Exit Interview with Varun Badhwar, co-founder of RedLock and Endor Labs

In this conversation, DTC Managing Director Deepak Jeevankumar interviews Varun Badhwar, co-founder and former CEO of RedLock and co-founder and current CEO of Endor Labs. They discuss topics such as creating a new category in cybersecurity, building a customer-centric company, and the challenges and successes of scaling a startup. Varun shares insights into the importance of starting with the simple problem, productizing simplicity, and nailing an efficient demo. He also discusses the acquisition by Palo Alto Networks and the key factors that contributed to the successful integration of RedLock into what became Prisma Cloud. Finally, Varun shares his thoughts on starting a third company with Endor Labs and the future of application security (AppSec) in the context of software supply chain security and AI.

Takeaways

• Start with a simple problem and focus on visibility gaps. What’s keeping your buyer up at night?
• Productize simplicity by ensuring that customers can set up and derive value from the product within a short timeframe.
• Building a customer-centric company involves understanding customer priorities, providing value in a short amount of time, and simplifying the customer experience.
• Choosing the right design partners and investors is crucial, and it's important to prioritize the human connection and alignment of values over the brand or firm.
• Embrace change in the software supply chain, particularly in the context of software assembly and the increasing use of open source components. AI can play a role in enhancing productivity and security in this area.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:26 Creating a New Category in Cybersecurity

06:09 Starting with the Simple Problem

07:37 Productizing Simplicity

09:00 The Cloud Security Intelligence Team

12:04 The Acquisition by Palo Alto Networks

21:03 Starting a Third Company

25:43 The Future of AppSec

28:38 Building the Right Team and Culture

30:32 Choosing the Right Design Partners and Investors

33:29 Building in the Open and Embracing AI

36:18 Embracing Change in the Software Supply Chain

36:46 Closing Remarks