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Oct 31, 2024 · 16m · top-founders

His cap table will shock you. $100m revenue, $750m valuation in his series D with Coro Co-Founder Dror Liwer

Dror Liwer · 8m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this interview with Nathan Latka, Coro co-founder Dror Liwer explores the startup's rapid scaling past $100 million in ARR at a $750 million valuation, detailing its strategic pivot to SMB cybersecurity, cap table dilution, and long-term equity strategy.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 44.7% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 4.0 Guest disagreement 2.3 Nathan pushing back 3.3
05100:0010:001:28–4:31 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Coro's Pivot from Enterprise Niche to SMB Platform Nathan investigates Coro's sluggish early revenue trajectory from 2014 to 2019. Dror educates the audience and host on the prohibitive overhead and friction of selling niche products to CISOs in the enterprise stack.4:31–6:55 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Founding Equity Distribution and Capturing SMB Cyber Opportunity Nathan digs into the equal 25% initial founder split and early valuations before revenue. Dror turns the room into an interactive pitch on SMB cybersecurity neglect.6:56–10:04 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Cross-Industry Adoption and Workspace Protection Boundaries Nathan brings up a hypothetical automotive hacking scenario, which Dror politely corrects by explaining Coro's actual focus on workspace and user security rather than IoT systems.10:05–14:02 · Nathan as informed peer 7/10 Scaling ARR Trajectory and Cap Table Dilution Breakdown Nathan displays an unprompted model of Coro's cap table and presses Dror on dilution risks and exit viability. Dror pushes back on the premise that dilution matters compared to building a massive ARR business.1:28–4:31 · Guest teaching 5/10 Coro's Pivot from Enterprise Niche to SMB Platform Nathan investigates Coro's sluggish early revenue trajectory from 2014 to 2019. Dror educates the audience and host on the prohibitive overhead and friction of selling niche products to CISOs in the enterprise stack.4:31–6:55 · Guest teaching 3/10 Founding Equity Distribution and Capturing SMB Cyber Opportunity Nathan digs into the equal 25% initial founder split and early valuations before revenue. Dror turns the room into an interactive pitch on SMB cybersecurity neglect.6:56–10:04 · Guest teaching 5/10 Cross-Industry Adoption and Workspace Protection Boundaries Nathan brings up a hypothetical automotive hacking scenario, which Dror politely corrects by explaining Coro's actual focus on workspace and user security rather than IoT systems.10:05–14:02 · Guest teaching 3/10 Scaling ARR Trajectory and Cap Table Dilution Breakdown Nathan displays an unprompted model of Coro's cap table and presses Dror on dilution risks and exit viability. Dror pushes back on the premise that dilution matters compared to building a massive ARR business.1:28–4:31 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Coro's Pivot from Enterprise Niche to SMB Platform Nathan investigates Coro's sluggish early revenue trajectory from 2014 to 2019. Dror educates the audience and host on the prohibitive overhead and friction of selling niche products to CISOs in the enterprise stack.4:31–6:55 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Founding Equity Distribution and Capturing SMB Cyber Opportunity Nathan digs into the equal 25% initial founder split and early valuations before revenue. Dror turns the room into an interactive pitch on SMB cybersecurity neglect.6:56–10:04 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Cross-Industry Adoption and Workspace Protection Boundaries Nathan brings up a hypothetical automotive hacking scenario, which Dror politely corrects by explaining Coro's actual focus on workspace and user security rather than IoT systems.10:05–14:02 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Scaling ARR Trajectory and Cap Table Dilution Breakdown Nathan displays an unprompted model of Coro's cap table and presses Dror on dilution risks and exit viability. Dror pushes back on the premise that dilution matters compared to building a massive ARR business.1:28–4:31 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Coro's Pivot from Enterprise Niche to SMB Platform Nathan investigates Coro's sluggish early revenue trajectory from 2014 to 2019. Dror educates the audience and host on the prohibitive overhead and friction of selling niche products to CISOs in the enterprise stack.4:31–6:55 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Founding Equity Distribution and Capturing SMB Cyber Opportunity Nathan digs into the equal 25% initial founder split and early valuations before revenue. Dror turns the room into an interactive pitch on SMB cybersecurity neglect.6:56–10:04 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Cross-Industry Adoption and Workspace Protection Boundaries Nathan brings up a hypothetical automotive hacking scenario, which Dror politely corrects by explaining Coro's actual focus on workspace and user security rather than IoT systems.10:05–14:02 · Nathan pushing back 6/10 Scaling ARR Trajectory and Cap Table Dilution Breakdown Nathan displays an unprompted model of Coro's cap table and presses Dror on dilution risks and exit viability. Dror pushes back on the premise that dilution matters compared to building a massive ARR business.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 50.9% · guest 49.1%0:00 · Nathan 50.9% · guest 49.1%3:00 · Nathan 34.2% · guest 65.8%3:00 · Nathan 34.2% · guest 65.8%6:00 · Nathan 29.7% · guest 70.3%6:00 · Nathan 29.7% · guest 70.3%9:00 · Nathan 60.1% · guest 39.9%9:00 · Nathan 60.1% · guest 39.9%12:00 · Nathan 35.3% · guest 64.7%12:00 · Nathan 35.3% · guest 64.7%15:00 · Nathan 72.3% · guest 27.7%15:00 · Nathan 72.3% · guest 27.7%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 12:29 Rejecting exit and dilution anxiety

Dror directly dismisses the premise of worrying about dilution, arguing that owning a small slice of a multi-billion organization beats owning a huge chunk of a tiny one.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 12:29 Pushing on early employee downside and exit limits

Nathan refuses to accept Dror's optimistic stance on dilution, arguing that raising massive capital shrinks exit options and risks wiping out early employees.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 3:52 Why enterprise CISOs resist niche security tools

Dror clarifies that enterprises refuse niche software not due to licensing costs, but because managing and staffing 40 distinct security layers creates unbearable complexity.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:44 Unveiling modeled cap table and dilution waterfalls

Nathan demonstrates high domain competence by reverse-engineering Coro's ownership dilution round by round on stage.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Coro's Pivot from Enterprise Niche to SMB Platform 4522 Nathan investigates Coro's sluggish early revenue trajectory from 2014 to 2019. Dror educates the audience and host on the prohibitive overhead and friction of selling niche products to CISOs in the enterprise stack.
Founding Equity Distribution and Capturing SMB Cyber Opportunity 5323 Nathan digs into the equal 25% initial founder split and early valuations before revenue. Dror turns the room into an interactive pitch on SMB cybersecurity neglect.
Cross-Industry Adoption and Workspace Protection Boundaries 4522 Nathan brings up a hypothetical automotive hacking scenario, which Dror politely corrects by explaining Coro's actual focus on workspace and user security rather than IoT systems.
Scaling ARR Trajectory and Cap Table Dilution Breakdown 7336 Nathan displays an unprompted model of Coro's cap table and presses Dror on dilution risks and exit viability. Dror pushes back on the premise that dilution matters compared to building a massive ARR business.

Statements from this episode (12)

Disclosure
Liwer confirms Coro's Series D valuation was close to $750M
“The press has confirmed, has stated, ah, we don't say it publicly, but the press said it was seven 50, and they were pretty close.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 1:17
Assertion Supported
Liwer: The Average Enterprise Buys 40 Different Cybersecurity Products
“An average company on the enterprise side will have 40 different cybersecurity products that they've bought.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 4:15
Disclosure
Coro's four co-founders split founding equity equally at 25% each
“We all brought so much to the table, so it was clear that each one of us has equal value, and therefore we should have equal share.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 4:51
Insight
Liwer: Companies pay $50/user on CRM but resist $15/month for cyber
“Everybody in this room will spend easily 50 bucks a user on CRM, but they won't spend 15 dollars a month on cybersecurity.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 6:38
Disclosure
Liwer: Coro sees demand spikes in education and automotive
“So right now we're seeing two spikes in education and in automotive and that's because these two industries have suffered a significant amount of attacks in the last couple of years, so they were waking up to the reality and understanding that they need to mak…”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 8:55
Disclosure
Liwer: Coro costs $15 per user monthly for its platform
“Because it's an all-in-one, it's 15 bucks a month for the entire platform per user, very easy to digest.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 9:14
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Coro Grew ARR 3x Annually for Five Years Before Slowing to 2x
“So we did five years of three X. Uh-huh. And then this year's gonna be our first two X year. Because the base number has become so big.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 10:31
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Liwer: Coro Is on Track to Hit $100M ARR in 2024
“We are on track for that.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 10:41
Assertion Supported
Coro Raised $155M in Series C and $100M in Series D
“No, the Series D was a hundred million. There is an error here. The Series C was actually a 155.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 10:56
Disclosure
Liwer: Coro Founders Received Equity Top-Ups Across Funding Rounds
“So there were top ops along the way. Because it's important to the investors to make sure that the founders stay very engaged, and that's the way a smart investor thinks.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 12:05
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Liwer: Mid-Market and SMB Cybersecurity TAM Is About $110B
“The TAM is about a hundred and ten billion dollars in our market, and we want to be the dominant player in that market, so we're much more interested in building the largest, the most successful company in mid-market small business cybersecurity rather than th…”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 13:30
Opinion
Liwer: Coro's Offering and TAM Justify a $10B Valuation Relative to Wiz
“If we're half of what they are, and our offering is actually much wider, and our TAM is much bigger than theirs, then I'd say that would be fair.”
Dror Liwer Oct 31, 2024 ▶ 15:05
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