Defending the Future - Lessons from Jake Seid of Ballistic Ventures

In this edition of The PMF Playbook, we take a glimpse into the world of Jake Seid, Co-Founder & General Partner at Ballistic Ventures.

Before Jake Seid became one of the most respected investors in cybersecurity, he helped pioneer broadband itself. After earning both his undergraduate and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, Jake joined a small startup group within Cisco with one goal: to bring broadband to the world.

He and his team wrote the DOCSIS standard - the very protocol that powers modern broadband. The project scaled from zero to a $1 billion run rate in two years, transforming global connectivity and paving the way for the internet as we know it.

This early experience revealed a core belief that’s guided Jake’s career ever since:

“Do good and do well. Build big businesses that make a positive impact.”

It was also his first brush with cybersecurity - realizing that moving from “occasionally connected” to “always connected” would fundamentally shift how the world thinks about digital defense.

In 2000, at just 24 years old, Jake joined Weiss, Peck & Greer - one of Silicon Valley’s oldest VC firms and helped spin out what would become Lightspeed Venture Partners. He spent 11 years there, ultimately serving as one of six managing directors on the Global Investment Committee.

His rubric for investing was simple, but powerful:

“Big markets. Great teams.”

The nuance, though, comes in the execution. For Jake, great teams aren’t the ones who have done it all before - they’re the ones who can learn, evolve, and build around themselves.

“Great founders build great teams for the company’s stage. Each stage is about reducing a specific kind of risk - product, market, or execution.”

When asked about the hype cycles from the dot-com boom to AI, Jake emphasized the importance of discipline and timing.

“It’s easy to get caught up in the moment. But remember: trees don’t grow to the sky.”

He believes the best investors remain level-headed across cycles - neither too bearish in downturns nor euphoric during upswings.

“In venture, you make your money on the sell, not the buy.”

His framework for hype:

●     Short-term: Overhyped

●     Long-term: Underhyped

The goal isn’t to avoid hype - it’s to differentiate real systemic shifts (like Google) from fleeting trends (like Pets.com). True opportunities have defensible business models, competitive moats, and network effects.

Ballistic Ventures was founded to back cybersecurity entrepreneurs exclusively. The reasoning was twofold:

Jake views Ballistic as both an investment platform and a legacy mission:

“We want to build an organization that outlives our useful lives. One that partners with the best entrepreneurs solving the hardest problems in cybersecurity.”

AI has changed the rules of the cybersecurity game. Synthetic media and autonomous attack systems allow adversaries to launch massive, multi-vector attacks from deepfake CEOs tricking employees into wiring millions, to state-sponsored “sleeper cells” quietly living inside corporate networks for years.

“You can think of it as the cybersecurity equivalent of a sleeper cell waiting inside.”

Jake sees the next decade as an AI-on-AI battle where automated systems will both attack and defend. The scale of threats will become nonlinear, much like how the iPhone unexpectedly gave rise to Uber, Instagram, and trillion-dollar ecosystems.

“It’s going to be AI that defends against AI. The arms race is already here.”

Using examples like Abnormal Security and Veza, Jake illustrated that product-market fit isn’t a one-time event - it’s a constant iteration.

Abnormal started as a complement to legacy email security gateways like Proofpoint but evolved to subsume entire markets by leveraging behavioral AI to detect non-traditional attack vectors.

Veza began with a simple visibility tool - “Who can do what with my data?” and evolved into a broader identity security platform that adds layers of policy and control.

“Start with a low-friction, high-value beachhead. Then capture more real estate as you grow.”

Jake rejects the idea of a “perfect founder.”

“Even the most successful founders aren’t perfect. The one who sold for $2B might not be hungry anymore.”

Instead, he looks for extreme founder-market fit - founders who deeply understand the customer and problem space, sometimes from adjacent industries.

“Founders and markets are like space and time - inseparable and interconnected.”

He notes that some of the best founders come from outside cybersecurity but bring fresh insights like adtech founders applying behavioral data models to threat detection.

Gone are the days when enterprise software could afford complexity.

“Back at Cisco, we were proud of how hard our products were to use. That model is over.”

Today’s enterprise software must be consumer-grade in design, frictionless to deploy, and capable of showing instant value. Friction increases time-to-market and delays proof of value - both fatal in competitive categories.

Jake breaks GTM strategy into core principles:

●     Reduce friction.

●     Accelerate value delivery.

●     Build defensible moats as adoption scales.

The right playbook depends on the company’s motion: open-source, top-down enterprise, or SMB - but all share these fundamentals.

To Jake, success isn’t just about building companies - it’s about staying in the game long enough to matter.

He credits longevity to three pillars: Work. Family. Health.

“It’s not work-life balance; it’s work-life integration. Balance isn’t daily - it’s over weeks, months, or quarters.”

His biggest advice for founders:

●     Have a “Do-Not-Do List.”

●     Say no often.

●     Focus relentlessly on what truly matters.

Jake closed with a book recommendation: Peak by Anders Ericsson - the researcher whose work inspired Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000-Hour Rule.”

“It’s not about 10,000 hours. It’s about deliberate practice - structured, feedback-driven improvement.”

Whether in venture, engineering, or life, the science of expertise applies the same way: intentional focus, continuous iteration, and an unwavering desire to improve.

●     Big Markets + Great Teams = Enduring Value.

●     Do Good, Do Well. Build impact and scale together.

●     AI Is the Next Battlefield and both sides are armed.

●     Product-Market Fit Never Ends. Keep iterating.

●     Design Matters More Than Ever. Consumer-grade UX wins enterprise hearts.

●     Cycles Come and Go. Stay steady, not reactive.

●     Balance Over Time. Success compounds when focus endures.

Until next time,

Firas Sozan
Your Cloud, Data & AI Search & Venture Partner

Find me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/firassozan/
Personal website: https://firassozan.com/
Company website: https://www.harrisonclarke.com/
Venture capital fund: https://harrisonclarkeventures.com/
‘Inside the Silicon Mind’ podcast: https://insidethesiliconmind.com/