Careers at Imperva

Mission

Imperva is a cyber security company that provides data centre protection solutions to businesses worldwide.

History

Imperva was founded in 2002 by Amichai Shulman (“Shulman”) and Mickey Boodaei (“Boodaei”), who wanted to design effective methods of protecting high-value applications and data assets within companies.

Shulman and Boodaei launched Imperva’s first web application security and data security products in 2002. It continued to develop its products throughout the early 2000s, expanding its database security product to include compliance features in 2006. In 2010, Imperva launched a file security offering and began developing cloud-based solutions.

The Company has made a number of acquisitions. In 2014 it acquired the outstanding shares in Incapsula, of which it was already a majority shareholder. That year it also acquired Tomium Software, in a bid to accelerate the development of its mainframe data security solutions, and Skyfence Networks Ltd, to further its software-as-a-service offerings.

Imperva listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011, raising around $90 million in an initial public offering. The Company is one of the largest cyber security firms in the world, with a market capitalisation of $1.48 billion.

Business model of Imperva

Customer Segments

According to its website, Imperva serves more than 4,500 customers in more than 90 countries worldwide, comprising businesses of all sizes across multiple sectors. The Americas continue to be Imperva’s largest market, with the region accounting for the majority of the Company’s revenue over the past several years. Sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for around 25% of the Company’s revenue in 2015, while sales in across the Asia Pacific region accounted for approximately 12%.

Imperva serves customers from a range of industries, including the technology, financial services, insurance and manufacturing sectors. A significant portion of Imperva’s sales are made to US and international federal, state and local government agencies, accounting consistently for more than 10% of total revenue. The Company expects this trend to continue over the coming years.

Value Propositions

Imperva provides value to its customers by offering quality and reliable security solutions.

The Company partners with a range of specialist technology companies in developing and building its software, endeavouring that it provides the best possible service to its customers.

Imperva also offers maintenance and training services to customers with a view to ensuring that they utilise Imperva products to their optimum levels. The Company spends millions of dollars each year on research and development, seeking to improve and perfect its security products.

Channels

Imperva operates a website at www.imperva.com, where customers are able to browse the Company’s products and services.

The Company employs a hybrid sales and marketing model, combines a channel sales model with a more traditional direct sales model. According to its 2015 annual report, Imperva employs a direct touch sales organisation and an overlay channel sales team that works in conjunction with its network of channel partners throughout the sales process.

The majority of Imperva’s sales of products and services are realized via the Company’s channel partners, including distributors and resellers. In 2015, Imperva’s channel partners originated more than 45% of the Company’s sales and fulfilled almost 89% of sales. The Company had one reseller in 2015 that represented 18% of its total annual revenue.

Customer Relationships

While customers are able to view Imperva’s products and services on the Company’s website, and request demonstrations and free trials, purchases cannot be made on a self-service basis. Purchases, instead, must be made directly through sales personnel.

While this can be negotiated directly with Imperva sales representatives, the majority of sales are made through resellers and distributors.

Imperva does provide maintenance and support services to its customers, as well as operating direct training programs. Additionally, it makes a range of resources available to customers free of charge via its website, including webinars, whitepapers, infographics, case studies and security tools.

Imperva hosts a blog and publishes press releases, and interacts with customers through its Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Google+ accounts. It also participates in a number of industry events.

Key Activities

Imperva develops, markets and sells cyber-security solutions designed to protect business-critical data and applications both in the cloud and on premises.

Imperva’s products include its Imperva SecureSphere platform for enterprise data centres, and Imperva Incapsula and Imperva Skyfence offerings for cloud-based security services, which provide customers with various database security, file security and web application security solutions.

Imperva also provides ancillary maintenance and support, consulting and training services to its customers on a contract basis.

Key Partners

Imperva collaborates with a number of companies operating in a variety of sectors that deliver and support the Company’s data centre security solutions worldwide.

The Company’s partnerships are managed through its PartnerSphere Program, which is divided into three categories:

  • Managed Service Providers and Hosters, that assist Imperva’s customers in neutralising theft and fraud attempts, achieving regulatory compliance, and reducing the risks associated with automated, repeatable processes;
  • Value-Added Resellers and Distributors, which generate sales of Imperva products and services; and
  • Technology Alliance, members of which assist Imperva in building effective security solutions.

Imperva’s channel partners, which as of 31st December 2015 numbered more than 300 resellers and distributors worldwide, are particularly key in executing Imperva’s business model. Imperva’s technology partners include Trusteer, ThreatMetrix, and Garland Technology.

Key Resources

Imperva’s key resources are its technology and security products, its IT infrastructure, its channel and technology partners, and its personnel – particularly those working within research and development.

Searches of records held by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified nine patent applications filed in Imperva’s name. These include applications entitled ‘Coordinated detection and differentiation of denial of service attacks’, ‘Compromised insider honey pots using reverse honey tokens’ and ‘Automatic generation of attribute values for rules of a web application layer attack detector’.

Cost Structure

Imperva incurs costs in relation to the research and development of its products and solutions, the maintenance of its IT infrastructure, the operation of its sales and marketing channels, and the retention of its personnel.

The Company also accrues costs in relation to the payment of professional fees, third-party hardware costs, royalty fees and the operation of research and development facilities and administrative and sales offices.

As of December 31st 2015, Imperva employed 923 members of staff, which represent costs in the form of salaries and benefits.

Revenue Streams

Imperva generates revenue through the sale and licensing of its security products and provision of support services. The Company’s products and license revenue is generated primarily from sales of perpetual software licences installed on hardware or virtual devices from its SecureSphere product line.

Services revenue is subdivided into provision of maintenance and support services, provision of professional services and training, and subscription sales. The majority of Imperva’s revenue is generated through sales across the Americas, which accounted for 64% of the Company’s total revenue in 2015.

In 2015 Imperva recorded an annual revenue of $234.3 million, up 42.9% on the $164 million the Company generated in 2014. The sale of products and licences in 2015 generated $107.6 million, or 46%, of the Company’s total net revenue. The provision of services generated $126.7 million in revenue, with maintenance and support accounting for 28.3%, subscriptions accounting for 19.7%, and professional services and training accounting for 6% of total net revenue.

Despite posting steadily increasing revenue figures, Imperva continues to make net annual losses. In its 2015 annual report, the Company states that is has incurred net losses in each fiscal year since its foundation, including net losses attributable to stockholders of $25.2 million in 2013, $59 million in 2014 and $48.9 million in 2015.

Our team

Anthony Bettencourt,
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

info: Anthony has served President and Chief Executive Officer of Imperva since 2014. He has been the Company’s Chairman of the Board since 2015. Bettencourt also holds several external directorships with Proofpoint, Formation Data Systems, Anodot, and Blinkx. Bettencourt began his career in 1984 when he joined the sales team at Quintus. He left the company after two years to join Versant as Vice President of Sales, a position he held for five years, ultimately leaving the role to fulfil his appointment as Chief Executive Officer at Verity. After ten years at Verity, Bettencourt served briefly as Chief Executive Officer of Zantaz before joining Autonomy in 2006 as Senior Vice President of Special Projects. After a short spell as Chief Executive Officer at Interwoven in 2009, Bettencourt was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coverity, his last role before joining Imperva. Bettencourt holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Santa Clara University.

Terry Schmid,
Chief Financial Officer

info: Terry has served as Chief Financial Officer at Imperva since 2010, overseeing the Company’s finance, accounting, and facilities functions. Schmid is an experienced financial executive, having held senior roles within the technology industry for more than 20 years. He began his career in 1988 as a consultant at Andersen Consulting. In 1993 he joined Electronic Arts in a management role, which he held for two years. Schmid was appointed to his first Chief Financial Officer position in 1995 at The 3DO Company. He has since been appointed to a string of Chief Financial Officer roles, including at ONI Systems, Turnstone Systems, AirFlow Networks and Enterasys Networks. His final role before joining Imperva was as Chief Financial Officer of Coremetrics, now part of IBM, from 2009 to 2010. Schmid holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of San Francisco and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Amichai Shulman,
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer

info: Amichai has served as Chief Technology Officer of Imperva since co-founding the Company in 2002. In this role he oversees the operations of the Imperva Defence Centre, a research organisation focused on security and compliance. In addition to his corporate role at Imperva, Shulman also lectures at trade conferences and delivers monthly e-seminars. Before embarking on his career in technology and security, Shulman served in the Israel Defence Forces, where he led a team that identified new cyber attack and defence techniques. Following this, Shulman founded consulting group Edvice Security Services, which provided application and database security services to major financial institutions. He served as Chief Technology Officer of the company until founding Imperva. Shulman holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Computer Science from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.