The Founder Story, Where It Started

I’ve spent my life in security, from ethical hacking in college to leading AI and security programs at Fortune 500’s. When Harsh and I started OptIQ, it wasn’t because the market needed “another tool.” Harsh wasn’t just another ML engineer; he was a founding member at Observe.AI, already working with LLMs before the hype wave. We came together because we saw something broken. Enterprises had more tools than ever, yet CISOs were more blind than ever.

In our early conversations, CISOs didn’t mince words:

“Don’t give me another tool. Tell me where my most sensitive data is right now, how it’s being used, and if it’s leaving my environment.”

That hit hard. Every CISO already had DLP, DSPM, IRM, classification scanners, and even runtime agents. But none of them could connect the dots:

• What is this data?
• Where did it come from?
• Who touched it?
• Where is it going?

Billions spent. Thousands of alerts. Hours wasted pulling logs. And still, no clarity. That was the real gap.

So we didn’t set out to build “another DSPM.” We set out to build what every CISO wished they had on their team: an AI security engineer who never sleeps. One that thinks like an engineer, acts like an engineer, and delivers the clarity their stack never could.

That’s where Dhiraj joined us not just as a business builder, but as our CBO with deep GTM DNA. He had scaled revenue engines at PingSafe, MongoDB, and Lacework, and he knew how to turn breakthrough technology into global adoption.

And behind us stands the real force: our team. Engineers who’ve built at Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, SentinelOne, MongoDB, Jfrog, Observe.AI, and Product leaders who know how to ship hard tech into enterprise reality. Operators who’ve scaled hypergrowth SaaS. A crew with the caliber to actually change how enterprises secure data.

We are, at our core, a data security company; every decision, every line of code, every feature we ship is about one thing: protecting what matters most.

The Problem, Backed by CISOs and Data

CISOs told us what the data proved:

• “We’re drowning in alerts, but can’t answer if sensitive data is at risk.”
• “We spend more people-hours pulling logs than containing incidents.”
• “None of these tools connect the dots.”

And the numbers make it undeniable:

• IBM (2024): 70% of sensitive enterprise data is unclassified and invisible. Breach costs jump 27% when visibility is low.
• CrowdStrike (2024): 79 minutes is the median breakout time, faster than most investigations even start.
• Deloitte: 65–80% of IR time goes into pulling and correlating logs instead of acting.
• EY: 42% of CISOs cite alert fatigue as their #1 blocker.

The result? Overlapping tools (DLP, DSPM, IRM, CASB, SIEM, SOAR) are eating budgets and headcount, but not delivering clarity. Just duct tape.

Why We Built Matters

We built Matters because CISOs weren’t asking for more software, they were asking for a teammate.

Matters is that AI security engineer. It replaces the patchwork of:

• DLP
• DSPM
• IRM
• Discovery/Classification
• Runtime Data Security

And delivers what those categories never could: context.

• Understands meaning — semantic intelligence knows what data represents, not just its shape.
• Sees motion — eBPF sensors and connectors trace data everywhere it moves.
• Maps lineage — creation → transformation → movement → sharing.
• Acts with context — Copilot plugs into SOC workflows, SIEMs, and SOARs. No more hunting through logs.

It’s not “another tool.” It’s the missing engineer.

How Matters Works

1. Collect What Matters: Sensors + SaaS/cloud connectors (Drive, Slack, Salesforce, S3). Privacy-first: classification happens locally, only metadata moves upstream.
2. Understand the Meaning: LLM-powered models detect PII, PCI, PHI, contracts, and IP. Entity mapping ties data to owners and business units.
3. Trace the Journey: Lineage graph shows where data came from, who touched it, and where it’s going.
4. Spot the Real Risks: Behavioral baselines + composite scoring surface true exfiltration threats.
5. Act With Context: Copilot answers in plain English: “Show me all PHI that left BigQuery for Slack last week.” Then suggests actions: revoke tokens, expire links, quarantine devices.

Proven in the Field

• Protecting 50+ enterprises, including Fortune 500s and fintech unicorns.
• Monitoring petabytes of sensitive data and billions of daily events.
• Cutting investigation time by >90%.
• Achieved 58% QoQ growth with $6M in seed funding.

CISO voices:

“Every vendor promises visibility. Matters actually showed us things five other tools missed, on day one.” – CISO, Fintech Unicorn

“Our IR used to take days. With Matters, we had answers in hours.” – Head of Security, Fortune 500

“Finally, a tool that ties alerts to actual business data, not just noise.” – CISO, High-Growth Enterprise

Why We Rebranded: OptIQ → Matters

OptIQ was our first chapter. But our mission outgrew the name.

We didn’t rebrand for cosmetics. We rebranded because the weight of what we’re solving demanded it. Matters isn’t just a name, it’s a conviction.

Because:

• For a CISO, trust matters.
• For an enterprise, reputation matters.
• For a security team, time matters.
• And for humanity, data matters.

OptIQ was about intelligence. Matters is about impact. What we protect is not abstract; it’s the lifeblood of companies, the sacrifices of security leaders, and the trust of people behind them.

CISOs & security leaders know this better than anyone. They sacrifice nights, weekends, and family moments to keep their companies safe, firefighting incidents, briefing boards, and convincing developers to secure without killing productivity. They carry that burden because reputation is fragile, and data is unforgiving.

They miss birthdays. They miss milestones. They fight fires no one else even sees. All so trust doesn’t break and reputations don’t shatter.

And that’s why our conviction is clear. We protect what matters.

The Road Ahead

• 12 months: Industry-specific sensitivity models, predictive detection, deeper SOC/SIEM/SOAR integrations.
• 3–5 years: AI-native security layer for every enterprise. Autonomous risk prediction + mitigation with human oversight.

Final Thoughts

CISOs told us they don’t want another tool. They want clarity.

That’s what Matters delivers: an AI security engineer who never sleeps, one that sees everything, understands what it means, and acts before it’s too late.

Because in 2025 and beyond, your data isn’t just important.

It’s oxygen. And we’re here to make sure you never run out of it.