Saw this on HN a while ago [1], really eye-opening: https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/b1a1jn00hc

> The first sales come from the loyal CISOs who work with the fund.

> This "loyalty program" - which encourages deepening the relationship between the CISO and a party other than his employer - is seen by many in the industry as a red line crossed by Ra'anan and Cyberstarts.

> Cyberstarts vehemently denies [...] and claims that CISOs were never remunerated for purchasing the products of the portfolio companies.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41042462

calcalistech article was interesting with a bunch of light on the industry. It is basically a no brainer to first talk to CISOs to develop a product that solves problems, but the ability to establish close relationships with those people and then convert them is “magic”. We all have a hunch what that magic ingredient is though.

Such a well-tuned machine, there has to be some grease somewhere.. Otoh, there's a lot more shady things going on everywhere in business.

If anything, I'm envious that _I_ don't have access to a system like that (only half joking)

That magic ingredient is the golf course. Not really kidding. That’s where the deals are made.

> he promises teams of fresh graduates from the technological units not only investment and support in establishing a startup but also "initial revenues of $2 million per year".

Wow this is huge. Ya I have been feeling this for a while now.

This whole product market fit and things like that are Important, but not as important as connections The way I see a lot of deals going down is the customer will buy the product from that founder No matter what the quality is and that is how a lot of them get high initial.

That is why a lot of VC firms exclusively focus on B2B SaaS these days.

Exactly, you don't just exit for $32B. There's definitely more to the story, which feels "manufactured" for lack of better words.

I'm honestly curious, but what do you think that is?