All Episodes

August 1, 2025 33 mins

In this episode of the How I'm Building This Podcast, Prateek interviews Chris Wallis, the Founder of Intruder, who shares his journey from growing up on a farm in the UK to becoming a successful entrepreneur in the cybersecurity space. He discusses the challenges of building a startup, the importance of hiring the right people, and how to create a cohesive team culture. Chris also delves into the evolution of Intruder's go-to-market strategy, the integration of AI in their processes, and the metrics he tracks to ensure business health. He emphasizes the need for caution when deploying AI in mission-critical systems and reflects on the importance of mental health for founders.

Takeaways:

  • He lived in a garden shed during an accelerator program to save costs.
  • Hiring is critical, and caring about the company matters more than just skills.
  • Self-learning is essential for cybersecurity roles.
  • Company culture is shaped by both hiring and firing decisions.
  • Chris initially thought building a product would attract customers.
  • Google Ads were effective in driving initial traffic to Intruder.
  • AI integration is approached cautiously, focusing on manual processes first.
  • Metrics like ARR and churn are vital for understanding business health.
  • Mental health management is crucial for long-term success as a founder.

Sound Bites:

  • "Hiring is the most critical piece of the job."
  • "You have to care when you come on board."

In this episode, we cover:

00:00 Introduction to Chris and Intruder

10:19 Chris's Journey to Founding Intruder

19:40 Hiring and Company Culture

28:28 Navigating Advice and Mental Health

32:12 Future Plans for Intruder


Where to find Chris:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-wallis

Intruder: www.intruder.io

Where to find Prateek:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateekmathur

Activated Scale: ⁠https://www.activatedscale.com⁠

For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email prateek@activatedscale.com

Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.