From Bug Bounty Hunter to over $100M+ Exit | Anand Prakash | Be Fearless Podcast EP 3

Be Fearless Podcast by SquareX

Join us in this episode of the Be Fearless podcast with SquareX Founder and CEO Vivek Ramachandran and Anand Prakash, Founder of Pingsafe (now acquired by SentinelOne). In this conversation, Anand shares his journey from discovering hacking in cyber cafes to becoming a top bug bounty hunter and successful cybersecurity entrepreneur.
0:00 Introduction and starting as a bug bounty hunter
8:26 The story behind earning $12,500 for a single bug
12:39 Starting a career in cybersecurity
17:55 From Flipkart employee to starting PingSafe
23:48 Meeting Sequoia SEA
29:29 The journey to acquisition
38:01 On success as an entrepreneur
41:01 Thoughts on the cybersecurity startup ecosystem in India
SquareX helps organizations detect, mitigate, and threat hunt web attacks happening against their users in real-time. Find out more about SquareX at https://www.sqrx.com/
🔔 Follow Anand and Vivek on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anandprakash6/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivekramachandran/
📖 Episode Summary:
In this episode of the Be Fearless podcast, Anand shares his journey into cybersecurity, which began in 2008 when he learned about hacking through social media and cyber cafes. His curiosity set him on the path to bug bounty hunting, where he eventually became a top-ranked white-hat hacker for companies like Uber, Twitter, LinkedIn, Salesforce, and Meta.
In 2020, Anand founded Pingsafe to address cloud security problems from a hacker's perspective. His innovative approach attracted investment from Sequoia Capital SEA and eventually led to the acquisition of his company by SentinelOne.

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SquareX helps organizations detect, mitigate, and threat hunt web attacks happening against their users in real-time. Find out more about SquareX at https://sqrx.com/

บท

1. Introduction and starting as a bug bounty hunter (00:00:00)

2. The story behind earning $12,500 for a single bug (00:08:26)

3. Starting a career in cybersecurity (00:12:39)

4. From Flipkart employee to starting PingSafe (00:17:55)

5. Meeting Sequoia SEA (00:23:48)

6. The journey to acquisition (00:29:29)

7. On success as an entrepreneur (00:38:01)

8. Thoughts on the cybersecurity startup ecosystem in India (00:41:01)