From Problem to Product: How Andrios Robert Solved Engineering's Biggest Bottleneck
October 30, 2025
Welcome to Built Not Born: The Startup Go-To-Market Podcast, the podcast for early-stage founders and startup leaders who know that great companies aren’t lucky… they’re built through smart execution and a bulletproof go-to-market strategy.
In this episode, host Sage Nye interviews Andrios Robert, founder and CEO of Hoop.dev, on his journey from engineer to security startup leader. Andrios shares how firsthand frustrations with infrastructure bottlenecks sparked Hoop.dev’s creation, eliminating VPNs and shared credentials. He reflects on navigating early pivots, securing product-market fit, and targeting enterprise customers effectively. Listeners will gain insights into building high-performance hybrid teams, balancing culture across remote and in-office setups, and why selecting investors goes beyond chasing the highest valuation.
Welcome to Built Not Born: The Startup Go-To-Market Podcast, the podcast for early-stage founders and startup leaders who know that great companies aren’t lucky… they’re built through smart execution and a bulletproof go-to-market strategy.
In this episode, host Sage Nye interviews Andrios Robert, founder and CEO of Hoop.dev, on his journey from engineer to security startup leader. Andrios shares how firsthand frustrations with infrastructure bottlenecks sparked Hoop.dev’s creation, eliminating VPNs and shared credentials. He reflects on navigating early pivots, securing product-market fit, and targeting enterprise customers effectively. Listeners will gain insights into building high-performance hybrid teams, balancing culture across remote and in-office setups, and why selecting investors goes beyond chasing the highest valuation.
Here’s what you will learn:
- How to identify product-market fit through real-world pain points
- The critical transition from bootstrapping to securing first customers and funding
- Why targeting the right organizational level is crucial for enterprise sales success
- How to balance remote and in-person team dynamics while building company culture
- The framework for choosing investors beyond valuation
- Why founders must actively lead change rather than delegating initiatives
- The importance of building with customer feedback rather than engineering in isolation
- How to structure hybrid teams for maximum collaboration and information exchange
Andrios Robert is the founder and CEO of hoop.dev, a venture-backed startup transforming infrastructure access security for engineering teams. With over a decade in financial services and software engineering, he was an early employee at Pismo, contributing to its billion-dollar exit. Inspired by firsthand challenges managing secure access at scale, he launched hoop.dev to eliminate VPNs and shared credentials while enhancing security. A technical founder and hands-on sales leader, Andrios offers deep expertise in startup execution, product development, and B2B go-to-market strategies.
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