In 2012, Netskope CEO and Founder Sanjay Beri was convinced that the security industry was on the brink of a massive transformation. Through countless conversations with CEOs, CIOs, and CISOs, he identified a significant shift towards the cloud, presenting a unique opportunity to redefine data network security for this new era. Thus, Netskope was born, starting small but with grand ambitions.
Netskope’s early days exemplify the power of a clear vision and controlled growth. They began with specific SaaS products and steadily expanded into a comprehensive platform. Today, Netskope serves over 3,400 customers, tens of millions of users, including over 30 of the Fortune 100. In this episode, Sanjay sits down with Accel’s Eric Wolford to share insights into their steady strategy, intentional fundraising, and evolution into an industry-leading security platform. He also reflects on over a decade of leadership and people management, offering valuable lessons about team evolution as the company scales.
Conversation highlights:
00:00 – Sanjay’s background at Juniper Networks and interest in entrepreneurship
03:23 – The reasons behind Netskope’s early focus on SaaS products
04:14 – How Netskope approached fundraising with a focus on relationships and differentiation
11:00 – Netskope’s shift from products to platform
15:30 – Learnings from over a decade of leadership and people management
25:00 – A new approach to startup innovation; from product to GTM to marketing
27:10 – Why Netskope incorporated AI into their platform from the early days
35:00 – Reflections on how the ecosystem has evolved since 2012
Featured: Sanjay Beri, CEO and Co-Founder of Netskope and Eric Wolford, Partner at Accel
Learn more about Accel’s relationship with Netskope:
Explore more episodes from this season:
- S2E1 | Klaviyo’s Andrew Bialecki on proving a tech startup can be built anywhere
- S2E2 | Webflow’s Vlad Magdalin on the biggest lessons learned from bootstrapping and raising capital
- S2E3 | Syrup’s James Theuerkauf on building an AI-powered product that cuts through the noise
- S2E4 | Sysdig’s Suresh Vasudevan on embracing a “challenger mindset”
- S2E5 | CrowdStrike’s George Kurtz on building a generational company
- S2E6 | Accel’s Amit Kumar and Ivan Zhou on being an effective startup partner when things don’t go according to plan
- S2E7 | Remote’s Marcelo Lebre on the future of the global workforce
- S2E8 | Gamma’s Jon Noronha on how early-stage startups can challenge industry incumbents
- S2E9 | Monte Carlo’s Barr Moses on creating a playbook for a product that’s never been built before
- S2E10 | ConductorOne’s Alex Bovee on the critical ingredients of a high-growth startup
- S2E11 | Netskope’s Sanjay Beri on building an iconic company through controlled innovation
- S2E12 | Chainalysis’ Jackie Burns Koven on building trust in new technologies
- S2E13 | Wonder's Marc Lore on blending vision and execution
Access Spotlight On Season 1 episodes here.
