fnGlobal Keynote & Roundtables with Yoav Nathaniel (February 18, 2025)

Step into an engaging conversation with Yoav Nathaniel, Founder of Silk Security, the innovative cybersecurity platform acquired by Armis Security for $150M. Yoav’s story is one of relentless focus, adaptability, and the pursuit of building solutions that matter.

Yoav’s career began with hands-on experience in the startup ecosystem, where he wore many hats—engineer, customer support leader, and sales strategist. These roles not only helped him develop a deep understanding of building and scaling startups but also highlighted the critical importance of fostering a strong and inclusive company culture.

During his tenure at Goldman Sachs as the Head of Cloud Security Engineering, Yoav gained invaluable insights into the complexities of cybersecurity. He worked on future-forward use cases, managing millions of security issues and creating automated workflows to solve problems at scale. This experience shaped his understanding of the challenges customers face and set the stage for Silk Security's inception.

In this fireside chat, Yoav will take us through his journey from early career challenges to co-founding Silk Security with a vision of solving complex security issues through collaboration, transparency, and innovation. He’ll share how culture and customer trust became pillars of Silk Security’s approach, the lessons learned from raising $12.5M in funding during uncertain times, and the pivotal moments that led to its acquisition by Armis Security.

This session is not just about cybersecurity or entrepreneurship—it’s a conversation about the power of hyperfocus, resilience, and the cultural values that underpin a successful venture. Whether you’re navigating the early stages of your startup, scaling for growth, or simply seeking inspiration, Yoav’s story will provide valuable insights and practical takeaways.

Opening Remarks @ 9:30am PT

Join us for opening remarks with Dina Wagner, Head of Member Success at Founders Network, to get the latest updates from the Network and opportunities for getting involved.

Keynote Speaker @ 9:40am PT

Yoav Nathaniel is a visionary entrepreneur and the Founder of Silk Security, a platform designed to simplify and scale security remediation workflows for the most complex organizations. Prior to Silk, Yoav’s career spanned transformative roles in both startups and enterprises. He began his journey at Avanan, a pioneering cloud security company acquired by Check Point for $300M, where he gained firsthand experience in building products from the ground up and pivoting strategies to meet customer needs.

His time at Goldman Sachs as the Head of Cloud Security Engineering provided a front-row seat to the challenges and opportunities within large-scale cybersecurity. Here, Yoav led innovative efforts to manage and automate the remediation of millions of security issues across diverse infrastructures, a challenge that inspired Silk Security’s core mission.

A strong advocate for transparency, inclusivity, and innovation, Yoav has instilled these values into Silk’s culture, creating an environment where collaboration thrives. From fostering trust with customers during crises like the collapse of SVB to hosting biannual innovation weeks to encourage fresh ideas, Yoav’s leadership is a testament to the power of a clear vision and cohesive culture.

Through his journey, Yoav exemplifies the belief that the right team, focus, and passion can transform challenges into opportunities and ideas into industry-changing solutions.

Stage-Based Roundtables @ 10:30am PT

Community Partners:

Jeff Erickson

Jeff leads the Partnerships Team at Forecastr — a leading FP&A software company that helps startups create kick-butt financial models to impress investors, confidently raise capital, and effectively run their businesses better.

Jeff serves on the advisory boards of several startup companies and is an active angel investor. He's passionate about startups and enjoys working with founders and mentoring entrepreneurs.

Jeff is an experienced entrepreneur and was the founder and CEO of a successful consumer goods company that he rapidly grew from $1M in sales its first year to over $40M in annual revenue in its fourth year of operations and was ranked #138 on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies.

Prior to founding his own company, Jeff was a partner at Beanstalk Partners where he led the sales and business development activities. He also served as the National Sales Director for a venture-backed tech startup where he generated over $45M in client contracts and developed the company’s channel partner program.

Jeff has a degree in accounting and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Utah. After receiving his MBA in Finance from the University of Utah he served as the Vice President of Investments for Sentry Financial Corporation.

Blake Caldwell

Blake Caldwell is the CEO & Founder of FoundersBoost. He has 350 alumni, 100 new startups a year, 8k newsletter readers. He's driven by his passions to create and build community. He's also the founder of 2332 Collective (music production & festivals with the goal of bringing music to West LA) & The MoGuard (consumer product cup attachment protecting glorious mustaches).

FoundersBoost is a free pre-seed & seed stage mentorship driven pre-accelerator helping promising tech-startups with accelerators, investment, and revenue.

Guests Are Welcome!

Please bring a guest! Every member can bring one (1) guest to each event. Each guest must be a full-time tech startup founder so they can bring new perspectives, skillsets, and experience to your chapter.

All guests must be full-time tech startup founders and you can register them directly on this function page. See How to Register a Guest here.

Confidentiality Policy:

All information shared within Founders Network is strictly confidential. We are built on a foundation of trust, and the community takes confidentiality seriously. Investors, members, and staff all share experiences and opinions off the record. In this roundtable forum, we continue to model our fnValues of Reciprocity, Humility, Authenticity and Inclusivity.