This Entrepreneur Raised $50 Million To Allow Businesses To Run Cloud Applications With Complete Data Security And Privacy

In the world of cybersecurity entrepreneurship, few stories are as inspiring and insightful as that of Ayal Yogev, co-founder and CEO of Anjuna. Ayal’s journey weaves through Israel’s renowned Unit 8200, Silicon Valley startups, and the transformative experiences of founding his own company.

This narrative provides a masterclass in building and scaling businesses, fostering a winning culture, and navigating the challenges of fundraising. Ayal talks in detail about his experiences at Y Combinator, getting term sheets, and learning lessons from renowned global entrepreneurs.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

From Israel to Silicon Valley: Foundations of a Cybersecurity Visionary

Born in Israel, Ayal’s early life was split between his homeland and Silicon Valley, where his father’s job brought the family in the early ’90s. After returning to Israel, he joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), serving in the elite Unit 8200, often called the “Israeli NSA.”

Here, Ayal developed a lifelong passion for cybersecurity. Unit 8200’s focus on national security, combined with its collaborative and high-stakes environment, was formative for Ayal. “It’s like a tech company in many ways,” he explains, “but the stakes are life and death.”

Ayal is super enthusiastic about cybersecurity and enterprise security, which he considers very interesting, deep, and technical. You can do many exciting things in the field, which is why many startups in the space are emerging quickly.

The IDF experience not only instilled discipline and technical expertise but also fostered a network of exceptional peers. “Some of the smartest and most successful entrepreneurs and investors I know today are people I met in Unit 8200,” Ayal reflects. He has stayed connected with them.

Israel’s status as a global cybersecurity hub, he notes, stems from the military funneling top tech talent into units like 8200. This parallels the U.S.’s athletic landscape. While America produces world-class athletes, its soccer teams lag.

That’s because top talent gravitates toward basketball or football. In Israel, tech talent naturally flows into cybersecurity, creating a breeding ground for innovation. In Ayal’s opinion, kids in Israel grow up quickly since instead of going to college after high school, they join the army.

Lessons from the Field: The Building Blocks of Success

After getting his master’s degree at Berkeley, Ayal started his career working at several companies, playing pivotal roles. Some include Safend, Watchfire, Impreva, Opus Capital, Lookout, OpenDNS, and SafeBreach.

At these companies, Ayal honed his skills in enterprise security and product management. These experiences not only deepened his technical expertise but also shaped his views on company culture.

For Ayal, culture is the “secret ingredient” separating great companies from mediocre ones. Drawing inspiration from leaders like Eric Yuan, Zoom’s co-founder, Ayal emphasizes the importance of culture.

What matters in companies is not the 10 rules you might put up on the wall but the actual actions being implemented by the leaders like the CEO and core executives. Yuan distilled Zoom’s culture into one word: “care.” This resonated with Ayal, who has incorporated similar principles at Anjuna.

Ayal explains how he spent time in many companies, observing how they operate and the specific behaviors that are detrimental or helpful for the company’s success. One actionable example he shared: fostering a culture of accountability without blame.

“If something goes wrong, the focus should be on how to fix it and prevent it in the future—not on assigning blame. That’s the kind of approach that builds trust and encourages learning.” It ensures that the team takes away valuable lessons in what not to do again–a healthier approach.

The Spark to Start: Founding Anjuna

Despite his success in various leadership roles, Ayal always knew he wanted to build companies and be an entrepreneur. The turning point came when his longtime friend and now co-founder, Yan Michalevsky, approached him with an idea. Ayal and Yan go back 25 years from the IDF.

By that time, Ayal was at the right time in his career and looking for a revolutionary idea that would get him extremely excited. He wasn’t interested in feature-type applications that would just get acquired quickly and deliver a nice financial outcome. He wanted to create an impact.

Yan had discovered confidential computing during his Ph.D. at Stanford, a technology with the potential to revolutionize enterprise security. Ayal immediately saw its promise. “The best security solutions aren’t just about protection—they’re business enablers,” he says.

Confidential computing reminded him of the firewall’s transformative impact on the digital world in enabling organizations to connect to the internet safely. “This technology was the next big business enabler in security,” he realized.

Security and trust are the ultimate cornerstones on which businesses stand. Before fully committing, Ayal leaned on his product management instincts, spending months interviewing potential customers to validate the idea. Once the concept was proven, Anjuna was born.

Navigating Fundraising: Term Sheets and Y Combinator

After gathering extensive feedback, the next step was reaching out to potential investors. One of the defining moments for Anjuna came during its early fundraising journey. Ayal and Yan secured term sheets for their $3M seed round.

Simultaneously, they gained acceptance to Y Combinator (YC), the prestigious startup accelerator. This posed a dilemma: Should they proceed with the funding or delay it to focus on YC? Ultimately, they chose to do both—a decision Ayal is proud of to this day.

YC provided invaluable lessons in building a company, crafting a pitch, and raising capital. Its network also opened doors to further opportunities. Meanwhile, their investors brought unparalleled support and guidance, becoming trusted partners in Anjuna’s growth.

YC ensures candidates remain laser-focused and do all the right things to build a company. The YC experience, Ayal notes, significantly enhanced their valuation and ability to raise capital. “It’s like a badge of credibility that changes how investors perceive you,” he says.

Yet Drew Houston, Drobox’s CEO and co-founder, gave another lesson Ayal remembers too well to him. Drew advised him to focus entirely on finding the product-market fit since they were a seed-stage company. At that point, Anjuna should not care what competitors are doing.

Further, seed-stage companies don’t need PR to get customers. Their objective should be to get 10 customers who love the company and its products instead of 100 customers. Companies should build on the initial 10 customers and expand from there–a phenomenal piece of advice.

This dual advantage—a strong network and refined fundraising strategy—positioned Anjuna for long-term success.

The Anjuna Business Model and Raising Funding

Talking about the Anjuna business model, Ayal explains that it is an enterprise sales B2B company selling to the early adopters of security that are typically large regulated industries. For instance, financial services like banking and payments, insurance companies, healthcare, pharma, etc.

The government has also been a customer. Anjuna has provided services to oil and gas, manufacturing, and other industries. Anjuna assists banks in staying two steps ahead of cyber attacks since they handle money and finance.

Ayal reveals that Anjuna has raised over $60M, including a series A round led by Playground Global. This investor gave them a term sheet and capital without the need to go to the market. Next, Ayal and his co-founder initiated the series B round.

Ayal recalls how they had completed the preparations, such as compiling the investor deck, data room, customer references, and a list of potential investors sorted into tiers. He started by approaching tier 2 investors.

Storytelling is everything that Ayal Yogev was able to master. The key is capturing the essence of what you are doing in 15 to 20 slides. For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here), where the most critical slides are highlighted.

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Securing Insight Partners

Ayal Yogev’s experience with Insight Partners showcases how quickly opportunities can arise when preparation meets the right timing. Starting with tier-two conversations to build momentum, Ayal found himself approached by Insight even before he engaged with tier-one firms.

It began with an analyst reaching out, signaling Insight’s deep knowledge of his company and industry. Despite not feeling ready to speak, Ayal decided to take the low-risk opportunity to discuss the funding proposal.

What followed was a whirlwind: within five days of his initial conversation, Ayal had a term sheet in hand. This swift process underscored the thoroughness and expertise of Insight, particularly the partner who eventually joined Ayal’s board.

The questions asked during the discussions revealed a profound understanding of the space, making the process not just fast but enjoyable.

Lessons in Effective Board Management

As Ayal reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, he emphasizes the importance of proactive board management. “Board dynamics are like company culture—they happen whether you think about them or not. But if you plan and guide them, the outcomes are far better,” Ayal explains.

His approach to maintaining strong relationships with board members includes regular one-on-one meetings, either weekly or bi-weekly, to keep them updated on the company’s progress—both the good and the bad. Transparency is key since the board comprises investors also.

“If you hide the challenges, you lose trust and miss out on valuable guidance,” Ayal notes. Sharing board decks ahead of meetings and welcoming feedback also promotes collaboration and alignment.

Ayal encourages open communication, even allowing board members to interact directly with his executive team. “Transparency builds trust, and trust leads to better decisions.”

The Vision: A Future Defined by Confidential Computing

Ayal’s company is pioneering the adoption of confidential computing, a technology he believes will become standard in the future. Confidential computing enables secure data processing anywhere, whether in the public cloud, edge devices, or even within private environments.

Ayal envisions a world where computing infrastructure becomes highly flexible and secure, eliminating risks and opening new possibilities. People should be able to take any piece of code or data and insert it into any environment and be confident of its security.

Take edge computing as an example: Ayal highlights Tesla’s cars as mini data centers packed with computing power. However, they pose significant security risks if sensitive data is stored locally.

With confidential computing, even physical access wouldn’t compromise the data, enabling safer and broader use of edge devices. The right level of security can protect data even in the absence of patches, firewalls, and antivirus software.

This vision doesn’t just redefine infrastructure—it simplifies security by addressing root problems rather than just the periphery, potentially reducing reliance on tools like firewalls and antivirus software.

The Emotional Extremes of Startup Life

When discussing the emotional journey of founding a startup, Ayal draws a parallel to parenthood. “Startups are like having kids—they amplify everything. The highs are higher than you imagined, but the lows are incredibly tough.”

Ayal humorously references a tweet about a founder finally solving their insomnia: “What worked? I stopped being a CEO.” He doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the intensity of startup life. He admits that as a founder, he’s acutely aware of all the challenges.

However, these struggles come with unmatched rewards. “Even though the bad moments may outweigh the good, the experience is extraordinary. It’s about embracing the extremes and finding joy in the journey.”

In Conclusion

Today, Anjuna is at the forefront of enterprise security, leveraging confidential computing to enable businesses to innovate without compromising on security. Ayal’s leadership, shaped by years of experience and a deep understanding of culture, continues to drive the company forward.

Ayal’s story combines the thrill of securing top-tier investment, the wisdom of navigating board dynamics, and the ambition of driving technological innovation.

His reflections offer valuable insights for founders on how to lead with transparency, plan with intention, and find meaning amid the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

As Ayal continues to lead Anjuna into the future, his story stands as a testament to the power of vision, discipline, and an unwavering commitment to building impactful solutions.

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Ayal’s time in Israel’s elite Unit 8200 instilled discipline, technical expertise, and a collaborative mindset, forming the foundation for his cybersecurity passion.
• Company culture is built on actions, not slogans—Ayal emphasizes accountability without blame as a key driver of trust and success.
• Early-stage companies should prioritize finding product-market fit over PR or competing, securing a small, loyal customer base first.
• Anjuna’s structured approach to investor readiness enabled swift success, exemplified by Insight Partners’ rapid term sheet offer.
• Transparency and proactive communication with board members foster alignment, trust, and better decision-making.
• Anjuna is revolutionizing enterprise security by enabling secure data processing across any environment, ensuring unmatched protection.
• Ayal likens startups to parenthood, with extreme highs and lows, emphasizing the importance of embracing the journey and finding joy amidst challenges.

 

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