Abhishek Dubey
AI leader and entrepreneur with expertise in building and scaling enterprise solutions. Founded and led Bolster.ai as CEO, raising $40M and scaling to Fortune 1000 customers. Pioneered auto-takedowns of malicious websites using Small language models and agentic systems. Built and led multi-national teams across engineering, research, product, and go-to-market. Previously led large-scale AI research and security teams at Cisco TALOS, automating enterprise threat detection for Fortune 500 companies.
Experience & Education
Member, Board of Directors
2025 - PresentBay Area Council
Serving on three policy committees: Global Business and Investment, Tech & Innovation, and Workforce of the Future. The Bay Area Council, founded in 1945, represents over 370 member companies and works directly with lawmakers to advance policies strengthening the regional economy. In 2025, sponsored 10 bills and passed 7 into law.
Co-founder & CEO
2017 - 2024Bolster.ai
Founded and led Bolster.ai as CEO, building an enterprise security platform that protects companies from digital threats using advanced AI and machine learning. Bolster.ai was the first to automate manual takedowns that were previously sent by paralegals using AI, transforming a highly manual and cumbersome process. Raised $40M from top-tier investors including Microsoft's M12, scaled to 200+ enterprise customers including Fortune 500 companies, and grew to $7M in annual recurring revenue. In the early days, built the initial product foundation with a focus on ML and language models, deploying 11 small language models and automating internal SOC operations using agentic AI we called bots. As CEO, transitioned to leading both Product and Go-to-Market functions, scaling commercial success while building multi-national AI teams.
Senior Engineering Leader
2011 - 2016Cisco (TALOS Security Business Group)
Led Research and Support teams as part of Cisco's Security Business Group, known as TALOS. Managed a team of over 50 people, including machine learning teams with multiple PhD AI researchers, security research teams, and L1/L2 support teams. Automated manual website classification previously done by global contractors using ML, saving Cisco $1.5M annually and increasing classified websites by 1200%. Supported Cisco's Fortune 1000 customers while developing and refining ML algorithms for malicious site detection and ranking, improving threat detection capabilities.
MS, Information Security Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Graduate studies in information security, operating systems, entrepreneurship, and cryptography.
Strategic Decision and Risk Management
Stanford University
Executive education program focused on strategic decision-making, risk analysis, and management.
Patents
Real-Time Detection and Redirection from Counterfeit Websites
Describes a browser extension that extracts webpage content from a requested URL, sends it to a detection system for analysis, and redirects to a legitimate site if deemed counterfeit, preventing access to fraudulent content in real-time.
Real-Time Detection and Blocking of Counterfeit Websites
Focuses on blocking access to counterfeit URLs via a browser extension that analyzes extracted content; if fraudulent, it halts loading and may alert the user, emphasizing prevention over redirection.
Systems and Methods for Takedown of Counterfeit Websites
Outlines automated takedown processes, using APIs or emails to notify hosting providers with evidence (e.g., screenshots, IP details); includes periodic checks to confirm site removal, automating what was traditionally manual.
Systems and Methods for Determining User Intent at a Website and Responding to the User Intent
Analyzes referral URLs from server logs to detect if a prior site was fraudulent; blocks user requests if so, or processes them if legitimate, integrating machine learning for accurate fraud assessment.
Publications
Academic
Podcasts
Automation In The Loop with Abhilash Garimella
Building Production Ready AI Systems
Minimum Viable Intelligence with Aaksha Meghawat
How Enterprises Should Measure AI
Should You Own Your Automations - Nextdoor CIO
The Build vs Buy Decision
No One Cares About Your AI Tooling (Yet)
Why Enterprises Demand 24/7 Context & What Really Stops Adoption
The Secret To C-Suite Trust With Sangram Dash
Simplification, Clarity and Producing Results
Data Alchemist with Yichen Jin
Converting Hidden Data into Business Gold
Transforming IT: From Operations to Strategic Partner
Simplicity is key in IT management