Wiz's Unprecedented Ascent: Lessons from $100M ARR in 18 Months

From confused product meetings to $100 million ARR in record time, discover the pivotal strategies that built the world's fastest-growing software company.

Key Takeaways

• Wiz achieved $100M ARR in just 18 months, making it the fastest-growing software company in history
• The company pivoted just 6 weeks after their first product manager joined when they realized customers didn't understand their original idea
• Early success came from conducting 10-15 customer calls daily to identify genuine enthusiasm versus polite interest
• Real product-market fit signals include customers asking about pricing, POCs, and connecting you to their technical teams
• Moving from product to marketing requires crystal-clear communication since messages get lost in translation at scale
• Creating "noise" in marketing means taking creative risks and standing out rather than following industry conventions
• Company culture that welcomes "I don't understand" creates psychological safety for pivotal discoveries
• Following organizational "heat" helps identify where impact and attention are most needed as companies scale

Timeline Overview

• 00:00–02:54 — Introduction to Raaz Herzberg's background at Wiz, the fastest-growing software company that hit $100M ARR in 18 months and received a rumored $23B acquisition offer from Google
• 02:54–06:41 — Early company struggles when founders couldn't clearly articulate what they were building, leading to 10-15 daily customer calls that yielded only polite interest rather than genuine enthusiasm
• 06:41–11:31 — The pivotal moment when Raaz admitted she didn't understand the product vision, triggering conversations that led to their successful pivot to cloud security and immediate signs of product-market fit
• 11:31–14:54 — Lessons from early customer discovery including recognizing real buying signals like pricing questions and technical team introductions versus generic positive feedback
• 14:54–17:46 — The importance of psychological safety in asking "I don't understand" and how vulnerability in leadership can unlock breakthrough insights for entire organizations
• 17:46–23:52 — Details of the company's transition from network security to cloud security, including the cultural shift that enabled rapid product development and early sales success
• 23:52–28:05 — Raaz's unexpected transition from VP of Product to CMO, driven by the company's need to solve awareness challenges despite having strong product-market fit
• 28:05–30:22 — The concept of organizational "heat" and how it shifts from product to engineering to sales to marketing as companies scale and mature
• 30:22–34:01 — Marketing strategies that worked for Wiz, including the famous Wizard of Oz themed booth at RSA conference that generated 5x more traffic than traditional approaches
• 34:01–36:23 — Common mistakes that CMOs make, particularly around building trust with founding teams and maintaining deep product and market understanding
• 36:23–40:28 — Examples of creative marketing campaigns and brand positioning that helped Wiz stand out in the crowded cybersecurity space through optimistic, colorful branding
• 40:28–44:53 — Personal philosophy around embracing failure and attempting challenging roles despite uncertainty, including childhood influences that shaped this mindset
• 44:53–48:32 — The critical gap between product and marketing communication, emphasizing the need for crystal-clear messaging that works at scale
• 48:32–51:00 — The "dummy explanation" concept and practical frameworks for avoiding industry jargon and insider assumptions in customer communications
• 51:00–53:45 — Insights into Wiz's founding team dynamics, company culture, and how the organization maintains flat hierarchy while scaling to 1,500 employees
• 53:45–56:34 — Contrarian perspectives on impostor syndrome and confidence, advocating for embracing uncertainty rather than trying to eliminate it
• 56:34–End — Lightning round covering book recommendations, marketing inspiration sources, and the decision to remain independent despite acquisition offers

The Early Struggle: When Nobody Understood the Vision

The story of Wiz's explosive growth begins with a confession that nearly derailed everything. Raaz Herzberg joined as the company's first product manager when the founders were still searching for their breakthrough idea. What seemed like productive customer conversations were actually elaborate dances around confusion.

• The founding team conducted 10-15 customer calls daily during the early COVID lockdown period, presenting their network security concept to potential buyers who responded with polite interest but no concrete commitments. These calls consistently ended with phrases like "sounds interesting" and "let's stay in touch," which the team initially interpreted as positive signals.
• Raaz realized after weeks of participating in these calls that she genuinely didn't understand what product they were building, despite being hired as the product manager responsible for building it. This moment of vulnerability became the catalyst for the company's most important strategic conversation.
• The admission "I don't understand what we're talking about" opened a critical discussion that revealed customers were also confused but reluctant to challenge a respected technical team. This led to the realization they were "listening in the wrong way" and looking for positive reinforcement rather than genuine enthusiasm.
• The company's willingness to embrace this uncomfortable truth within six weeks of Raaz joining demonstrated the psychological safety that would become central to their culture. Rather than dismissing her concerns, the founding team used her confusion as valuable market feedback.
• This early experience established their practice of seeking uncomfortable truths rather than comforting validation, a principle that would guide their rapid iteration and customer discovery processes throughout their growth journey.

The COVID-19 pandemic, initially seen as terrible timing for a startup launch, actually provided unexpected advantages. Security executives who were typically unreachable due to travel and meetings were suddenly available for back-to-back video calls, enabling the intensive customer research that revealed their product-market fit opportunity.

The Pivot That Changed Everything: Finding Real Product-Market Fit

The transformation from confused customer calls to genuine market demand happened almost overnight when Wiz shifted to cloud security. The change in customer behavior was so dramatic that it felt like switching from the wrong path to an obvious highway.

• Customer conversations immediately shifted from polite interest to actionable next steps, with prospects asking specific questions about pricing, proof-of-concept timelines, and technical implementation details. This represented a fundamental change from generic curiosity to purchase intent.
• The team learned to distinguish between genuine enthusiasm and social politeness by watching for specific behavioral indicators: customers wanting to connect them to technical teams, asking about procurement processes, or requesting detailed technical requirements rather than high-level explanations.
• Their first major enterprise customer, a Fortune 10 company, not only requested a POC but also completed a comprehensive technical questionnaire within 24 hours. This response validated their theory that committed customers will invest effort upfront rather than requiring excessive sales pressure.
• The founders made the crucial decision to handle sales themselves for the first few million in revenue, learning firsthand what resonated with customers before hiring professional salespeople. This hands-on approach gave them deep market insights and credibility when eventually building their sales organization.
• They discovered that pushing too hard for customer commitment was counterproductive, instead focusing on identifying genuine pull from the market. As Raaz explains: "I really want to make sure they want it. I need that pull from the other end as well."
• The speed of their pivot and subsequent growth taught them that when product-market fit is real, it becomes unmistakably clear through customer behavior rather than just positive feedback. The contrast between their original confused conversations and immediate cloud security traction was impossible to miss.

The lesson here extends beyond just finding the right product idea. It's about building organizational systems that can quickly recognize when something isn't working and pivot decisively based on market signals rather than internal assumptions or sunk costs.

Customer Discovery Mastery: Reading Between the Lines of Feedback

Wiz's early customer research phase revealed crucial insights about interpreting prospect behavior and distinguishing between genuine interest and polite deflection. Their systematic approach to customer calls became a masterclass in early-stage market validation.

• The team's bias toward seeking affirmation rather than honest feedback is a natural human tendency that can blind startups to market reality. They learned to actively listen for signs of deep enthusiasm rather than surface-level positivity, fundamentally changing how they evaluated customer conversations.
• Real buying signals emerged as specific behavioral patterns: customers asking about implementation timelines, requesting introductions to technical teams, inquiring about pricing structures, or volunteering to fill out detailed technical questionnaires without being asked. These actions demonstrated genuine intent beyond verbal encouragement.
• The contrast between their original network security pitch and cloud security conversations was so stark that it validated their pivot decision immediately. Customers moved from saying "interesting, let's stay in touch" to "when can we start a proof of concept?"
• Their approach of requiring technical questionnaires before POCs served dual purposes: buying development time while testing customer commitment levels. Truly interested prospects completed detailed requirements within days, while less committed ones disappeared, effectively self-qualifying the pipeline.
• The team discovered that prestigious prospects (Fortune 10 companies) responding quickly to technical requests provided strong validation signals for other potential customers. Early enterprise wins created momentum that attracted additional high-value prospects.
• Their willingness to postpone POCs until they had adequate product functionality taught them the importance of managing customer expectations while building genuine capability. This approach prevented overpromising and underdelivering during critical early relationships.

The underlying principle here is that customer actions speak louder than customer words. Wiz learned to design interactions that revealed true intent through behavior rather than relying solely on verbal feedback, which can be misleading due to social politeness norms.

The Power of Psychological Safety: Creating Space for Breakthrough Insights

Raaz's willingness to admit confusion about the company's direction exemplifies how psychological safety can unlock organizational breakthroughs. Her vulnerability became the catalyst for Wiz's most important strategic pivot and established cultural patterns that continue driving their success.

• The moment when Raaz said "I don't understand what we're building" required significant courage, as it positioned her as potentially less capable than her technical colleagues. However, this admission revealed that customer confusion was being masked by polite responses to a respected founding team.
• The founding team's response to her confusion demonstrated exceptional leadership by treating her uncertainty as valuable market intelligence rather than a personal failing. This reaction established a culture where questioning assumptions is welcomed rather than discouraged.
• Raaz notes that learning to say "I don't understand" became her favorite question throughout her career, emphasizing how intellectual humility enables continuous learning and problem-solving. This skill becomes more valuable as roles become more senior and complex.
• The company's flat organizational structure, where impact matters more than seniority, creates an environment where anyone can raise important questions without fear of career consequences. This culture scaling challenge is often where growing companies struggle most.
• Their practice of encouraging vulnerability in leadership discussions prevents groupthink and ensures that important concerns surface before they become critical problems. The alternative often leads to expensive pivots much later in a company's development.
• The cultural norm of embracing "I don't understand" extends beyond product development into marketing, sales, and strategic decisions. This approach helps the organization stay connected to customer perspectives rather than becoming insular as they scale.

The broader lesson is that the most dangerous organizational dynamic is when everyone pretends to understand something that nobody actually grasps clearly. Creating systems that reward intellectual honesty over false confidence becomes a competitive advantage in fast-moving markets.

Organizational Heat: Following Energy and Impact Across Functions

Raaz's concept of organizational "heat" provides a framework for understanding how focus and urgency shift across different functions as companies mature. This pattern recognition helps leaders understand where to deploy their best talent and attention.

• In Wiz's earliest stages, the heat centered on product development because everything depended on building something customers actually wanted. The entire organization's energy focused on achieving initial product-market fit through rapid iteration and customer feedback integration.
• Once they validated market demand, heat shifted to engineering as the priority became building scalable systems that could handle growing customer requirements. The focus moved from proving concept to delivering reliable functionality at scale.
• With a working product and initial customer success, heat migrated to sales as the challenge became systematically acquiring new customers and proving the business model could scale. This phase required building repeatable sales processes and hiring effective salespeople.
• Marketing became the new heat center when sales teams reported strong conversion rates but insufficient pipeline generation. Despite having clear product-market fit, awareness remained a limiting factor for growth, creating the need for systematic demand generation.
• Raaz's willingness to follow organizational heat by moving from product to marketing demonstrates how versatile leaders can drive impact by going where the company most needs exceptional talent. This approach prioritizes company success over individual career trajectory comfort.
• The heat framework helps explain why certain functional leaders succeed or struggle at different company stages. Skills that drive impact during one phase may become less relevant as organizational priorities shift, requiring adaptation or role transitions.

Understanding where heat exists in an organization helps leaders make strategic decisions about resource allocation, hiring priorities, and personal career moves. Companies that can quickly shift their best people toward the highest-impact areas maintain competitive advantages during rapid growth periods.

Marketing Transformation: From Product Builder to Noise Creator

Raaz's transition from VP Product to CMO at Wiz represents an unconventional career path that yielded powerful insights about the fundamental differences between building products and building awareness. Her fresh perspective challenged traditional marketing approaches in their industry.

• The decision to move into marketing emerged from recognizing that despite strong product-market fit and sales conversion, many potential customers had never heard of Wiz before choosing competitors. This awareness gap represented a critical bottleneck to scaling their obvious market advantages.
• Her initial reaction to the CMO suggestion was skepticism and confusion, having never been involved in go-to-market activities or understanding basic marketing terminology like "pipeline." The transition required intensive self-education through podcasts, expert interviews, and studying successful B2B marketing examples.
• The fundamental philosophical difference between product and marketing became clear: product development requires careful consideration of every feature addition due to engineering costs and product complexity, while marketing experiments have minimal downside risk and no maintenance overhead.
• Wiz's breakthrough marketing approach centered on creating "noise" rather than following cybersecurity industry conventions. Their Wizard of Oz themed booth at RSA conference generated five times more traffic than traditional approaches by completely differentiating from competitors' dark, fear-based aesthetic.
• The brand positioning shift from typical cybersecurity messaging (fear-based, dark visuals) to optimistic, colorful, magic-focused communications helped them stand out dramatically in a crowded market. This approach required confidence to ignore industry norms and risk potential criticism.
• Their willingness to experiment rapidly with different marketing approaches, knowing that failed experiments cost nothing while successful ones could drive significant awareness, exemplifies how marketing teams should operate differently from product development teams.

The broader principle is that marketing success often comes from being willing to take creative risks and stand out rather than following safe, conventional approaches that blend into competitive noise.

CMO Success Factors: Trust, Domain Knowledge, and Clear Communication

Through her experience leading marketing at Wiz and observing other CMOs, Raaz identified critical success factors that explain why many marketing leaders struggle while others thrive in demanding B2B environments.

• Building deep trust with founding teams represents the highest barrier for external CMO hires, since everything marketing produces is highly visible and directly represents the company's identity to the world. One poorly received campaign or message can immediately damage relationships with founders who are protective of their company's reputation.
• Domain expertise becomes crucial in technical markets like cybersecurity, where understanding customer problems, competitive landscape, and industry dynamics is essential for creating resonant messaging. Generic marketing skills alone are insufficient when buyers have deep technical knowledge and specific pain points.
• The diversity of marketing functions creates unique management challenges, as CMOs must simultaneously oversee performance marketing (numbers-driven), brand design (creative), and field events (relationship-focused) with little natural overlap between these disciplines. This breadth makes hiring and team-building particularly complex.
• Clear communication becomes exponentially more important in marketing than product because messages must travel through multiple layers (sales teams, channel partners, content creators) while maintaining accuracy and impact. Product managers can clarify confusion directly, but marketing messages must work independently.
• The traditional path of hiring marketing leaders to solve problems that founders cannot solve themselves often fails because effective marketing requires deep company and market context rather than just functional expertise. Founders who cannot articulate their value proposition clearly will struggle to enable external marketers to succeed.
• Marketing timing differs significantly from product timing, as customers need repeated exposure to messages over months while internal teams become tired of the same content quickly. This dynamic creates tension between wanting to refresh messaging and allowing it to penetrate the market effectively.

Understanding these unique aspects of marketing leadership helps explain why the role has high turnover rates and why unconventional backgrounds sometimes produce superior results compared to traditional marketing career paths.

Communication Clarity: The Bridge Between Product and Market

Raaz's transition from product to marketing revealed critical gaps in how technical teams communicate value propositions to broader markets. These insights apply beyond marketing to sales enablement, customer success, and general business communication.

• Product teams can operate effectively with ambiguous or complex explanations because they have deep context and can clarify confusion through follow-up conversations. Marketing and sales teams need crystal-clear messaging that works independently without additional explanation or clarification opportunities.
• The "dummy explanation" principle requires assuming zero background knowledge about the company, product, or industry when creating external communications. This approach prevents the insider knowledge curse that makes obvious concepts seem universally understood.
• Technical teams often use industry jargon and abbreviations that feel natural within their domain but create barriers for broader audiences. Terms like "CNAPP" (Cloud Native Application Protection Platform) may be precise but "cloud security solution" captures the same concept more accessibly.
• Google search behavior reveals the gap between how technical teams describe products and how customers actually seek solutions. People search for "cloud security solution" rather than specific technical category abbreviations, indicating market communication preferences.
• The scaling challenge occurs when nuanced product explanations must be simplified for sales teams, channel partners, and marketing content while maintaining accuracy. This translation process often reveals unclear thinking in original product positioning.
• Regular reminder systems help combat the "bubble effect" where internal teams become disconnected from external perspectives due to daily immersion in company terminology and concepts. Fresh external feedback becomes essential for maintaining communication clarity.