Every founder dreams of clarity. For Justin Woody, that meant turning decades in enterprise cybersecurity, at IBM, Mandiant, and Claroty, into a focused mission: building Twine, an AI-powered identity platform designed for a top-down approach to cyber operations.

In this episode of the Cult Products Podcast from Yaya, host Phill Keaney-Bolland speaks with Justin Woody, Co-Founder of Twine Security, about growing Claroty, launching Twine, and the lessons behind building a top-down cybersecurity platform in an age of AI agents. Justin explains how his team validated their idea through over 250 in-depth conversations, what it takes to secure first customers, and why trade shows and innovation competitions only work when you turn visibility into trust.

What You’ll Learn:

• How Justin’s time at Claroty shaped Twine’s culture of focus and speed
• The 250-conversation validation process that led Twine to prioritise identity risk
• Why trust, not marketing, is the new sales currency in cybersecurity
• How to prepare and stand out at trade shows and competitions like RSA Sandbox
• What it takes to translate early interviews into design partners and first customers
• Why the best founders do fewer things, but with deeper intent and measurable impact
• How to build a vertical moat in an LLM-dominated landscape

Episode Resources:

• Justin Woody on LinkedIn
• Twine Security Website
• Phill Keaney-Bolland on LinkedIn
• Yaya’s Website

Cult Products Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so