Shardul Shah, Partner at Index Ventures, was one of the first checks into Wiz — the Israeli cybersecurity company Google acquired for $32 billion. It wasn't luck. It was a decade-long relationship with the founders, a willingness to wire money on conviction alone, and a philosophy that treats risk calculus as a fool's errand.
In this conversation, Eric sits down with Shardul to unpack how the Wiz deal actually came together, what Google really bought for $32 billion, and why mid-sized acquisitions almost always fail. They get into how Index thinks about doubling down across funds, why Shardul refuses to invest in a founder he's only met over Zoom, and what he saw in the Wiz founders a decade before anyone else was paying attention.
They also talk about what's next — the categories Shardul is hunting, the founders he's already betting on, and why he thinks everything that happened with Wiz should stretch every entrepreneur's sense of what's possible.
Eric Newcomer covers the inner workings of startups and venture capital. Subscribe for interviews with the people building and funding the next generation of tech.
#Wiz #startup #investing
🎙️ Also on: @Cerebral-Valley-Show
🎙️ New episodes every week! Subscribe and turn on notifications to stay ahead of the next big story.
👇 Watch more from The Newcomer Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0Yg1id5olJMOyUnYF5AZnIo2ZXdyYd-L
🔗 Read more at newcomer.co
🐦 Follow us: @NewcomerMedia
If you want honest, insider analysis from the heart of tech and venture capital…you’re in the right place.
Chapters:
00:00 Acquisition Size Matters
00:30 Meet the Wiz Backer
01:24 Deal Closes and Index’s Position
02:05 Why Google Bought Wiz
03:28 Three Tailwinds in Security
04:30 First Meeting Chemistry
07:14 Betting on Founders
09:13 Index Doubles Down
14:17 Asymmetric Signals and Hiring
17:56 Why He Won’t Invest Over Zoom
21:46 Exit Decisions Framework
28:00 Founder Stamina and Ambition
34:28 Staying Motivated Post Exit
35:28 Getting on a VC Radar
37:13 People Over Categories
42:19 Why Index Doesn’t Want to Scale Forever
45:06 SPVs, Concentration, and Fund Strategy
51:14 Hot Deals and Wiz Lessons