Episode 392: Damien Lewke - Founder & CEO, Nebulock

Episode 392 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Damien Lewke, Founder & CEO of Nebulock. Damien is purpose built for this company, which is a statement he’s heard from one of his investors that being Will Lehman. When you hear about Damien’s background story, it’s hard to argue. Damien’s path to where he is today has been very thoughtful, methodical, and intentional. It’s a path that allowed him to learn and understand as much as possible about cybersecurity. In addition, he has worn several different hats throughout his career (I’m talking Solutions Architecture… Product Marketing… Product Management… and other roles) that have all put him in a strong position to lead a venture backed startup. Nebulock is an autonomous threat hunting platform designed from scratch for behavior-based detection. By connecting directly to identity, endpoint, and cloud telemetry, Nebulock continuously hunts threats, surfaces hidden anomalies, and automatically increases your detection coverage. The company announced $8.5M in funding, including their seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures alongside Decibel VC, Zetta Venture Partners, In-Q-Tel, and several angel investors. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 02:57 Being a Solo Founder 05:03 Damien's Background & Playing Soccer in Germany 07:35 The Impact of Sports on Entrepreneurship 09:50 Career Beginnings 12:08 Transition to CrowdStrike 17:11 Joining Palo Alto Networks 19:08 Pursuing Further Education at MIT 21:38 Product Management at Arctic Wolf 23:45 Founding Nebulock 27:22 What is Threat Hunting? 29:57 Details about Nebulock 32:17 State of the State at Nebulock & Looking Ahead 40:46 3 Lessons Learned Since Founding a Company 43:34 Personal Insights and Recommendations Episode Sponsor: As a longtime champion of the local startup ecosystem, Silicon Valley Bank supports innovative companies with the solutions and financing they need through every stage of growth. With more than 1,500 bankers and relationship advisors, and $42B in loans as of Q2 2024 – SVB delivers the right people, service and resources to support your entire financial journey. Learn more at SVB.com.