Ep. 9 Sumit Agarwal (Ario CEO, Founder Shape Security): Building 3D Products- Defensible, Delightful, Differentiated

We talk to Sumit Agarwal the founder of Ario and Shape Security (acq by F5 for $1B). We decrypt the the journey from the military to building a deep cybersecurity product and now a personal AI assistant. Listen in to uncover his 3D framework that guided the journey of Shape and now Ario. We wrap with how to navigate M&A, a theme which we believe is going to be a key topic in several board meetings this and next year. 3:13 - Sumit's Journey from Air Force to Security to AI 10:07 - Identifying Hard, Valuable, Fun Opportunities 19:24 - Building 3D defensible, differentiated, delightful tech in tough markets 28:33 - Identifying the right talent 37:38 - How to be Customer Focused NOT Revenue Focused 46:02 - Unlocking Value to Drive Price 55:07 - Solving the demand bottleneck in M&A 58:26 - Decompressing with family