Streamlining Network Policy Management - Interview with Startups of the Year Nominee, Otterize

Hey Hackers,

Otterize has been nominated in HackerNoon's annual Startup of the Year awards in Tel Aviv, Israel!

Please vote for us here.

Read more about us below to understand why we deserve your vote.

Meet Otterize

At Otterize, we're dedicated to tackling one of the most daunting challenges developers encounter in the cloud landscape: building secure connections. In an environment where options are limited and solutions are complex, we've set out to simplify the norm.

Currently, developers are burdened with teaching users, handling manual connections, or even compromising security due to a lack of viable alternatives. Otterize steps in with a transformative approach—automating security configuration to create an entirely new paradigm for service-to-service and infrastructure connections.

Our seamless solution isn't just about reducing friction faced by engineers connecting multiple services; it’s about eliminating it entirely!

My Role

Hey there, I’m Tomer Greenwald, the Co-Founder and CEO of Otterize. As a software developer myself, I've been down that road of building and setting up software authentication and authorization over and over again. And let's face it, doing it differently each time with a new tech stack is a major headache. The frustration just kept building up, and I thought, "Enough is enough!"

So, here's the scoop: I teamed up with my awesome Co-Founders, Uri Sarid, and Ori Shoshan, and we decided it was high time to change the game. We wanted to build something that lets developers like you do what you're best at—write code—without constantly wrestling with server permissions.

Our mission was clear: create a platform that takes the pain out of configurations and lets you focus on the cool stuff. And that's how Otterize was born! So, whether you're into APIs, authentication, or just making your software connect seamlessly, we're here to make your life easier. Here’s to coding without the configuration chaos!

How We're Disrupting the Identity and Access Management Industry

Picture this: Developers should be able to focus on their code and simply say, “Hey, I want a secure connection to these services.” That’s it. No need to sweat over obtaining credentials, including generating secrets, coordinating with the server team, and handling mTLs and JWTs. We’re all about taking care of the nitty-gritty for them through automation—and shaking things up in our industry by doing so!

Standing Out from The Crowd

Our focus is on the end user, the platform engineer. While other solutions out there are all about complex integrations and dragging out deployment, we’re here to simplify your life. No need for integration teams or months of setup—we’re talking about you, the platform engineer, making the call to use Otterize and getting your production workloads locked down in just one day. No need to be a C-level exec to get things rolling.

We’re developers too, so we get it. That’s why our product is a breeze to install and use. We’re in the trenches with you, using it day in and day out—and honestly, we’re pretty smitten with it!

Our Thoughts on the Identity and Access Management Industry in 2023

As the need for developer empowerment keeps on growing, we’re all about embracing new tools and turbo-charging our engineering teams. Think about it: platform teams are on the brink of diving into more automated solutions to give developers the keys to manage infrastructure. And trust me, it’s not just about the infrastructure anymore.

Take Otterize, for instance—it’s all about helping configure secure infrastructure as code (I just coined that term). Developers will crave these kinds of solutions as they give them the reins to resources that were once a bit of a mystery, or mostly owned by the platform team. And let’s be real, who doesn’t want more control?

What word defines the state of Identity and Access Management Industry in 2023?

Consolidation.

With tools multiplying like rabbits in today’s tech world, engineering leaders are on the hunt for ways to bring everything under one roof. It’s all about having the right toolkit for the job, and then having the right toolkit to manage them all (fingers crossed that the toolbox is way smaller!).

Why we decided to participate in HackerNoon's Startup of the Year awards

Jumping into HackerNoon's Startup of the Year awards was a no-brainer for Otterize. We're big fans of HackerNoon—it's our daily tech fuel. Those stories from fellow technologists? They keep us sharp, inspired, and in the loop with the latest buzz.

But hey, there's more to it than just soaking up knowledge. We're here to tackle some real challenges. Otterize isn't just a neat name (how “authorize” sounds in a Hebrew accent)—it's a solution that's out to make life easier for developers. So, being part of this spotlight gives us a megaphone to shout out about the neat things we're up to. Raising awareness is key. We want to get the word out about how we're slicing through the complexity of network policies and making secure connections a breeze. The more folks who know about Otterize, the more teams we can help. And that's what keeps us going—solving problems and making coding smoother for everyone.

Final Thoughts

We’re flipping the script in our industry. Developers get to keep their focus on code while saying, “I need a secure connection to these services.” No more headaches over rules, standards, or security specs. Otterize handles the heavy lifting with automation.

Together, let’s pave the way for a future where secure access isn’t just a choice, but the simplest and most intuitive path.