Andy Ellis: Joining YL Ventures

Four years ago, I joined YL Ventures’ Advisory Board program. Yoav Leitersdorf and I had first met a little while before that, and I was excited for the opportunity not only to work with him, but to explore his thesis: that you could find success by hunting for startups before they were looking for money; and that you invested not merely in a great idea, but in a founding team that was adaptable to fit their idea to the market.

Fast forward four years, and a half-score of companies added to the YL Ventures portfolio. I got to meet many of the founders, often before an investment (my favorite introduction took place with Orca Security, where I took a call with Avi Shua and Gil Geron while I was Gillette Stadium attending a New England Patriots game).

I helped several of those companies refine their visions; and with others on their go-to-market strategies. Together with YL Ventures, I have helped these companies make the Internet a safer place, and the market seems to agree (looking at you, Axonius).

I’m really excited to announce the next step in my journey, as I join YL Ventures as an Operating Partner. Making the transition from CSO (and occasional stealth CTO) into the VC world may seem like a big transition, but I’ve always tried to align security with business success. By helping our startups, I plan on improving security across even more industries – enabling their customers’ business success by bringing them scalable, functional security even more quickly. Today’s innovators become tomorrow’s industry leaders, because our innovators have fantastic solutions to security challenges that have plagued our industry for years.

My experience as a CSO (securing a Fortune 1000 business, leading high-performance diverse teams, & designing, building, marketing, and selling market world-class security solutions) will help accelerate the companies in the YL Ventures portfolio now, and the ones that join us in the future.

I’m really looking forward to working alongside the amazing professionals at YL Ventures that I’ve gotten to know over the last four years!