He exited for $335M—& felt "emptiness". So he quit, gave up millions in earnout, & grew to $1M ARR in 6 months. | Alon Arvatz, Founder of IntSights & PointFive
Feb 10, 2025
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Alon Arvatz, founder of IntSights and PointFive, transitioned from a military hacker to a startup mogul—selling IntSights for $335M but feeling an unexpected emptiness after the exit. He left millions on the table, driven by a desire to build once more. His new venture, PointFive, focuses on cloud cost optimization, where he quickly scaled to millions in ARR. Alon emphasizes the importance of learning from early mistakes and the emotional journey beyond financial success, revealing how true fulfillment comes from solving pressing customer problems.
Experiencing emptiness after a significant exit underscores the emotional complexities of entrepreneurship beyond financial success.
The founder community plays a crucial role in supporting each other, fostering mentorship, and enhancing the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Transitioning from military service to tech entrepreneurship exemplifies how unique backgrounds can influence successful ventures in the startup landscape.
Deep dives
Emotional Impact of Company Sale
Selling a company can lead to unexpected feelings of emptiness. The speaker describes the experience as an anti-climax compared to the anticipation and excitement surrounding the sale. While financial success offers opportunities, the emotional disconnect from no longer being responsible for the company can be disheartening. This sense of loss and lack of fulfillment highlights the importance of the entrepreneurial journey over mere financial outcomes.
Founders Supporting Each Other
The podcast emphasizes the significance of community among founders, where helping one another is a fundamental principle. Many successful entrepreneurs attribute their achievements to the support and guidance they received from fellow founders, creating a cycle of mentorship. This culture of paying it forward enhances the ecosystem, encouraging more individuals to pursue entrepreneurial ventures. It serves as a reminder that collaboration and support networks are essential in navigating the challenges of startup life.
The Journey from Military to Entrepreneur
The speaker's transition from military service to entrepreneurship underscores the unique background many tech entrepreneurs have in Israel. He shares how his experience in cybersecurity during his time in the intelligence corps provided him with vital knowledge and skills. This connection to a broader network of talented individuals in the same unit fosters an environment conducive to starting tech companies. This journey exemplifies how life experiences can shape one's career path and entrepreneurial ventures.
Lessons from Insights: Navigating Early Start-Up Challenges
The experience of building Insights teaches valuable lessons about the importance of customer engagement from the inception of a startup. The speaker discusses the initial naivety about competition and the market landscape, which led to faster revenue growth despite lacking a clear strategy. Engaging with customers from day one proved beneficial, creating a practical understanding of their needs while developing the product. This approach fostered adaptability, enabling the company to iterate quickly based on market feedback.
Building 0.5: Strategies for Market Success
The launch of 0.5 reflects a more calculated approach to identifying and addressing market needs, unlike previous endeavors. A key aspect was the clear understanding that cloud cost efficiency should be the responsibility of engineers, prompting the creation of tailored tools to empower them. The speaker emphasizes the importance of a dual approach that involves both top-down and bottom-up efforts to drive cultural change within organizations. By capturing the market quickly and efficiently, 0.5 aims to replicate its early successes while learning from past experiences.
Alon was a hacker for the Israeli Defence Forces' cyber department. There he saw the most advanced methods used in cyber warfare. So when he left, he started IntSights-- a company that helped enterprises defend themselves from cyber attacks.
He was a first-time founder who didn't even know the word 'unicorn'. He made all the mistakes you could make. But he had real, undeniable pull. He grew to $1M ARR in a year and to $4M a year later. By the end of it, he was doing $30M in revenue and exited for $335M.
But when I asked him what it felt like to sell for hundreds of millions, he said it 'felt like emptiness'. Alon is a builder—that's all he wants to do. So he quit post-acqusition and left millions of dollars on the table. Moeny he was guaranteed to make if he just stayed in his role.
Instead, he started PointFive to help enterprises reduce wasted spend on cloud infrastructure. He know nothing about the space. One year in, he's raised $36M and grown to millions in ARR—it's even faster than IntSights.
Here's the story.
Why you should listen
Why Alon felt empty after exiting for $335M.
Why he left millions of dollars on the table to start a new startup.
Why the mistakes he made in his first startup helped his second one grow way faster.
Why he raised $36M in under a year.
Why true customer pull comes from solving top of mind problems.