Hustler Words – The Silicon Valley playbook is well-worn: secure seed funding, scale aggressively, raise more funding, repeat until IPO or acquisition. But Pukar Hamal, founder and CEO of SecurityPal AI, offers a compelling counter-narrative after his own experience. Following a $21 million Series A round in 2021, led by Craft Ventures with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Okta co-founder Frederic Kerrest, Hamal found himself on the brink of financial ruin just a year later. His story, shared on the hustlerwords.com Equity podcast, serves as a cautionary tale for startups considering the VC route.
Hamal’s previous venture ended in an acqui-hire after raising capital before achieving product-market fit—a common mistake, he admits. For SecurityPal, he adopted a different strategy, waiting until the company reached $1 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) before seeking funding. This deliberate approach, however, didn’t insulate him from the volatile VC landscape. The 2022 downturn forced a painful layoff and a reevaluation of his growth strategy.
SecurityPal, which leverages AI to streamline enterprise security due diligence, boasts impressive clients like Airtable, Figma, LangChain, and Grammarly. Despite the current resurgence in VC investment, particularly in AI, Hamal has resisted further funding rounds. He argues that the relentless pressure for hyper-growth inherent in the VC model often comes at the expense of sustainable profitability and operational control. Investors prioritize rapid revenue expansion, sometimes overlooking healthy gross margins, leading to companies that burn cash even as sales increase.
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Hamal champions a strategy of "durable growth," prioritizing slow, steady progress and ensuring customer success. This approach, he contends, fosters healthier gross margins and stronger cash flow. While not entirely dismissing venture capital, he urges founders to consider alternative paths to financing, emphasizing the importance of achieving profitability and reducing reliance on repeated funding rounds. His experience underscores the need for a more nuanced approach to startup growth, one that balances ambition with financial prudence. The full interview, including Hamal’s insights into alternative funding sources, is available on the Equity podcast.
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