Alon Arvatz, co-founder of .5 and former founder of IntSights, discusses why he optimizes for market dominance and speed over minimizing founder dilution.
“And I also think there is a huge merit to being number one in your market. I prefer I don't know. I prefer eight percent in a company that is number one in its market than 15% in a company that is number three or four.”
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More from Alon Arvatz
Insight
Arvatz: Governments are rarely on the cybersecurity cutting edge due to air-gapping
“It's not that governments are in the cutting edge of doing cybersecurity. They typically aren't. Why? They don't need to, because they're not connected to the internet. So the risks are very different than the risks of the average company.”
Alon ArvatzFeb 10, 2025▶ 10:49He exited for $335M—& felt "emptiness". So he quit, gave up millions in earnout, & grew to $1M AR... · PMF Show
Insight
Arvatz: Build the UI and do backend work manually before automating
“That's what we did because we said, okay, we want to start engagement. We want to start selling. It will take us time to build a software. Let's in the meantime, build a UI. We'll do it manually behind the scenes. We'll learn how to do it right through the man…”
Alon ArvatzFeb 10, 2025▶ 18:26He exited for $335M—& felt "emptiness". So he quit, gave up millions in earnout, & grew to $1M AR... · PMF Show
Insight
Arvatz: Only fake backend workflows if they are automatable within four months
“I would only do something manually. If I know I can automate within three, four months, I wouldn't do something manually that I know it will take me at least a year to automate, which is something we did in insights and eventually it slowed us down.”
Alon ArvatzFeb 10, 2025▶ 21:40He exited for $335M—& felt "emptiness". So he quit, gave up millions in earnout, & grew to $1M AR... · PMF Show
AssertionNot checkable as stated
Arvatz: Cybersecurity startup seed rounds today are no less than $6 million
“Today, seed round for a cybersecurity company is no less than six million dollars.”
Alon ArvatzFeb 10, 2025▶ 24:08He exited for $335M—& felt "emptiness". So he quit, gave up millions in earnout, & grew to $1M AR... · PMF Show
Insight
Arvatz: First-time founders with market pull shouldn't settle for quick exits
“Don't think I need to, you know, do the exit and cash out and my next one will be a lot better because you might, you know, hit huge pain, huge market. You need to go full force. There are amazing companies that were built by first time founders. I don't need …”
Alon ArvatzFeb 10, 2025▶ 49:20He exited for $335M—& felt "emptiness". So he quit, gave up millions in earnout, & grew to $1M AR... · PMF Show
Insight
Arvatz: Watching military peers found startups builds peer confidence to launch
“And at some point you work with someone and he finished his service and he starts to start. He's like, Hey, this moron worked with me like two days ago in the same room. He can do a startup. I can also do a startup. Okay. And it becomes this place where it cre…”
Alon ArvatzFeb 10, 2025▶ 8:36He exited for $335M—& felt "emptiness". So he quit, gave up millions in earnout, & grew to $1M AR... · PMF Show
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