#99: How the air force prepared me for product management | Yaniv Fatal (Founding PM @ Blast Security, formerly @ Wiz)
Supra Insider
Learning the fundamentals and teaching to understand
Yaniv emphasizes mastering foundations, mapping knowledge gaps, and that you don't truly know something until you can teach it.
What does it take to go from zero tech experience to founding PM at a cybersecurity startup in three years?
In this episode of Supra Insider, Marc Baselga and Ben Erez sit down with Yaniv Fatal, founding product manager at Blast Security, to unpack his remarkable journey from elite Israeli Air Force pilot to tech. After 13 years in the military and zero technical background, Yaniv failed 20+ interviews before landing at Wiz (later acquired by Google for $32B). He shares how he applied pilot debriefing methodology to each rejection, learned cloud security from absolute zero in weeks, and built credibility through relentless questioning and delivering results nobody else could.
They explore Yaniv’s philosophy on learning: mastering fundamentals first (no shortcuts), being comfortable asking “dumb questions,” and the belief that you don’t really understand something until you can teach it. Plus, his approach to long-term goal setting—he and his wife keep a notebook with goals for where they want to be at age 45, including his aim to be CEO or C-level, which drives every decision he makes today. And why product management is his chosen path to that goal, inspired by the fact that CEOs of Google and Microsoft were all PMs first.
If you’re considering a major career transition, struggling with imposter syndrome while learning something completely new, or trying to figure out how to set goals that actually drive your daily decisions—this episode is for you.
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In this episode, we covered the following topics:
* (01:10) Yaniv’s journey: elite Air Force pilot to tech, 5 Ironmans completed, 25+ marathons
* (03:40) The Wiz interview story: getting an interview for a role he was completely unqualified for
* (04:20) The transition moment: leaving the military after 13 years with zero technical experience
* (10:25) Hearing Ami Luttwak (Wiz CTO) on a podcast, then a year later Ami became his direct manager
* (11:30) The debriefing process from the Air Force: always debrief yourself to see what you can do better
* (16:10) The Wiz homework assignment: prove you can learn cloud security fast enough to be valuable
* (27:40) Asking the right questions to the right people to build credibility
* (36:00) Long-term goal setting: Yaniv and his wife have a notebook with goals for years ahead
* (36:40) Personal goal: be C-level or CEO of a company by age 45
* (37:00) “If you don’t know where you want to be in 10 years, you’ll never know what you should do today”
* (43:40) “I’m almost ready for the next step”—maybe higher role at Blast or starting his own company
* (58:30) How to prioritize when everything seems important: connect daily tasks to end goals
* (01:01:10) Map what you know and what you don’t know—if something is important and you don’t understand it, learn it
* (01:03:30) “You don’t really understand something until you can teach it”
* (01:09:35) Gratitude Corner: Ami Luttwak (CTO of Wiz) for believing in him when he needed it
* (01:10:05) Ron Konigsberg (colleague and manager at Wiz) for helping him move forward and manage a global team
* And more!
Links:
* Blast Security: https://blast.security/
* Blast Security Careers: https://blast.security/careers/
* Ami Luttwak: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amiluttwak
* Ron Cohen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronchn/
* Yaniv Fatal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaniv-fatal-08a9b2ba/
* Marc: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbaselga/
* Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benerez/
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