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They failed every POC—then grew their cybersecurity platform to $100M ARR in 5 years. | Dean Sysman, co-founder of Axonius

A Product Market Fit Show | Startup Podcast for Founders

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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

Send me a message to let me know what you think!

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Chapters

1. Intro (00:00:00)

2. From Hacker to CyberSecurity (00:02:25)

3. The three types of enterprise software journeys (00:14:46)

4. Why time to value beats everything (00:18:41)

5. Thought they'd bootstrap but VCs validated the problem (00:29:33)

6. Failed POCs and landing first customer with 20 bugs (00:35:14)

7. Zero to $100M ARR in under 5 years (00:40:10)

8. When to know you have product-market fit (00:45:24)

230 episodes

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