROTECT THE LITTLE GUY. Coming from a cybersecurity background, Sidd Gavirneni co-founded Zeguro, a company helping small and medium size businesses be more secure, and offering cyber insurance to help them recover from data breaches when they happen. He started Zeguro when he noticed that smaller companies had no idea about cybersecurity and did not know how to protect themselves and their customers from hackers.
“With over twenty years in the cybersecurity sector, I’d come across a multitude of problems impacting small businesses. They all stemmed from the lack of preparedness for data breaches when or if they happen. I wanted to change that, especially for businesses that cannot afford expensive security professionals.”
Having grown up in India, Sidd decided to move to the US to pursue his undergraduate in Kansas, lived in Arizona for a few years, before taking off for Spain for his MBA, only to then come back to the states to start and lead Zeguro in the Bay Area. This allowed him to have some early exposure to StartOut, a nonprofit whose mission is to increase the number, diversity, and impact of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and amplify their stories to drive the economic empowerment of the community.
“Early on, I wasn’t really out in my professional setting. But then, I soon realized that being an out gay entrepreneur wasn’t a rarity in the Bay Area. And joining StartOut’s growth lab was a pivotal point - I knew that it was ok to be out and that it would make me and my company more competitive and stronger because of our diversity.” In fact, Sidd is proud to explain that the majority of his first investors were LGBTQ investors, helping to pave the way for a more enriched and inclusive organization from the ground up.
KNOWING WHO YOU ARE AND STANDING PROUD. Sidd loves being able to pay it forward - he mentors and supports other LGBTQ founders and wannabe entrepreneurs. “My advice is always to not be afraid of identifying who you are. Yes, there are some people who won’t accept you, but it’s really fine. You don’t need to do business with them. There are many more people who can and will relate to who you are. So embrace who you are because you’ll always be stronger for owning it.”
Sidd believes that everyone has their own and unique motivations. It is these motivations that truly define success in both life and business - whether you are gay, straight, or otherwise. “Everyone approaches their goals differently. For me, it’s about making my company, and everyone involved a success. It is about creating a diverse team. We have eight countries represented on our team, different languages spoken, multiple ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations, races, and whatever diversity metric you can think of. I am proud of that.”
