Asaf Wiener, Co-Founder & CEO of Mate Security, former product leader at Wiz and Microsoft, and the first Wiz alumnus to found a startup joins The Generalists to discuss why AI is reshaping the security operations center. After 15 years across Israel's elite special forces, Microsoft Defender, and Wiz, Asaf is now building an AI-native SOC platform that just raised a $35M Series A from Insight Partners. He argues that being a late mover with the right architecture is a superpower, and that the metric he uses to earn CISO trust has nothing to do with marketing buzzwords.

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In this episode, Asaf shares why "experience is bullshit" when hiring a founding team, how a Fortune 500 CISO calling at midnight to open a war room validated his product, what competitive drive looks like when it's wrapped in a calm exterior, and why the first 50 people you hire define everything, including whether you survive.

🔔 Listen and Subscribe

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGeneralistsPodcast
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2apfGY403NGr1EyTNkJfG4
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-generalists/id1732609164

🔥 Watch Our Other Videos:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_dknB50qM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eitqzpiqUs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJDZg3mr684
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H24ck-is5Y
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW2bxHjUl-Y
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzdzT_L8zAw

What You'll Learn

• Why hiring for years of industry experience is a mistake and what Asaf screens for instead
• How the "follower strategy" at Wiz taught him that late movers with better architecture can win
• What "agreement rate" means for AI agents in the SOC — and why CISOs won't trust you without it
• Why Asaf quotes Roger Federer on losing 80% of the points you play — and what that has to do with founder resilience
• How leaving Wiz after the Google acquisition fell through became the trigger to start Mate
• Why the first 50 employees are the only culture decision that truly matters
• What imposter syndrome looks like when you're carrying 50 peoples' livelihoods and 30 customers

👤 Hosts

• Michael Smith: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smittysgp/
• Raz Kotler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/razkotler/

👤 Guest

• Asaf Wiener: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asafwiener/

📚 Resources

• Mate Security: https://mate.security
• Mate $15.5M Seed Round (Insight Partners): https://www.insightpartners.com/ideas/mate-launches-with-15-5m-seed-to-transform-security-operations/
• Wiz: https://www.wiz.io/
• Microsoft Defender XDR: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/siem-and-xdr/microsoft-defender-xdr
• Team8: https://team8.vc/
• Insight Partners: https://www.insightpartners.com/
• OpenAI: https://openai.com/
• Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/#enterpriseai #AISecurity #Cybersecurity