Nir Polak, Founder of Exabeam: Combating the Pressure of Great Success

Nir Polak is the co-founder of Exabeam, one of the most successful and valuable private cybersecurity firms currently valued at $2.4 billion. On today’s episode, Jon Sakoda speaks with Nir about how his time in the Israeli Defense Forces prepared him for the constant battles in the early days of a startup and the importance of taking care of your mental health as a founder. From The Front Lines Of Combat To CEO [5:57 - 8:02] - After high school, Nir spent three years in combat with the Israeli Defense Forces where he was forced to keep his cool in the most chaotic of situations. The leadership lessons he learned on the front lines carried over to Exabeam where he was tasked with leading his team in a constant high pressure environment. Listen to hear more about how Nir’s time in the IDF prepared him to become a founder and CEO.Take Care Of Your Mental Health [8:02 - 11:26] - The journey of building a startup can come with constant chaos. As a founder, you need the stamina to lead your team through all of the ups and downs. Nir knows firsthand the toll this amount of pressure can take on founders and encourages all founders to seek guidance on taking care of themselves throughout their career. Listen to hear why more founders need to prioritize their mental health in order to successfully lead a company.Tapping Into Conversations With Your Customers [15:55 - 18:37] - In early customer discovery conversations, there are often mixed signals on the journey to finding product market fit. Nir found it necessary to dig deeper into the details around why the early adopters were sharing and what was behind their pain points in order to better relate to them. Listen to learn how this detailed customer feedback can enable product market fit pre-launch.Don’t Let Tech Debt Creep Up On You [21:16 - 24:40] - All founders hope to exceed their sales goals when they go to market, but the idea of tech debt can creep up on you just as quickly. Rapid success often leads to a greater number of requests from customers with high expectations which can really stress the company. Listen to hear how Nir suggests slowing down sales investments, temporarily, can prevent a lot of pain.Weighing Your Risk And Reward [24:40 - 26:35] - Despite several acquisition offers, Exabeam has remained a highly successful private company. When reviewing each offer, Nir weighs qualitative elements just as equally as the quantitative. Listen to learn how to analyze risk vs. reward, and consider team stamina, when thinking about exit opportunities.Follow Jon Sakoda https://twitter.com/jonsakodaFollow Nir Polak  https://twitter.com/nirpolakFollow Decibel https://twitter.com/DecibelVC