Shivangi Nadkarni, co-founder and CEO of Arrka, reflects on building a business at the intersection of information security and privacy. The discussion follows Arrka’s evolution from exploratory consulting work to a privacy management platform, while drawing out lessons about persistence, flexibility, and attention to detail.
Shivangi on X
Shivangi brought extensive experience in information security, risk management, e-commerce, and networking to entrepreneurship. Her earlier career included Wipro and Sify, where she worked in an environment that behaved like a startup before the label became common. She also contributed to India’s privacy profession, including work with DSCI on its privacy certifications and authoring the body of knowledge for the DCPP program.
After leaving corporate employment, Shivangi experienced two unsuccessful attempts at starting something independently. She later joined forces with co-founder Samir Ranjan. The pair deliberately avoided becoming a conventional systems integrator or consulting firm, although it took several years of experimentation to define Arrka’s direction.
Arrka initially helped small and midsized companies establish practical security programs while its privacy work grew in parallel. That experience exposed a structural gap: much of the strongest consulting talent served a small group of large organizations, leaving many other businesses without affordable access to comparable expertise.
Training alone could not close that gap, so the founders looked to automation. Their answer became a software-as-a-service privacy management platform designed to help organizations assess, implement, and operate privacy and security programs. The platform also supported Arrka’s work as an outsourced CISO or data protection officer.
Shivangi describes herself as a planner who makes detailed lists and organizes her calendar carefully. Her days combine operational questions, business development, current client work, and internal reviews. She also reserves time to follow developments in security and privacy because the field changes too quickly to rely on past knowledge.
Even with that planning, a day’s list often remains incomplete. Entrepreneurship introduces continuous challenges: keeping commitments, supporting a distributed team, managing cash flow, covering monthly costs, and still finding resources to grow. Shivangi’s response is pragmatic optimism—acknowledge the difficulty, avoid dwelling on it, and continue moving.
The conversation presents privacy as more than a compliance exercise. New privacy rules were changing how organizations handle data and, in turn, changing basic business practices. Shivangi and her co-founder also viewed their work as a contribution to the larger goal of making technology safer and more respectful of privacy, which helped sustain them through difficult periods.
First, Shivangi advises people not to confine themselves to what they studied or previously did. Opportunities often arrive from unexpected directions, and mentors helped her move beyond boundaries she had once placed around herself. Second, she challenges the myth of overnight success: progress requires persistence, even when the destination changes. Third, she stresses detail. Both risks and opportunities can be hidden in the specifics.
