Christian Renaud's Blog

Palisade Systems- Denouement

Today I announced to the team at Palisade Systems that I was stepping down as CEO and Chairman of the Board.  I've had a number of conversations over the last months with the Board of Directors of Palisade on the direction the company should take and the strategy to get there.  Ultimately,  leadership in any company works for the Board, and the Board is the elected group representing the investors. It is not uncommon for the Board and the operational leadership to differ in direction, which is exactly the situation here.  My direction and strategy and the Board's opinion ultimately differ, so the best course of action for the company and investors is to step aside and allow them to put in a leader that will be able to execute on their vision. I will be helping in the transition to the new leadership to ensure continuity.

I very much enjoyed the time I spent at Palisade Systems and am proud to have been part of the history of the great company that it is.  I am confident that the company will ultimately be even more successful in the future.

I've already been asked repeatedly where I am going from here, professionally.  The honest answer right now is 'I haven't decided yet'.  I'm going to take as much time as necessary to get some perspective and then decide on my next chapter.  I'll be sure to post something when I have decided.

Palisade Systems

As many of you have noticed on my LinkedIn profile, I recently joined Palisade Systems as their CEO and President.  I thought I would provide a little background and context of the recent move for those that are interested.

In 2003, I was working at Cisco on a project that eventually became DKIM and the subsequent IronPort acquisition, and was socializing the idea of an anti-spam firewall network device with some key customers.  One customer in particular was very receptive to the idea, and added the additional feedback that some function to prevent data-loss in his organization (in the form of sensitive or financial data leaving the network) would be of great value.

 

We pondered this for a while, and eventually created two projects to determine our strategy for Data Loss Prevention (also known as Data Leak Prevention).  During this process, I happened to bump into Palisade at a local venture conference.  Palisade was founded 12 years ago as a web filtering company, as well as providing other network security functions.  We spoke, and I mentioned the burgeoning regulatory drivers surrounding DLP and the demand imminent for this type of solution.  They already had a number of the key software components necessary to move into this adjacent market, which they did over the next 12-18 months.

I have kept in touch with Palisade over the years, tracking their progress.  After leaving Cisco, I advised them part-time on their strategy and roadmap.  Recently, the opportunity arose to become their President and CEO, which I have since accepted.

DLP is an emerging technology, and even more so in the Small and Medium business markets that Palisade serves.  I am an emerging technologist at heart, having been on the bleeding edge of tech since I began my professional career.  This makes sense.

For those that track my other emerging technology activities, such as dynamic workspaces and virtual worlds, these are still on my radar, however will be de-emphasized as I help the excellent Palisade team take their technology to the next level.  We'll be continuing to add to the Technology Intelligence Group blog and ongoing research, but will be dialing-down any new research areas while I concentrate on this.  Bob, my indefatigable business partner on TIG, is hard at work on his next venture around revolutionizing and disrupting the event ticketing market.

Palisade will be starting their own blog soon, so I don't anticipate much DLP chatter on this, my personal blog.  When it starts, I'll be sure to post a link. In the meanwhile, we've been busy working with press and analysts to raise awareness of the company and their technology, which can be viewed here, here, and here (under my prior, part-time, advisory title).

Thanks to all of you who have already extended their congratulations on the new venture.