Meet xorlab co-founder Antonio Barresi and discover how the Venture Leader Technology protects corporate digital communication

27.10.2021 07:00, Isabelle Mitchell

Antonio Barresi and his team at xorlab develop ActiveGuard, a proactive communication defense platform that continuously measures the risk of emails and other messages that flow in and out of your organization. xorlab’s technology uses machine intelligence and advanced payload analysis to match the risk profile of every email against the behavioral norms of an organization in real-time to detect emerging attacks at first sight. Learn more about Antonio’s expectations for the Venture Leaders Technology experience, and find out how computer games influenced his career choice.

Earlier this year, 10 technology startups—covering a range of topics such as computer vision, cloud solutions, cybersecurity, logistics, and sustainability—joined the Swiss National Startup Team. To advance their global growth, the Venture Leaders Technology 2021 will travel to Silicon Valley to showcase Switzerland’s innovative power and network with investors and industry leaders. To ensure you know which startups transform the technology industry, we will introduce you to the startups selected by the expert jury. We asked each entrepreneur to complete a short profile and choose at least six questions from a questionnaire about their personal and professional life.  

Name: Antonio Hüseyin Barresi 
Location: Zurich 
Nationality: Swiss/Italian/Turkish 
Graduated from: MSc ETH
Your job title: CEO of xorlab 
Number of employees: 17
Money raised: CHF 8.3 million
First touchpoint with Venturelab: In 2014, during a Venture Challenge course at ETHZ/UniZH 

“We help companies defend effectively and proactively against communication- and collaboration-based cyberattacks like phishing, ransomware, and VIP fraud.”

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
While doing research at ETH in 2015, Matthias Ganz, xorlab’s CTO, and I realized that the concepts we were working on could be used to fight real-life cyber-attacks.

What do you expect from the Venture Leaders roadshow, and how will it help you achieve your vision?
To validate our technology in the US market, expand our network of US VCs and potential US partners, and acquire a first customer in the US.

What is one thing not many people know about you?
I taught myself programming when I was 12 because I wanted to understand how computer games work. And the first programming language I learned was QBasic.

What is your favorite movie?
The Matrix (1999). Because of so many reasons: The great story, the philosophical ideas, the beautiful cinematography, and because computer security nerds were finally cool.

What is always in your fridge?
Almond butter (Mandelmus).

What are you most proud of?
To work with a team of people who are not just incredibly smart and capable but also great human beings with whom I share a lot of values.

What advice would you give your teenage self?
Don’t listen to other people (at least not too often).

How did you come up with the name of your startup?
We generated a list of combinations with words from our field and then checked if the .com domain was still available. The shortlist was not too long, and we were lucky, as xorlab was one of our favorites, and it’s a pretty cool company name.

Where and when are you most productive?
During the evenings in the office or during the nights at home, when I get into the zone.

How and where do you clear your mind?
While going for a run in the woods.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
To focus and delegate (I am still improving this). There are so many things that you must do; you can’t do everything, so you need to learn how to focus and delegate, and in some cases, to just say no and let go. And this is really hard sometimes.

What is the best advice you have ever received, and from whom?
That in the end, it is more important to try than to be afraid of failure and not to try. My father gave me that advice.

Last but not least, could you show us your workspace? 



For more information and updates on xorlab and the Venture Leaders Technology, follow the Venture Leaders Technology 2021 team with #VLeadersTech on social media or subscribe to our newsletter. 
 
The Venture Leaders Technology 2021 program is organized by Venturelab and supported by dpd Switzerland, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Intel, Kellerhals Carrard, Rothschild & Co, and the Canton of Vaud.