John Milburn, CEO of Clear Skye: More Than $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Identity and Access Governance

In today’s episode of Category Visionaries, we speak with John Milburn, CEO of Clear Skye, about his decades of experience in the enterprise software space, and why he found himself drawn back to security solutions with Clear Skye. Having identified shortcomings in the traditional approach to cybersecurity, focusing almost exclusively on the technology instead of the people and processes involved in making it work effectively, John is determined to make us rethink what cybersecurity means and do something genuinely different in an established market space. Clear Skye is an identity governance and security solution built natively on ServiceNow that optimizes enterprise identity and risk management with a platform-first approach. The company provides workflow management, access requests, access review, and identity lifecycle management tools to a broad set of vertical markets. By leveraging an existing business platform, Clear Skye enables customers to reduce friction and IT hurdles, while improving workflows and user experience. Topics Discussed: Why John respects grind and hard work over talent and intelligence Basic security hygiene and how so many companies get the fundamental aspects of security wrong Identity and access governance as an established market category, and how Clear Skye is leading a transformation in the space The enterprise technology sector’s problem with new solutions, and why focusing exclusively on technology misses critical components of security implementation Why enterprise sales are the Clear Skye strategy for now, but PLG is coming soon as an important option for scaling brand impact Pushing a new market category and why being first in the space can be a blessing The challenge of transforming traditional budget owners, and pushing them towards truly innovative solutions   Favorite book:  Infinite Jest