Guy Podjarny joins Vandana Verma to reflect on founding and scaling technology companies, choosing problems worth years of effort, and beginning a new chapter focused on AI-native software development.
Guy began his career in Israel’s cybersecurity ecosystem before joining a security company that was acquired by a Canadian business. He moved to Ottawa, and IBM later acquired the combined company. He then founded Blaze, which improved web performance by transforming web pages. Akamai acquired Blaze within two years, after which Guy led part of Akamai’s web performance business as CTO.
Wanting to build something larger, he co-founded Snyk to embed security in software development. Its journey was not immediately assured; Guy recalls that the company still felt vulnerable two years in. Over almost nine years, however, it grew into an established developer-security company. He later moved to a board role and founded Tessl, where the goal is to rethink software development around specifications and AI rather than treat AI only as a code-generation interface.
Guy does not rely on a rigid productivity system, but he sets boundaries. He makes time for breakfast and dinner with his children, takes family vacations, and generally avoids back-to-back travel or trips spanning weekends. Within the workday, he identifies the one or two issues that matter most and accepts that less important tasks may wait.
The founder’s priorities change with the company. Early at Tessl, Guy concentrated on product definition and the initial team, then shifted heavily into recruiting. As repeatable work becomes clear, he looks for someone else to own it. Delegation is not merely unloading chores: it gives another person a growth opportunity and frees the founder to address the next-level problem.
Successful delegation requires defining what good performance looks like and which indicators provide confidence. Some decisions also call for proportion: optimizing every small expense is a poor use of leadership time when larger company outcomes need attention.
Guy considers ideas somewhat overrated because execution begins with a conscious decision to undertake the founder journey. Once committed, a founder should find a real problem they care about. Customers do not value technology for its own sake; they value a problem being solved.
The market should also strengthen over time. A temporary gap around a new platform may disappear when an incumbent adds the missing capability. Guy asks whether the problem will be more important five years from now and whether the startup can accumulate a lasting advantage, such as network effects, scale, or a distinctive data asset.
AI creates both opportunity and risk. The platform landscape moves quickly, and established companies are investing aggressively. Guy therefore encourages founders in the space to pursue meaningful industry transformation rather than build a narrow feature likely to be absorbed into another product.
Company building is emotionally demanding, making trusted co-founders valuable. Complementary skills help, but the relationship matters just as much because separation can be painful. Founders do not need to arrive knowing how to perform every role; they can learn quickly, seek mentors, and hire support around their weaker areas.
Venture funding is appropriate only when the business has the potential for venture-scale growth. A profitable but smaller business may be pushed in the wrong direction by investors seeking outsized returns. When funding is suitable, sector relevance, fair terms, and trust matter more than minimizing dilution at all costs. An investor remains attached to the company, so the decision is difficult to reverse.
Guy applies the idea of one-way and two-way doors to other choices as well. Investor and co-founder decisions are hard to undo, while many product and hiring decisions are more reversible. The less reversible the choice, the more care it deserves.
The best way to learn to found a company is to do it, supported by advisors, investors, and other founders. Guy continues to learn through interviews and podcasts because another person’s story often contains one insight that can change a decision. He also points listeners to Tessl’s AI Native Dev podcast for conversations about the future of software development.
