Dean thought he'd have to bootstrap Axonius because no investor would fund a solution to a problem that had existed for 20 years. He was wrong—they've raised $500M.
The breakthrough came when a Fortune 500 company was actively being hacked by Chinese state actors. Their first customer almost said no—they had 20 bugs during the POC. But Dean's team fixed each one within 48 hours while their competitors took quarters to respond. That speed changed everything.
They went from zero to $100M ARR in under 5 years, created an entirely new category (cyber asset management), and achieved an NPS score in the 80s—unheard of in cybersecurity.
His framework for the three types of enterprise journeys will change how you think about positioning.
Why You Should Listen:
- Why responding to customer issues in hours changes everything.
- How to turn a "dormant pain everyone accepts" into a $500M+ company.
- Why speed beats everything.
- The 3 types of enterprise software journeys and which one VCs won't fund.
Keywords:
startup podcast, startup podcast for founders, Axonius, Dean Sysman, cybersecurity startup, enterprise sales, Unit 8200, cyber asset management, B2B SaaS, YC alumni
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:25 From Hacker to CyberSecurity
00:14:46 The three types of enterprise software journeys
00:18:41 Why time to value beats everything
00:29:33 Thought they'd bootstrap but VCs validated the problem
00:35:14 Failed POCs and landing first customer with 20 bugs
00:40:10 Zero to $100M ARR in under 5 years
00:45:24 When to know you have product-market fit
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