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Gili Raanan

Founder and General Partner, Cyberstarts · 2 appearances on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorfounder@giliraanan ↗LinkedIn ↗cyberstarts.com ↗Wikipedia ↗

Gili Raanan is an Israeli venture capitalist who founded cybersecurity venture firm Cyberstarts following a tenure as a General Partner at Sequoia Capital. He has served as a seed investor in prominent cybersecurity and infrastructure companies, including Wiz, Island, Cyera, and Armis.

66statements → 16claims → 7claims resolved → 57%fully supported → 4.09/5average certainty → 2.44/5average debate potential → 4.2/5argument clarity · the sources → 7said about them ↓

4 supported 2 partly supported 1 contradicted 2 not yet assessed 7 not checkable as stated how the 16 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

5 predictions · 11 assertions · 5 opinions · 28 insights · 17 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 16 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 7 are resolved, 2 are not yet assessed, and 7 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Gili argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Raanan: Wiz co-founder Assaf Rappaport knew nothing about cloud security in 2012
“Now, did Asaf know anything about cloud and cloud security in 2012? I guarantee you not.”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 29:20 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Gili Raanan: 2021-level valuations have returned to private markets
“20, 20, 21 is back for the past four or five weeks. We are definitely in in at least in private markets when we are in a new Bull run, you know, valuations are high, skyrocketing.”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 55:15 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
70% certainty 4
67% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

4.2 / 5 directness 4.3 · coherence 4.4 · precision 4 · compression 3.6

redirected or did not address 5 of 42 assessed questions (12%). Watch them ▸

This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

201 words/min while actually speaking · 35.5 um and uh per 1k words · 40.9 false starts per 1k · 30.8% of pauses land inside a clause

English is their second language (first language: Hebrew). These numbers measure fluency in English. They do not measure thought; the argument clarity score above is read from substance alone.

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 13,318 words across 2 episodes of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 2 rated episodes:

host pushback ▾ 4/10
pushed back at the host ▾ 3.5/10
setup questions received 35%

Everything Gili Raanan said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Prediction Not checkable as stated
Raanan: Venture market imbalance will lead to catastrophe and wasted capital
“I think it's going to end up with some serious catastrophe for many of the players. The market is not balanced. It means that a lot of that cash that's flowing into the market would be wasted.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 0:00 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Gili Raanan: Selfishness and greed are good traits for seed investors
“We need to be selfish, and we need to be greedy. Those are good trades for an early stage investor.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 0:33 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Raanan: The venture capital asset class does not work as a whole
“The venture business as a whole doesn't work. It doesn't work. It shouldn't work. And returns distribution are not divided equally between players.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 2:02 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Gili Raanan: Over-Capitalizing Founders Is Not a Risk for VCs
“I'm not in a business of babysitting founders. And for me, this is like babysitting the founder. If we trust them to build, in my case, an important cybersecurity company that's critical to all the major banks in the US, and you put in their hands the safety o…”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 26:06 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Raanan: I never discuss gross margins with early-stage startups
“How much I discuss, how often I discuss gross margins with our, with my early stage companies? Never.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 27:51 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Raanan: TAM and tech differentiators are useless for seed investing
“In the early days I was looking at markets and total addressable market time and technology and differentiators. And I simply realized that all of that is bullshit. You know, it's not important at all.”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 16:17 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Raanan targets founders who overcame severe childhood hardships like divorce and isolation
“So I'm looking for the individual who, whose parents went through ugly divorces. I'm looking for the individual who lived in a closet for a while. I'm looking for the individual who was a socially isolated child. I'm looking for people who went through real di…”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 23:13 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Gili Raanan: AI will not reduce capital needed for big startups soon
“AI, which at least in the next few years would not change that materially. And it takes a lot of money to build large companies.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 12:01 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Raanan: Hyper-growth startups do not naturally regress to average growth rates
“Whenever a business is getting to a point it's growing super fast, year over year, It becomes part of their DNA. So it would not slow down just because, you know, averages and things like that. The need to be a significant external event to slow them down. So …”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 14:57 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Gili Raanan: Venture capital is the science of exceptions, not linear rules
“The conclusion, again, in my mind, is that we are exercising the science of exceptions. And it's good that we share that, those lessons, but if you just take those lessons and apply them linearly I think that it would be very hard for you.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 23:15 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Open · timeframe Mar 2031
Raanan: Within five years, a startup will make Wiz's growth look slow
“I'm, Confident that five years from now, I, I'll be able to show you, I'll be able to demonstrate another team that, you know, showing that actually wheeze was a slog and they can move much faster and they've done whatever it is.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 31:06 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Raanan: An IPO is a marketing event, not a liquidity event
“Going public is not a financial event. It's a branding event. It's a, it's an occasion where you tell your customers, your partners, your employees, your future employees, I'm here to stay. That's IPO. Cause typically it's not a financial event. It's not a liq…”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 34:33 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Raanan: All Cyberstarts portfolio companies are eventually for sale at the right price
“Eventually, all my companies are for sale at the right price. I'm not a collector. I'm an investor.”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 0:10 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Raanan: Cyberstarts interviews founders about childhood background rather than product or market
“When I started CiderStarts in 2018, I decided that I would not even ask them about market or technology or product, you know, so I meet with a team, a new team, which I don't know, and we spend an hour, you know, speaking about their childhood and their mother…”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 19:24 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Gili Raanan: Asking customers about pain points yields useless answers
“You don't ask the, what's your biggest pain point or what's your biggest need? Because again, you get so many BS answers. It's not even funny.”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 32:42 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Gili Raanan: Being first to market in cybersecurity is not an advantage
“I think that cyber security is, is a market where being first to market is not necessarily an advantage. Sometimes it's better to be number two, number three to market. And come in with more knowledge, more context, and simply, you know, deliver a better produ…”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 51:48 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Contradicted
Gili Raanan: 2021-level valuations have returned to private markets
“20, 20, 21 is back for the past four or five weeks. We are definitely in in at least in private markets when we are in a new Bull run, you know, valuations are high, skyrocketing.”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 55:15 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Raanan: Startups should make demand generation their first marketing hire
“You asked me a year ago, who would be the first hire at a marketing organization? That would be product marketing. My mind changed. My answer today is demand generation. And that can accelerate, that can make a huge impact on the business early on.”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 1:04:38 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Raanan: Founders claiming universal customer love are misreading feedback
“Whenever entrepreneurs tell me that customers love what we do. Every customer we spoke with like to get our product, you know, like to get their hands on a product. You probably misunderstood the customer. You probably didn't listen well in a conversation. Tha…”
Gili Raanan Mar 18, 2024 ▶ 1:06:13 Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisitions| E1128 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Gili Raanan says he is not in the business of babysitting founders
“I'm not in the business of babysitting founders.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 0:49 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Opinion
Raanan: LPs who distribute venture allocations evenly should be worried
“If I'm a limited partner and I have distributed my venture allocation evenly, I wouldn't sleep well at night.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 3:21 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Gili Raanan: Early-stage product and market analysis is mostly analyzing smoke
“We know very little when we get into investments. We, you know, we analyze, if we analyze product ideas and markets, mostly we analyze smoke cause, you know, the founders would change their mind In, in just a few weeks, and it would be a different product, dif…”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 9:22 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Gili Raanan: High startup valuations will eventually suppress tech innovation
“My concern is around entry prices and what, and whether that would Limit innovation at some point in time because disappointment would show up.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 12:31 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Raanan: Wiz grew quarterly revenue from $1M to $24M in year one
“At Weez when you look at the first year of selling software, you know, the first quarter was a million dollar, and then second quarter of selling software was two million dollars, and then eight, and then 24.”
Gili Raanan Mar 28, 2026 ▶ 17:00 Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

Show 24statements(42 left)

The other half of the tape: Gili Raanan's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 7 times in 4 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Saam Motamedi 4Shardul Shah 1Harry Stebbings 1

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
003263202420252026episodesmentions
023202420252026episodes it came up in
0011.523202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 1 mention in 1 episode
2024 6 mentions in 3 episodes 2 per episode

Appearances (2)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan · 20VC with Harry Stebbing Mar 28, 2026 42m
Gili Raanan: One of the Best Seed Investor of All Time: 1 Decacon, 7 Unicorns, 4 Acquisiti Mar 18, 2024 47m
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