Inside Wiz's journey: the fastest-growing enterprise security company ever

Wiz was founded in March 2020 by Yinon Costica, Assaf Rappaport, Ami Luttwak, and Roy Reznik to solve a critical gap in cloud security by helping organizations understand and secure what they build in modern cloud environments.

• $100M ARR in 18 months: One of the fastest companies in history to reach this ARR in just 18 months.
• $500M ARR in five years
• Serves over 50% of Fortune 100 and most frontier AI labs
• Acquired by Google for $32B (2026)
• Lead VCs: Sequoia, Index Ventures, Insight Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed, Cyberstarts
• Over 55% of CAC40 enterprises are customers
• Customers include LVMH, Carrefour, Doctolib, Hugging Face, Scor, Bouygues Telecom, Ledger

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Wiz operates as a unified security platform that enables organizations to visualize, prioritize, and remediate risks across cloud, AI, and infrastructure environments. Its core differentiation lies in simplifying complex security problems into actionable insights for both security teams and engineers, turning security into a business enabler.

• 2020: Company founded and pivots early from network security to cloud security
• 2021: Rapid enterprise adoption driven by strong product-market fit
• 2022–2023: Expansion into multiple security domains and scaling enterprise footprint
• 2024: Continued hypergrowth and product expansion into application security
• 2026: Acquisition by Google for $32B

I sat down with Yinon Costica, VP of Product at Wiz, to discuss how they built a product-led enterprise machine and redefined cloud security.

Disclaimer: The organizational choices and technical solutions shared in this newsletter aren’t meant to be copied and pasted as-is. Always keep your company’s context in mind before adopting something that works elsewhere! 😊

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Find the problem worth solving first

Wiz initially explored network security before quickly shifting toward a larger opportunity in cloud security.

Within weeks, they spoke to hundreds of CISOs and security leaders. A consistent pattern emerged. Companies were moving fast to the cloud, but lacked visibility into what they were building and how to secure it.

The challenge came from a lack of clarity, as existing solutions generated fragmented data that was difficult for security teams to turn into action.

Wiz reframed the problem. Instead of listing issues, they focused on showing how risks connect into real attack paths that engineers could understand instantly.

“If I solve this one problem… is this a problem you’re willing to pay a seven-figure deal? And the answer was yes, right away” - Yinon Costica

This shift defined their direction. They chose to optimize for outcomes, not coverage, and for clarity, not exhaustiveness.

The founding team’s history accelerated execution. After building and selling a company to Microsoft, they had already scaled a cloud security product to $1.5B in revenue.

That experience translated into fast decision-making, clear roles, and strong alignment from day one.

“When you start a startup, the only question that matters the most is do you have the right team” - Yinon Costica

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Turn enterprise sales into product-led momentum

Wiz grew at a pace that contradicts what we expect from enterprise software. In a category known for long sales cycles, they managed to compress time-to-value dramatically.

The key was embedding acceleration directly into the product. From the start, the team focused on how the product itself could reduce friction in the buying process.

They designed a system where the product proves its value during the sales cycle, allowing prospects to connect their environment and see results within minutes.

This immediate feedback loop reduces perceived risk. There is no heavy setup and no delay before value becomes visible.

“How can I implement more into the product to accelerate the sales process?” - Yinon Costica

What makes this model powerful is the combination of two approaches. Wiz runs a structured enterprise sales motion while the product behaves like a self-serve system once users are inside.

Sales drives acquisition. Product drives adoption.

This hybrid model allows Wiz to close large deals while benefiting from fast internal expansion. It is a core reason they reached $100M ARR in just 18 months.

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Solve one problem 10x better instead of many problems partially

Wiz avoided building a broad product too early. They focused on one core capability: identifying critical attack paths in cloud environments.

This required combining multiple domains like vulnerabilities, identities, and configurations. Instead of tackling everything at once, they sequenced development carefully.

“You have to be super disciplined about what you say yes to” - Yinon Costica

They built each layer step by step, going deep before expanding. It took them two years to fully deliver their core concept.

This focus created a massive difference in outcomes. Traditional tools generate thousands of alerts that teams ignore. Wiz surfaces a small number of critical risks that teams fix immediately.

The result combines clear visibility with the ability to take immediate action.

This depth-first approach builds trust with enterprise customers. Once trust is established, expansion becomes much easier.

The lesson is clear. Solve one problem extremely well, then expand from that foundation.

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Design for both buyers and end users from day one

Wiz made a clear distinction early on. Security teams buy the product, but engineers are the ones who fix the issues.

Most security tools optimize for buyers. Wiz designed for both.

They translated security problems into formats engineers could understand and act on. This enabled adoption beyond the initial buyer.

“Are developers logging into Wiz? If yes, we’re doing something really good” - Yinon Costica

This became a key success signal, with developer engagement serving as a strong indicator of product value.

Wiz also introduced a simple but powerful mechanism: the “zero criticals” goal. Teams aim to eliminate all critical risks and maintain that state over time.

This creates alignment across the organization. Security teams define priorities, engineers execute fixes, and progress becomes visible.

The product becomes a shared workspace rather than a reporting tool.

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Build autonomous teams that act like independent products

Wiz structured its product organization around autonomy. Each feature team owns a specific area and operates like an independent product.

There is limited top-down decision-making. Teams are expected to make decisions close to execution.

“Every feature team has to think about itself as an independent product that competes in a market of its own” - Yinon Costica

This model increases speed and ownership. Decisions are made faster, and teams stay close to customer needs.

It requires strong alignment. Teams must share the same standards, culture, and understanding of what good looks like.

Leadership plays a different role. Instead of controlling execution, it focuses on prioritization and resource allocation.

A key principle guides this system. Every team should work on the most important problem at any given time.

This allows rapid shifts when priorities change, like their transition toward AI.

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Turn AI into a product capability, not just a productivity tool

Wiz adopted AI early internally. That part was straightforward.

The real challenge was integrating AI into the product in a way customers could trust and use.

Security is a sensitive domain. Outputs must be reliable and understandable. AI introduces uncertainty that needs to be managed carefully.

Wiz approached this with a hybrid model. Deterministic rules ensure reliability, while AI enables discovery of new threats.

“The challenge is how do you implement AI into the product in a way that will be consumed” - Yinon Costica

The goal is to make customers more effective by integrating AI seamlessly into their existing workflows.

This requires careful product design. AI must feel integrated, not disruptive.

The opportunity is significant. By embedding AI into the product, Wiz enables thousands of organizations to become more effective without building AI capabilities themselves.

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Errors: Move fast on mistakes and double down on what works

Wiz treats mistakes as part of the process, with a strong focus on minimizing their impact quickly.

They prioritize speed of correction. Issues are identified, fixed quickly, and then left behind.

“Don’t over-rotate on mistakes. Learn from success” - Yinon Costica

This mindset keeps the organization moving forward. It avoids long post-mortems that slow execution.

A good example is their initial product direction. They started with the wrong idea and pivoted quickly after speaking with customers.

They refined their approach and continued moving forward.

This approach requires discipline and strong feedback loops. It also requires focusing energy on what works and scaling it.

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• Embedding proof of value directly into the product can dramatically reduce enterprise sales friction and accelerate deal velocity.
• Focusing deeply on one critical problem builds trust faster than trying to cover multiple use cases early.
• Designing for end users, not just buyers, creates organic adoption loops within large organizations.
• Measuring success through unexpected engagement signals helps validate true product-market fit.
• Autonomous teams can scale effectively when aligned around clear priorities and shared standards.
• Integrating AI into the product experience is more complex than internal adoption but creates stronger differentiation.
• Rapid iteration on mistakes combined with strong focus on successful patterns sustains execution speed.
• A hybrid model combining sales-led acquisition and product-led expansion can outperform traditional enterprise approaches.
• Early customer discovery should focus on identifying repeatable problems across multiple stakeholders.
• Simple mechanisms like shared goals can align teams and drive consistent product usage.

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My full video with Wiz VP of Product

Dive deeper into this topic with Yinon Costica, Co-founder and VP Product of Wiz, in my latest podcast episode:

Watch on Youtube

Listen on Podcast

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