Secure Ventures with Kyle McNulty

Kyle McNulty

Kyle McNulty interviews cutting-edge founders in the cyber security space to understand their plights, glories, and revolutionary products.

New episodes are published every other Tuesday.

If you are interested in sharing your story, please contact me at kyle@secureventures.io

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20 episodes
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Avg 44 min
English

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August 4 · 44 min
Tracebit | CEO Andy Smith on Modern Cyber Deception
Happy BlackHat to those who celebrate! Andy Smith is founder and CEO of Tracebit. Tracebit sells a cyber deception platform to lure attackers into targeting intentionally vulnerable targets, giving valuable information to defenders. Andy argues that as AI-driven attacks increase in exploit speed and complexity, deception will play more of a role than ever to provide early detection to defenders. Before Tracebit, Andy worked as a developer, including head of engineering at Tessian which was acquired by Proofpoint in 2022. In the episode we touch on his thesis for improved deception, his bike trip down the west coast of the US, his descent into cold outreach, including how he is successful, and more.
July 7 · 39 min
Exein | CEO Gianni Cuozzo on the Challenges of True Deep Tech
Gianni Cuozzo is founder and CEO at Exein. Exein is an OT and IoT security company providing enhanced endpoint monitoring, and the company has really hit its stride in the last couple of years having raised 100M euros in late 2025. As Gianni talks about in the episode, it’s been a long journey. He started his career in the intelligence community like some of the other OT security greats like the founders of Dragos, Claroty, and Armis. But when he started Exein in 2018, the market was not yet ready for his product. He knew that the adoption of new generation, more capable OT devices would present new security tooling opportunities, and he was willing to be patient for that moment. In the episode we discuss OT security dynamics, market timing, positioning as deep tech vs cyber, and more.
June 2 · 44 min
Project Discovery | CEO Rishi Sharma on AI Disruption in Software Exploitation
Project Discovery is an autonomous software testing platform with a focus on remediation rather than purely vulnerability identification. Before starting Project Discovery in 2021, Rishi worked as a security engineer for almost a decade, if you include the two years while he was still in high school where he was bringing in $50,000 a year from bug bounties. In the episode we discuss how Project Discovery emerged from an open-source labor of love, the wave of AI capabilities in software analysis, the future of bug bounties and penetration testing, the limitations of existing AI models (Mythos included), and more. https://projectdiscovery.io/
May 5 · 47 min
Oso | CEO Graham Neray on Agent Permissions, Why You Shouldn't Build in Stealth, and More
If you have any sort of connection to former congressman Barney Frank, please reach out to Graham! Graham Neray is CEO of Oso. Oso provides authorization, governance, and security for AI agents to help customers confidently control their agent footprint. The company was founded in 2019 for authorization-as-a-service more generally, and they have since found traction using their technology to secure AI adoption. The team has raised from some of the top investors in the world including Sequoia, Felicis, and Harpoon. Before Oso, Graham was at MongoDB where he started in product marketing before taking over as Chief of Staff in 2016. Over 7 years he helped the company grow revenue 250x and headcount 30x. In the episode we discuss the transformation of MongoDB over his tenure, the lessons that transferred (and the ones that didn't), the evolution of Oso, controversial takes on building in stealth and creating an open-core company, and a lot more. https://www.osohq.com/
April 7 · 53 min
JetStream | CEO Raj Rajamani on the EDR War and Agent Identity
Raj Rajamani is co-founder and CEO of JetStream. JetStream sells an AI agent governance and identity platform designed to help organizations identify and control their sprawling AI footprint. In a crowded space, JetStream has emerged as a leader with a world-class team and $34 million seed round. Before JetStream, Raj has a storied career as a product leader at several of the most important EDR companies of the last 15 years. He served as a VP of Product at Cylance, CPO at SentinelOne, and CPO at CrowdStrike. In the episode, we talk about the lessons from the winners of the EDR battle, his personal character changes throughout, and how his experience has set him up to lead a startup in arguably the most important security category right now. https://jetstream.security/
March 10 · 39 min
Duune: Founder Jack Austin on Surf Forecasting and Pursuing a Business of Passion
In this episode I talk to Jack Austin, founder of surf forecasting company Duune. If you are only interested in hearing from cyber founders, this episode is not for you. However, Jack works in cybersecurity full-time at F5 Networks, and this is very much a passion project in an industry he cares deeply about. We discuss his decision to start a company outside of cybersecurity, his tactics for taking on a large incumbent such as hyperlocalization, his marketing strategy reliant on community building with a social-first footprint, and more. We had fun with it, so I hope that comes through for the audience! If you live in LA and want access to the best local surf forecasts available, check out the website or download the mobile app. https://duunecrew.com/
February 17 · 40 min
Geordie | CEO Henry Comfort on AI Risk Management
With me in this episode is Henry Comfort, Co-founder and CEO of Geordie. Geordie is an AI observability and risk management platform designed to help organizations confidently and securely deploy AI models and agents. They raised a $6.5 million seed round last fall from General Catalyst and 1011 and were just announced as a finalist in the RSA Innovation Sandbox competition. Before Geordie, Henry worked as an executive at Darktrace, which was acquired by Thoma Bravo for over $5 billion in 2024. His career before Darktrace is even more unique. In the episode we discuss everything from security analogies for toxic gases in coal mines, enabling vs. controlling AI, the AI security buyer profile today, and more. https://www.geordie.ai/
January 7 · 47 min
Empirical Security | CEO Ed Bellis on Sales Pitfalls for Founders and Vulnerability Management
With me in this episode is Ed Bellis, co-founder and CEO of Empirical Security. Empirical uses a scoring system informed by customer data to create tailored risk prioritization models. Ed started Empirical in 2024 after leaving Cisco, three years after they acquired his previous company Kenna. Kenna was a vulnerability management and prioritization tool that aggregated data from an organization's scanners and enriched that data with threat intelligence to better prioritize risk. In many ways, Kenna helped lead the way in modern vulnerability management by creating an abstraction layer over the scanners themselves. Empirical is now further pushing the bounds following advances in machine learning and AI to go beyond Kenna's limitations. In the episode we discuss the alluring sales pitfalls for new founders, the importance of a "fast no", Cisco's acquisition strategy and execution, modern VM in light of AI penetration testing, and more. Empirical Website
Dec 2, 2025 · 49 min
Illumio | Founder & CEO Andrew Rubin on the Voice of the Customer and IPOs
Andrew Rubin is co-founder and CEO of Illumio. Illumio is a breach containment and network segmentation company that has become a mainstay in the cybersecurity market over the last decade. Illumio was last valued at almost $3 billion dollars and is now on the verge of going public as we discuss in the episode. Before Illumio, Andrew grew his career in sales at VoiceNet in the late 90s and early 2000s before moving to Cymtec, where he was VP of Sales for two years before taking over as CEO. That led him to love the CEO role and then start Illumio. In the episode, we discuss everything from redefining sales goals, meeting a co-founder (spoiler: in Andrew's case it was a lot of luck), preparing to IPO, including why the "IPO window" concept is silly, and more. Website
Nov 4, 2025 · 39 min
Virtru | CEO John Ackerly on Data Security and Building a Company with your Brother
With me in this episode is John Ackerly, co-founder and CEO of Virtru. John started Virtru with his brother Will over a decade ago to make data security more pervasive across mediums such as emails and files. Virtru has raised over $150 million to this point from investors such as ICONIQ and Bessemer and built a very healthy business on one of the core pillars of cybersecurity. John has an atypical background in business well-complemented by his brother's technical experience at NSA. One of my favorite lines from the episode: he always thought he would start a business with his other brother. In the episode we discuss pricing strategy, which is certainly not all science, the founder outlook when starting a company, founding with family, and more. Website: https://www.virtru.com/
Sep 30, 2025 · 45 min
SPLX | CEO Kris Kamber on Founder Lessons from Sales and AI Security
Kris Kamber is CEO of SPLX AI. SPLX performs security testing and red teaming for AI agents, helping organizations detect vulnerabilities in their constantly expanding agent deployments. Before SPLX, Kris worked a handful of sales jobs, starting in telecom before hustling his way into Zscaler. I enjoyed asking him about the specific lessons from working in sales such as setting metrics and compensation. He's the first person who has described to me a workplace filled with arrogant and cocky people and also illustrated why he was attracted to that environment. We also touched on how he met his co-founder through a conversation on a plane and what compelled him to build a company at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity given his background. SPLX Website
Aug 26, 2025 · 42 min
Onapsis | CEO Mariano Nunez on Securing SAP Applications
Mariano founded Onapsis back in 2009 to address the challenges securing a growing new class of technology: ERP systems. After working at CYBSEC for 5 years doing offensive security research, he discovered just how vulnerable SAP applications could be. Onapsis is sneakily a juggernaut, having raised a $55 million Series D in 2020. And while they started focused on SAP, they have since expanded into related tools such as Oracle. They have certainly established themselves as core to securing an often overlooked component of IT infrastructure. In the conversation we discuss the founding story, why SAP couldn't do this themselves, and how he has thought about growth opportunities over the last 16 years. Website
Jul 29, 2025 · 46 min
Operant AI | CEO Vrajesh Bhavsar on Holistic AI Security
Vrajesh is co-founder and CEO at Operant AI. Operant AI is a holistic AI security platform, helping organizations discover, detect, and defend AI deployments. Operant raised a $10 million dollar Series A last fall from Felicis and SineWave, and the company continues to expand its offerings within AI security. Before Operant, Vrajesh worked at Apple, Qualcomm, Arm, and Scaled Inference, rounding out an exceptionally technical background with several quality technology companies. In the episode we discuss his career transition from extremely technical, kernel-level engineering to management, how he thinks about timing a market, and how the vision for Operant's product was cemented from day one rather than bolted together over time. Website
Jul 15, 2025 · 44 min
Descope | Co-founder Rishi Bhargava on Cybersecurity GTM
With me in this episode is Rishi Bhargava, co-founder of Descope. Rishi has a standout background having founded Demisto in 2015 and then selling to Palo Alto Networks in 2019 for over $500 million dollars. Before Demisto, he was a VP at McAfee and Intel. Rishi is extremely knowledgable about go-to-market in the cyber domain, and we dove into his lessons learned over his career and how he has applied those to Descope for customer identity. Website
Jul 1, 2025 · 46 min
FusionAuth | CTO Brian Pontarelli on Bootstrapping and Customer Identity
Brian Pontarelli is co-founder and CTO of FusionAuth. FusionAuth helps companies easily roll authentication workflows for their public facing applications. For example, FusionAuth is an alternative to writing custom code for user creation and multi-factor authentication login for a new web application. FusionAuth is entirely bootstrapped, and the company has successfully become a legitimate enterprise option for customer identity. Before FusionAuth, Brian started CleanSpeak, one of the original companies for profanity filters in chat interfaces. Brian is still the CEO of both businesses, and he tells the story of how the two tie together in our conversation. Website
Jun 17, 2025 · 43 min
Andromeda | CTO Kamal Muralidharan on Offshore Development and Identity Sprawl
Kamal is co-founder and CTO at Andromeda, which is building an identity management solution to help companies better understand their identity footprint and manage excessive permissions across disparate platforms. Kamal uses the term "digital incarnation" which resonated with me given the number of accounts a single human may have across different platforms. Kamal worked as an engineer and engineering leader for two decades across Oracle, Ebay, and Paypal before starting Andromeda in 2023. In the episode, we start by discussing his experience working as an offshore developer in India and how that influences his own perspective on leveraging offshore teams today. We also cover the cultural differences at eBay and Paypal, how that influenced his security mindset, the origin story of Andromeda, and the future of identity.
Jun 3, 2025 · 29 min
Dreamit Cyber Founders Summit: David Cass (CISO) from GSR
This episode was recorded live at the Dreamit Cyber Founders Summit during RSA. Huge thanks to the Dreamit team for including me during their inaugural event! David Cass is the CISO at GSR, which is a cryptocurrency market maker. For the finance uninitiated, that basically means they buy and sell cryptocurrencies in large volumes to then buy and sell to other parties. As a result, David's role entails a lot more than the average CISO. As he will mention, it is his job to secure GSR's corporate IT like any CISO, but he also has to sign off that the cryptocurrencies they are trading are secure enough to hold a financial position without undue risk to the company. David therefore has one of the most advanced perspectives on the cybersecurity controls for cryptocurrencies. In the conversation we discussed his views on the productization of web3 security, cryptocurrency regulation, and the successes behind his CISO community CISOs connect. GSR Dreamit
May 20, 2025 · 37 min
Securiti AI | CEO Rehan Jalil on Building Three Nine-Figure Businesses
Rehan is CEO and founder of Securiti AI, which is providing a data command center to help organizations secure and enable their data for AI use cases. Rehan as an incredible track record which we discuss in more detail on the episode. He sold his first company for $180 million, and his second company for $280 million. Securiti AI has already raised $180 million to date from top tier investors, and they are geared up for an even bigger number. I was incredibly impressed with his track record identifying landmark technology trends and then building differentiated businesses with tailwinds from those trends. In the episode we walk through how each of these experiences built on one another, the rationale for each business, and how Securiti AI is positioned at the intersection of three of the most pivotal technology growth areas: data, AI, and cybersecurity.
May 6, 2025 · 50 min
Blueflag | CEO Raj Mallempati on Cybersecurity Marketing and Access Rightsizing
Raj is CEO and co-founder of Blueflag, which helps ensure developers only have the access permissions needed for their roles, reducing risk of excess exposure. Raj started his career as an engineer and then in marketing at Adobe and VMware before taking on a COO role at Cloudknox, which they later sold to Microsoft. Raj took his lessons from working with identity at Cloudknox and applied them to designing Blueflag while paying attention to the nuanced differences for the development lifecycle. In the episode we discuss his core tenets of successful marketing in cybersecurity, the promise and challenges of cloud infrastructure entitlements management, the value of his time as an entrepreneur in residence, and how he has constantly reevaluated strategy at Blueflag informed by his previous experience. Website
Apr 22, 2025 · 51 min
Semgrep | CPO Luke O’Malley on Iteration and the Innovator’s Dilemma with AI
Luke is Chief Product Officer and co-founder at Semgrep. Semgrep performs static application security testing, a form of code analysis, and has grown to become one of the mainstay application security tools on the market over the last eight years. Luke started Semgrep after three years at Palantir as a software engineer and product manager, and this episode really helped drive home the supportive community amongst former Palantir employees. In the discussion we cover his early entrepreneurial efforts such as modifying Xboxes, the 17 different product variations they tried before the current form of Semgrep, and how he thinks about the innovator's dilemma as a growth-stage company in a vertical being disrupted by AI. Website

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