This is Jesse Pujji and today we are breaking down CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity provider. We cover how CrowdStrike reinvented cybersecurity for the cloud era, why the pandemic-induced shift to remote work drove a paradigm shift in the industry, and how the company helped identify Russian hackers during the 2016 election.
Our guest is Roneal Desai, a senior public market investor focused on enterprise software.
Show Notes
[00:00:00] – Introduction
[00:02:29] – [First question] – Overview of what CrowdStrike is
[00:05:28] – The size and scale of CrowdStrike today
[00:07:10] – Customer use-cases before and after CrowdStrike
[00:08:45] – What software would have been used prior to CrowdStrike
[00:12:17] – How many customers could there be and who CrowdStrike is taking share from
[00:16:41] – What their prior estimates lacked in terms of TAM
[00:17:17] – Whether or not Palo Alto Networks is a true competitor
[00:19:33] – The criteria used for deciding which service is better than the other
[00:21:16] – The early days and founding story of CrowdStrike and their structural advantages
[00:27:30] – What about COVID opened up an opportunity for CrowdStrike’s growth
[00:29:44] – The P&L and the special parts of the business that show up there
[00:34:21] – Strategic acquisitions and product expansion
[00:39:21] – What’s behind their distinctive growth
[00:40:54] – Other noteworthy aspects of their gross margin and R&D
[00:44:17] – Distinctive aspects of their sales and marketing strategy
[00:50:00] – What their unit economics looks like today
[00:52:35] – Key factors that would contribute to the bull case for CrowdStrike in ten years
[00:54:14] – Why a security company would become the integrated layer
[00:55:47] – Biggest risks and threats to CrowdStrike over the next decade
[00:57:41] – Lessons for builders and entrepreneurs
[00:59:05] – Lessons for investors
[01:00:09] – Where to go to learn more about CrowdStrike
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