No Sales Call Required: Roeland Delrue on Scaling Aikido to a Cybersecurity Unicorn

In this episode of the ProductLed Podcast, Wes Bush and Esben Friis-Jensen sit down with Roeland Delrue, CEO and co-founder of Aikido Security, to unpack how the company reached $40M+ ARR in just three and a half years in one of the most sales-heavy categories in software. Roeland shares how his team entered cybersecurity without a traditional security background, simply by living the problem themselves. After juggling eight different security tools and watching a security engineer quit from the sheer pain of triaging endless false positives, they decided to build the product they wished existed. The conversation digs into why Aikido took a radically product-led path in a market dominated by demos, gated trials, and opaque pricing. Roeland explains how transparent pricing, fast time-to-value, and a no-nonsense buying experience helped Aikido win trust with developers and security teams alike. They also get into the bigger growth story behind the business: why product-led motions scale so well, how compliance trends like SOC 2 create strong tailwinds, and why Aikido chose to build a multi-product platform from day one instead of another point solution. Toward the end, Roeland shares his view on AI in cybersecurity, where AI pen testing is already replacing human work, and where humans will still matter for a long time. It is a candid look at building a category-defining security company without following the usual playbook. Key Highlights: 01:46 - The Pain That Sparked Aikido How Roeland and his co-founders went from frustrated security-tool buyers to building their own solution. 04:40 - Why Cybersecurity Needed a PLG Rethink A sharp breakdown of why traditional sales-led security buying feels broken and expensive. 10:11 - Trust in Security Without Heavy Sales How Aikido built trust through product quality, compliance, transparency, and social proof. 15:24 - What Drove Aikido’s Fast Growth Why self-serve foundations, fast setup, and faster time-to-value helped the company scale quickly. 18:06 - Compliance and AI Fueling Demand How SOC 2, ISO requirements, open source risk, and AI-driven software growth are expanding the market. 20:15 - Building a Security Platform Day One Why Aikido bet on an all-in-one platform instead of a narrow point solution, and how they keep quality high. 27:08 - Brownfield vs Greenfield Growth Roeland explains why Aikido started by replacing existing tools and is now moving into faster AI-driven markets. 34:16 - A Practical View of AI in Security Why Roeland believes the future is hybrid, with deterministic scanners and AI working side by side. 36:31 - Can AI Replace Human Pen Testing? Where AI pen testing already works today, where it still falls short, and what adoption barriers remain. Resources: 🚀 Aikido Security: https://www.aikido.dev/💼 Connect with Roeland Delrue on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roelanddelrue/💼 Connect with Wes Bush on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesbush/💼 Connect with Esben Friis-Jensen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esbenfriisjensen/🧠 Sign up for the ProductLed Newsletter: https://www.productled.com/newsletter