Tell us about yourself?
A data privacy evangelist, Mr. Ahlawat has practiced corporate law for more than a decade. With a double bachelor’s and a master’s in law, his passion and aptitude have been in advising businesses on their legal and policy matters and helping them grow. During his career as an advisor and lawyer, Mr. Ahlawat has actively assisted several businesses to overcome their compliance challenges and evolving from ideation to well-funded entities.
This was also the time when GDPR was enforced. Many businesses, although willing, were not prepared to handle the growing data privacy landscape. This was especially true for smaller firms that were resource-pressed. It was during his time helping these businesses, that Mr. Ahlawat discovered the challenges faced by nascent stage businesses and how his expertise can truly help enterprises view data privacy as an opportunity and not a burden.
Through Ayottaz, Mr. Ahlawat is helping businesses conveniently achieve Data privacy compliance and information security.
What do you think is the single biggest misconception people have when it comes to startups?
Founders think what they are building is saleable, but what (most of the time) will work is what people need, and not what a founder (in their perception) thinks they (customers) will need.
If you could go back in time to any moment from your journey, and give yourself one tip, what would it be?
There are no successes or failures, there are experiences.
What makes you stand out as an entrepreneur?
I don’t think standing out is important as there are so many beautiful and smart people out there. What matters is how much we can put in for the idea to turn it into an ‘Outstanding’ venture.
What are some of the best working habits you’ve gained over the past couple of years?
One key habit that I have gained is to read more, do a lot of groundwork and research before working on an idea and ask people for help. As a startup founder, it is important to be confident enough to ask people for help as you always need team and support.
Give us a bit of an insight into the influences behind the company?
For small-medium businesses, even understanding what privacy regulations apply to them is also a big challenge. With the dynamic status of global privacy compliance, every business is exposed to a constant obligation and liability to stay compliant but not a single simple method to understand the what, where, and how of their privacy obligations.
Where do you see your business in five years?
We see Ayottaz as the single most trusted tool for businesses for their privacy and information security needs.
What do you think the biggest challenge will be for you in getting there?
We are in a new and evolving industry and the approach that we are taking to assist businesses is new.
Talk to us about your biggest success story so far?
I don’t assess things as big or small. I see things in terms of progress so onboarding a startup is equally exciting as onboarding a large enterprise.
How do clients and customers find you? Are you much of a salesperson for yourself?
I come from a legal background and product sales is altogether different in both fields so I am unlearning and learning many things. But honestly, I will not call myself a salesperson as in our core ideology we are in the trade to win and maintain customer trust. We see our team as privacy doctors advising and assuring (privacy and information security) the health and fitness of our clients.
What one tip would you give to fellow startup founders?
Believe in yourself and take feedback and criticism as your single most precious asset.
And finally, what do you hope the future brings both you personally, and your business?
Personally, I would like to publish my pending manuscripts for fiction novels soon. For Ayottaz, I hope it gets recognised as the single most effective tool for businesses for their Data Privacy compliance needs.
