Dean Sysman: Betting on a boring problem and scaling Axonius past $100M ARR

Dean Sysman: Betting on a boring problem and scaling Axonius past $100M ARR

From Inside the Network by Inside the Network Pod

November 27, 2025 · 1h 16m · Episode 19

About this episode

Dean Sysman shares his journey from a failed startup to leading Axonius, a successful cybersecurity company.

In this episode of Inside the Network, we sit down with Dean Sysman, co-founder and CEO of Axonius, one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity companies in the world. From struggling with his first startup to building a category-defining unicorn valued at $2.6 billion, Dean’s journey is a raw, insightful, and unfiltered look into what it really takes to build in security. Before founding Axonius, Dean co-founded Cymmetria, a Y Combinator-backed deception startup that despite all the efforts, didn’t end up leading to a successful outcome. That experience didn’t stop him; it made him more grounded, more strategic, and more deliberate. Dean 2.0 didn’t enter a hot market. Instead, he went after a boring but foundational problem everyone had, but no one wanted to touch - cyber asset visibility. In just under five years, Axonius surpassed $100M in ARR and raised over $600 million to fund growth and acquisitions. Dean’s path has been unconventional from the start. He taught himself to code at 12, won an international robotics competition at 15, and led a team in Unit 8200 by 21. In the military, he learned responsibility the hard way: “If you fail, no one else is coming to help.” That…

People in this episode

Host: Inside the Network Pod

Guest: Dean Sysman

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Axonius, Cymmetria, Y Combinator, Unit 8200

Places: Israel

More episodes of Inside the Network

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Inside the Network podcast page.