Welcome back to The SaaS CFO Podcast! In this episode, host Ben Murray sits down with Andrew Black, CEO of Kovr, and Sri Iyer, the company’s founder and CTO. Kovr is shaking up the world of cybersecurity compliance, helping organizations dramatically speed up the process of achieving certifications like FedRAMP, HIPAA, and others—using the latest breakthroughs in generative AI.

Andrew and Sri bring fascinating perspectives, drawing from deep experience in tech, government, and startups, including previous roles at Amazon Web Services, PwC, Lockheed, and Gartner. They talk about the pain points that tech companies and government agencies face when trying to deploy secure software in regulated environments, and how Kovr can cut compliance timelines from years to minutes.

If you’re curious about go-to-market strategies for AI-first startups, lessons learned from early fundraising, or how to build a SaaS business in a highly regulated market, this episode is packed with candid insights and actionable advice. Tune in to hear how Kovr is empowering innovators to get their products into the hands of customers faster, with less headache—and what’s next for this fast-moving team.

Show Notes:

00:00 "Compliance Challenges in Software Deployment"

03:43 Streamlining Compliance with AI

06:37 Target Customers: CISOs to DevOps Teams

11:11 Pursuing a $13B Market Opportunity

13:03 AI Traction and Trust Challenges

17:38 Navigating VC Relationships and Fit

20:17 Unlimited-Use Enterprise SaaS Licensing

23:48 Simplifying Gen AI Sales Model

28:26 Efficient AI: Smaller Models, Big Savings

30:25 "Focus on Sales Cycle Days"

33:44 "LinkedIn Profile: Kovr AI"

Links:

SaaS Fundraising Stories: https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/kovr-ai-raises-3-6-million-in-seed-round

Andrew Black’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-black-5435b67/

Sri Iyer’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sri-iyer/

Kovr AI’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kovrai/

Kovr AI’s Website: https://kovr.ai/

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