E85 - Miri Yudovich (Co-founder and CEO of SafeHouse Tech)

In this episode, we speak with Miri Yudovich, Co-founder and CEO of SafeHouse Tech. SafeHouse Tech is on a mission to secure everyone online. Since launching its flagship app BodyGuard in 2019, the cybersecurity startup has protected over 4 million users, become breakeven by 2024, and built a distribution network spanning 5,000 retail outlets across more than 700 cities. Miri co-founded the company and served as COO before stepping into the CEO role - guiding SafeHouse from early vision to wide-scale execution. Her leadership style is pragmatic, resilient, and deeply human. “I'm just a very pragmatic person. I like to do things my way.” This conversation is about calculated risk, women leadership, letting go of control, building systems that scale, and creating balance on your own terms. We explore: How Miri’s path shifted when she chose to follow the unknown. She shares how her entry into SafeHouse wasn’t part of a linear career plan - but rather a leap driven by instinct, curiosity, and a willingness to bet on the unexpected. “I thought to myself, I don't know where this might lead… for me, that was the epitome of risk-taking.” The early days of building in an overlooked market. When Miri and her co-founders pitched B2C cybersecurity, they were dismissed. But years later, they had built what critics said didn’t exist. “Six years ago, we told VCs… they told us, ‘You’ve completely lost it.’ 4 million clients later, we created an industry.” The entrepreneurial grind - and seven phases of hell. Miri gives an honest account of what it takes to scale, especially in markets that are still being shaped. “Every startup goes through seven phases of hell.” How preparing for maternity leave became a case study in scalable leadership. Instead of stepping away reactively, she built an entire department to function without her - turning what could’ve been a liability into one of the company’s biggest strengths. “I had to forgo power and responsibility. I had to bring in people, I had to teach them, because I had a deadline.” What motherhood taught her about control, leadership, and humility. Her transition into parenthood revealed a core truth: you can’t control outcomes, but you can control how you show up and how fast you learn. “Becoming a mother humbled me… and I think that’s the essence of being a CEO, a COO, an entrepreneur. Making decisions, making them quickly, learning from them quickly, and being humble enough to know that you can’t control all outcomes” Balancing ambition and boundaries. Miri shaped SafeHouse’s meeting culture around her life - not the other way around. “Because I was one of the founders, I could dictate the times of the meetings… after 4pm there were no meetings unless it was urgent.” Redefining what ‘doing it all’ means. She challenges the narrative that women must choose between family and career. It’s not about whether there’s a cost - it’s about whether you’re willing to pay the price. “Every choice you make in life has a price. If you’re willing to pay the price, then fantastic.” If you’ve ever wrestled with scale, risk, work-life balance, or carving your own version of leadership, this episode is for you. Listen in and share with someone who’s building on their own terms.