From Barracks to Boardrooms: My Journey Through Failure, Firewalls & NeevNaav

I started my journey at a Sainik School in Gujarat — where leadership was a habit, resilience was a routine, and discipline wasn't taught, it was lived. Those formative years built a framework in me: act with integrity, lead with purpose, and never shy away from adversity.

But life, as it does, tests every framework.

During my engineering days in Computer Science, I faced academic struggles and personal failures that forced me to rethink everything. I failed exams. I faced rejection. And I battled with the feeling that maybe I wasn’t cut out for this.

Still, I was drawn to one thing: problem-solving — especially the kind that required thinking like an attacker to protect the defender.

That curiosity led me to cybersecurity. With limited resources, I began self-learning, experimenting, and contributing to open-source communities. I pursued an M.Tech in Information Security at IIIT Gwalior and gradually moved from student to specialist.

Over the next decade, I immersed myself in every domain — from secure architecture design to threat intelligence, vulnerability management to cyber resilience strategy. I worked with startups, scale-ups, and large enterprises. Bootcamps and participation in various communities shaped me.

I led technical operations at Bring2mee, developed full-stack apps at Prakash Software, and co-founded Dioyoc Technologies — all of which taught me the hard truths of execution, failure, and pivoting fast.

But it wasn’t until I made my mission to make humans the strongest link in cybersecurity and fully stepped to make cybersecurity accessible, actionable, and resilient for India’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

My lessons

Failure is not a weakness — it’s your first draft.

Security is not just technology — it’s a trust framework.

Leadership is not about control — it’s about creating conditions for others to thrive.

Today, as an Independent Director and cybersecurity leader and startup advisory I bring that mindset to every boardroom: that resilience is built, not bought. And that startups and enterprises alike deserve to grow without fearing the next breach.

To the next generation reading this: The best breakthroughs come not from perfection, but from persistence.