Eugenio Pace on entrepreneurship
From Auth0 Founder on Building a Unicorn Company - ForgeCon 2025 · · OneSixOne Ventures
“Many confuse complex with difficult: building a company is simple in concept but incredibly difficult in practice because it requires discipline and the willingness to do painful, unglamorous work like apologizing to customers when things break.”
On , Eugenio Pace, CEO & Co-Founder at Auth0, spoke about entrepreneurship during Auth0 Founder on Building a Unicorn Company - ForgeCon 2025 on OneSixOne Ventures.
About Eugenio Pace
Eugenio Pace, co-founder and former CEO of Auth0, has continued to speak publicly about his entrepreneurial journey and the identity security market since Auth0's $6.5 billion acquisition by Okta in 2021. In a November 2025 fireside chat, Pace discussed his path from a 20-year career at Microsoft to founding Auth0 at age 42, emphasizing that most successful entrepreneurs start later in their careers and that timing and luck are significant components of success. He described Auth0's early days, including securing a first paying customer at $27 per month, and advocated for a developer-first approach, noting that competitors validate a market for investors. Pace also spoke about his philosophy of "one life" rather than work-life balance, stating that work takes different proportions at different stages and that being present when present is important. Pace has also addressed the evolution of the identity market following the Okta acquisition. In a 2023 podcast, he discussed the company's decision to create two specialized offerings: the Okta Workforce Identity Cloud and the Okta Customer Identity Cloud, powered by Auth0's technology. He has spoken about the importance of digital trust, describing identity as sitting at the intersection of security, privacy, and convenience. In a 2023 Spanish-language interview, Pace discussed privacy regulations, stating that regulations generally have a positive effect by making systems safe by default, and noted that privacy frameworks pioneered in the European Union are being adapted worldwide. He also highlighted what he called an unprecedented moment of opportunity for entrepreneurs, with lower capital requirements and global reach compared to thirty years ago.