According to Veza co-founder and CEO Tarun Thakur, you don’t just found a startup once. Instead, you found and refound it many times over: as you achieve product-market fit, as you land your first investment, as you scale from a team of three to 200 and beyond.
In this episode of Spotlight On, Tarun sits down with Accel’s Eric Wolford to discuss how this theory of continuous reinvention has shaped the identity security company’s growth—and his own. He explores how working with a coach has transformed his leadership style, highlights “trust” the most critical ingredient in co-founder relationships, and recounts the story of how a two-page document from an early prospect changed Veza’s vision of both the problem they were solving and the solution. Tarun also shares what he’s learned about building an effective go-to-market motion, including why Veza’s first hire was an SDR and how to execute a “land and expand” strategy.
Conversation Highlights
1:15 - The serial founder mindset
3:09 - Why Veza’s first hire was an SDR
4:04 - How one question from a prospect changed everything
6:47 - The most essential ingredient in co-founder relationships
10:42 - A hard-won lesson: pitch less, demo more
12:30 - Keys to a “land and expand” GTM strategy
14:30 - Why you need different sales teams for enterprise and mid-market
15:27 - One signal you’ve found product-market fit—and what to do next
21:47 - How Agentic AI is transforming identity security
22:44 - “Refounding” yourself and your company as you scale
24:55 - Why founders should consider a leadership coach
27:17 - Hold your own ideas loosely: “the only truth is with the customer and the market”
29:06 - Don’t just hire elite leaders—hire elite leaders with stage fit
Related Links
Our Investment in Veza: Data Security Powered by Authorization
