Every venture capitalist talks about “power laws.”
In our industry, a small number of companies create the overwhelming majority of value. But what the spreadsheets and portfolio math don’t capture is how those companies actually begin — often as a simple conviction about people and a problem that matters.
Long Before Wiz
I first met Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, Yinon Costica, and Roy Reznik back in 2012, when I was the seed investor in their previous company, Adallom. Even then, it was clear they had something rare: technical depth, execution ability, and a vision that went beyond incremental improvements.
That company was eventually acquired by Microsoft and became the foundation for what is now Microsoft’s cloud security business.
But the most important thing was the team. When founders with that combination of talent decide to build again, you pay attention.
The Moment Wiz Was Born
In 2020, the world was rapidly moving to the cloud. But security hadn’t caught up.
Organizations were relying on fragmented tools that were complex to deploy, reactive by design, and built for infrastructure that no longer existed.
Wiz saw the gap clearly.
Instead of adding another tool to the pile, they took a bold approach: build a holistic, cloud-native security platform from the ground up.
The architecture was fundamentally different. Wiz could analyze entire cloud environments quickly and identify vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and identity risks faster and more effectively than anything else on the market.
From the beginning, the ambition wasn’t just to build a product. It was to build the cloud security platform companies would rely on by default.
The Early Days
When we co-led the seed round in Wiz at Cyberstarts, it was based on conviction in the team and the problem. But conviction alone doesn’t build a company.
What happened next did.
Wiz became one of the fastest-growing enterprise software companies ever. In just a few years, it became the trusted security partner for many of the world’s largest organizations, including companies across the Fortune 100.
And they did it while staying relentlessly focused on product and customer value.
The Lesson We Learned at Wiz
The big logo is not the trap. Losing your identity is. Large customers can sometimes pull startups off course. They can push you to build custom solutions and turn you into a service shop. But when the demands of a large customer align with your 12–18 month roadmap, something different happens.
It becomes acceleration.
The right customer doesn’t just buy your product. They pull you into the center of the market. They make you the standard.
Wiz did this incredibly well.
→ A small team with a clear vision.
→ A relentless focus on product.
→ And a belief that cloud security could be fundamentally better.
A Personal Note
To say I am proud of this team is an understatement.
Seeing a company we believed in from day one reach this level of success is incredibly rewarding. The Cyberstarts team is thrilled to have partnered with the amazing Wiz team throughout the entire journey.
And the best part? I have a strong feeling this story is far from over.
