The Axonius Employee Spotlight is a Q&A series dedicated to shining a much-deserved light on the movers and shakers building the fastest growing cybersecurity company ever. You can read past Employee Spotlights here.
This month, we’re spotlighting Benjamin Zeitz, Director of Business Operations. Based in our New York office, Benjamin joined Axonius in June 2019.
Linor Shust: Tell us a bit about your career path before Axonius. What did you do? What critical moments got you to where you are today?
Benjamin Zeitz: Prior to Axonius, I worked at an InsurTech startup called Founder Shield. I was hired as an SDR. In my first few months there, I realized that no one was fully dedicated to administering their Salesforce instance, and I offered to help.
After teaching myself how to use the SFDC backend, I began working with various departments in the company to automate their workflows. I didn't even know it at the time, but it was my first exposure to operations!
Linor: What about Axonius made you interested in working here?
Benjamin: As a startup geek, I’m always intrigued by companies that solve fundamental problems in their respective markets.
After connecting with Axonius Co-founder and CEO Dean Sysman, I was even more excited by the company’s commitment to fast-paced growth and the opportunity to play a role in helping the company scale both efficiently and strategically.
Linor: What are some of the things that you and your team are responsible for?
Benjamin: Our team is responsible for enabling Axonius to scale by overseeing the company's data, analytics, processes, and business systems.
Linor: What’s a favorite project you’ve worked on or career milestone you’ve achieved while working at Axonius?
Benjamin: There are so many! One in particular that sticks out is my very first project, which was changing our CRM from HubSpot to Salesforce.
It was the opportunity to build out a Salesforce instance and all of the related automation from scratch. I was able to really get my hands dirty in learning about Axonius and our sales and marketing processes right away.
Linor: What advice can you offer to someone looking to take on a role similar to yours?
Benjamin: Learn how to administer the core systems that your teams will be using, such as CRM, sales engagement platforms, marketing automation tools, and/or Middleware. These are important skills to be able to automate workflows, which will save your team time and increase data integrity. They'll also make you everyone's best friend!
Linor: If someone reading was interested in joining Axonius, what should they know about working here?
Benjamin: Axonius is an extremely fast-paced company. I often joke that it feels like I've worked at four different companies in the last 21 months.
Be ready to push yourself and adapt to change!
Rapid Fire Q&A
Linor: Ok, now for some fun! I’m going to ask you a series of “rapid fire” questions about yourself, to help our readers get to know you a bit better.
First one! When you log on in the morning, what do you tackle first?
Benjamin: Review my dashboards.
Linor: What helps you focus?
Benjamin: Early 2000s pop music (don't judge me!)
Linor: How do you organize your day to stay productive?
Benjamin: Constantly reassess my priorities after completing a new task.
Linor: How do you deal with stress?
Benjamin: Eat pizza.
Linor: Any hobbies outside of work?
Benjamin: I'm a sports junkie – hockey, baseball, and football! I also dabble in mixology.
Linor: Favorite way to spend your weekends?
Benjamin: Spending time with family and friends, and watching sports!
Linor: How do you take your coffee?
Benjamin: I don't drink coffee (gasp!)
Linor: What’s the last book you read? Why did you enjoy it?
Benjamin: Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. It's an entertaining and insightful view on the world through big data.
