From Claroty to Twine: Building a Top-Down Security Company
January 21, 2026
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.
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:
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:
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