When Joe Iantosca arrived at Cyera as CFO, his first hire wasn't an accountant or an FP&A professional. It was a data engineer.
For Iantosca, the decision reflected a conviction formed over years of working inside technology companies: Finance cannot help steer a business without reliable access to the information driving it.
That conviction first took shape at Palantir, where he witnessed the impact of centralizing financial and operational data. At BetterCloud, where his responsibilities eventually expanded into the COO role, he carried the lesson further, connecting product, marketing, and business information into a common analytical foundation.
At Cyera, that experience has become especially relevant.
The five-year-old cybersecurity company operates across 15 countries, employs approximately 2,000 people, and has completed seven acquisitions. Its ambition is to build a comprehensive AI security platform that helps enterprises adopt artificial intelligence while protecting sensitive data.
For Iantosca, financing that expansion involves more than allocating capital. It means understanding how customers are acquired, how products reach the market, and how new offerings become commercially successful.
His operating background has also made him unusually comfortable entering customer conversations and examining the friction that can slow enterprise sales.
Meanwhile, the company's investment in centralized data is helping finance pursue AI-driven automation, including potentially significant changes to the month-end close.
The challenge ahead is balancing experimentation with financial discipline. Cyera encourages employees to test new ideas and move quickly, but major investments require evidence.
Iantosca's priorities reflect that balance: adaptability, discipline, and the successful commercialization of new products.