Disclosure certainty 5/5 debate potential 2/5

Doppel raised a $5M seed round from FTX in summer 2022

Kevin Tian · He pivoted at $1M ARR—then raised $120M. | Kevin Tian, Co-Founder of Doppel · PMF Show · Feb 19, 2026 · at 17:58

Kevin Tian, co-founder of cybersecurity startup Doppel, recounts the company's early funding history before the 2022 crypto downturn.

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“So we actually raised the seed round summer of 2022. It was a five million dollar seed round with FTX.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

More from Kevin Tian

Opinion
Tian: Impersonating anyone is the biggest threat posed by AI
“With AI, like the biggest threat is really how easy it is to impersonate anyone or anything.”
Kevin Tian Feb 19, 2026 ▶ 8:04 He pivoted at $1M ARR—then raised $120M. | Kevin Tian, Co-Founder of Doppel · PMF Show
Opinion
Kevin Tian: Buyer's agents add little value to home-buying process
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Kevin Tian Feb 19, 2026 ▶ 5:52 He pivoted at $1M ARR—then raised $120M. | Kevin Tian, Co-Founder of Doppel · PMF Show
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Doppel pivoted to cybersecurity despite reaching low seven-figure ARR
“At that point, I'd say we just broke seven figures, low seven figures.”
Kevin Tian Feb 19, 2026 ▶ 28:35 He pivoted at $1M ARR—then raised $120M. | Kevin Tian, Co-Founder of Doppel · PMF Show
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Doppel grew revenue 10x in 2023 during its cybersecurity pivot
“We 10 X our revenue that year and we had a big, big focus and pipeline on the new pivot and the new market we were going after.”
Kevin Tian Feb 19, 2026 ▶ 33:12 He pivoted at $1M ARR—then raised $120M. | Kevin Tian, Co-Founder of Doppel · PMF Show
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tian: Doppel's first customer contract was $5,000 per month
“The very first contract we had at Doppel was for five K a month.”
Kevin Tian Feb 19, 2026 ▶ 15:18 He pivoted at $1M ARR—then raised $120M. | Kevin Tian, Co-Founder of Doppel · PMF Show
Disclosure
Doppel had only one NFT API customer before shutting it down
“Basically conversations with me and Rahul saying like, hey, we actually only have one customer using this API. We've been trying to get this other customer to use this API, and they're not willing to pay us that much for it. And how many NFT marketplaces are t…”
Kevin Tian Feb 19, 2026 ▶ 23:35 He pivoted at $1M ARR—then raised $120M. | Kevin Tian, Co-Founder of Doppel · PMF Show
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