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Gili Raanan

Founder, Cyberstarts

Search every verified Gili Raanan interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Gili Raanan, founder of Cyberstarts, discussed the state of venture capital and early-stage startup growth in a March 2026 interview. He stated that the venture business as a whole "doesn't work" and that returns are not distributed equally among players, cautioning that expecting the business to work out broadly sets one up for disappointment. He also described what he considers exceptional growth for startups, citing a pace of 4x, 4x, 3x, and 3x on new annual recurring revenue over the first five years, which he calculated as 144x growth after five years. In a separate March 2026 conversation about Wiz, the cybersecurity company in which Cyberstarts made a $6 million seed investment, Raanan commented on the company's $32 billion outcome, noting that after its biggest-ever revenue quarter, the valuation did not seem irrational. He also expressed concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on cybersecurity, predicting a "darkest period" in the field over the next decade, with threat actors and defenders becoming sophisticated autonomous programs. He added that he does not think about exits in terms of valuation, viewing financial outcomes as a side effect of building strong businesses.

Recent appearances

  • Why Margins Don't Matter for Early-Stage Startups | Gili Raanan

    March 28, 2026 · 📺 20VC with Harry Stebbings

    Gili Raanan is the Founder of Cyberstarts, one of the best performing venture funds of the last decade. He is famed for being the seed investor in Wiz, Island and Cyera, leading to multiple 10x+ funds. He has the only remaining monopoly in venture; cyber security in Israel. If it is good, Gili sees it, it is that simple. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:27 Does the Venture Business Even Work Anymore? 08:27 Are We Just Being Boomers? The Counter-Argument on Outcome Sizes 10:38 Will Mega Funds Be Able to Return Venture Economics? 12:48 How to Tell If a…

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  • AI Side Quests, Software Debts, Nvidia GTC, Zaslav's Payday, Microsoft Reorg

    March 17, 2026 · 📺 TBPN

    06:57 AI Side Quests 23:17 𝕏 Timeline Reactions 45:47 Jensen Huang on Going to Space 49:13 Zaslav's Payday 52:56 Carried No, an anonymous X user known for his distinctive profile picture, discusses the unfolding crisis in software private equity and private credit markets, highlighting the unsustainable financing structures that have led to a looming debt repayment cliff in 2028-2029. He emphasizes the role of AI disruption in accelerating these challenges, as enterprise customers shift to shorter contract terms due to technological uncertainties, thereby undermining the traditional stability…

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  • Wiz: $6M Seed → $32B Exit | Inside the Biggest Cybersecurity Deal Ever

    March 11, 2026 · 📺 Sourcery with Molly O'Shea

    Gili Raanan is the Founder of Cyberstarts and one of the earliest investors behind Wiz, one of the most important cybersecurity companies of the modern era and now a $32B outcome. Before founding Cyberstarts, Gili spent nearly a decade at Sequoia and earlier built and sold 2 security companies to IBM and EMC. He also helped build the first real CAPTCHA implementation and the first web application firewall. In this conversation, Gili breaks down the Wiz story from the beginning: why he backed the team early with a $6M seed investment, how the company changed direction, what made its product ma…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →