Cybersecurity’s AI Moment: A Conversation with Ron Peled, Founder of Sola

Cybersecurity’s AI Moment: A Conversation with Ron Peled, Founder of Sola

By Michael Matias, CEO of Clarity and Forbes 30 Under 30 alumWe’re not easing into the AI era—we’ve been thrown into it. That’s how Ron Peled, founder of Sola and former CISO at LivePerson, described the current moment: “The Big Bang already happened. Now we’re just trying to contain the blast.”Ron’s clarity around AI’s impact on cybersecurity is jarring—and refreshing. He doesn’t talk about threat vectors or dashboards. He talks about control. About complexity. About what breaks when the world adopts generative AI faster than the security stack can respond.Like many of the leaders I’ve spoken with—Dorit Dor at Check Point, Tsion Gonen at Protego, Elik Etzion at Elron—Ron sees AI as both threat and tool. But what makes his voice unique is his insistence on simplicity. “The era of bloated, ‘luxury’ cybersecurity products is over,” he said. “What teams need now is focus. Precision. Clean UX. Solutions that don’t overwhelm—just work.”That perspective echoes something Tom Mes told me about CISOs today: they don’t have the luxury of managing theoretical risk. Their job is to enable the business without drowning in alerts or friction. In that sense, Sola’s approach reflects a growing pattern—cybersecurity as a minimalist, embedded experience.But Ron takes it further. He doesn’t just want cleaner tools. He wants community-based security. “Everyone talks about shared defense,” he said. “Almost no one builds for it.” He sees this as the next evolution—not more tech, but more collective action. A model that looks more like a neighborhood watch and less like a gated compound.It’s a mindset I’ve come to share at Clarity. Whether we’re tackling deepfakes or phishing automation, the organizations moving fastest are the ones who build for people, not just systems. The ones who remember that cybersecurity is, at its core, a coordination challenge.Ron also spoke to the evolving role of the CISO. No longer just a gatekeeper, the modern security leader needs to be what he calls “a productively paranoid operator”—someone who sees what’s coming and builds guardrails without becoming the roadblock.That term stuck with me: productively paranoid.Because that’s exactly what AI requires. The attacks are faster. The tools are more accessible. And the stakes—for privacy, for resilience, for trust—have never been higher.As our conversation wrapped, Ron returned to the urgency. “Organizations don’t want partial solutions,” he said. “They want defenses that move at the speed of the threats.”In that sense, the mission is simple: Build security tools that scale with AI, not lag behind it. Architect for clarity, not complexity. And never forget—the Big Bang already happened.The question now is: who’s ready to build the shield?About Michael Matias:Michael Matias is the CEO and Co-Founder of Clarity, an AI-powered cybersecurity startup backed by venture capital firms including Bessemer Venture Partners and Walden Catalyst. Clarity develops advanced AI technologies protecting organizations from sophisticated phishing attacks and AI-generated social engineering threats, including deepfakes. Before founding Clarity, Matias studied Computer Science with a specialization in AI at Stanford University and led cybersecurity teams in Unit 8200 of the Israel Defense Forces. Forbes Israel recognized him early on, naming him to the exclusive 18Under18 list in 2013 and the Forbes 30Under30 list thereafter. Matias authored the book Age is Only an Int and hosts the podcast 20MinuteLeaders.

Episoder(1163)

Ep7: Noa Shafir | Co-Founder & CPO of Odo Security

Ep7: Noa Shafir | Co-Founder & CPO of Odo Security

Noa started her journey as a network researcher in Israel's elite intelligence Unti 8200. Following that, Noa graduated with honors from her double degree in Mathematics and Computer Science, in parallel for conducting multiple research projects in Algorithmic Game Theory. During that time, she also worked as a Software Engineer at Google. After graduation, Noa co-founded Odo Security, a Cyber Security startup specializing in Zero-Trust Network Access. Totay, after raising a $ 5M Seed round, Odo consists of 20 employees and is working with leading organizations around the world.

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Ep9: Katrina Yaukey | Broadway Actress and Musician

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Ep10: Hillel Fuld | Startup Advisor and Tech Columnist

Ep10: Hillel Fuld | Startup Advisor and Tech Columnist

Hillel Fuld has been named the 7th top tech blogger worldwide, Israel’s top marketer, and on Forbes, was dubbed “The Man Transforming Startup Nation to Scale up Nation.”   He is a global speaker, tech blogger, startup marketer, and leading online influencer. Today, Hillel collaborates with companies such as Google, Oracle, and Microsoft to help early and later stage entrepreneurs take their local technology to a global scale.

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Ep6: Oded Hermoni | Managing Partner at J-Ventures

Ep6: Oded Hermoni | Managing Partner at J-Ventures

J-Ventures is a community empowered VC fund based in Silicon Valley and backed by over 150 leading investors. Previously a Partner at Rhodium, and was a VP at Capital Point group (early stage traded investment firm). Founded a startup that was acquired by YellowPages group. He formed and led the largest Israeli Tech and VC organization (now called IATI) and was a founding member of ICON and INTRO. Before becoming a VC, Oded was an editor and journalist covering tech and economy at Haaretz/TheMarker/ Red Herring.

15 Aug 202024min

Ep8: Cliff Weitzman | Founder and CEO of Speechify

Ep8: Cliff Weitzman | Founder and CEO of Speechify

Cliff is an American Israeli entrepreneur, Founder of Speechify Text To Speech software - the 10th highest grossing productivity app on Apple's App Store, used to read more than a billion words every month. Cliff is one of the youngest people named to Forbes magazine's 30 Under 30 list. He is a Dyslexia advocate, listens to 100 books a year, & has the first chapter of harry potter memorized. Cliff is one of the CEOs discussed in the book The Great CEO Within.

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Ep2: Shuly Galili | Founding Partner of Upwest

Ep2: Shuly Galili | Founding Partner of Upwest

Shuly is the co-founding Partner at UpWest, a Silicon Valley seed fund investing in startups at the Israel-US technology junction. UpWest portfolio crossed $1B in VC funding and includes companies such as SentinelOne, HoneyBook, Stampli, CyCognito, Airobotics and more.

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Ep5: Izhar Shay | Israeli Knesset, former VC

Ep5: Izhar Shay | Israeli Knesset, former VC

Prior to joining the Israeli Parliament, Shay was a high-tech entrepreneur, CEO of start-up companies, member in boards of directors, mentor for entrepreneurs and a social activist. He wrote a popular weekly column at Globes for 11 years, authored two books, and founded Israel’s largest digital community for entrepreneurs (“Start-Up Stadium”) with about 45 thousand members. Previously, Shay was a Managing General Partner with Canaan Partners Israel and was a board member with promising start-up companies, some of which reached significant ‘exit’ events.

15 Aug 202023min

Ep4: Yasmin Lukatz | Executive Director of ICON

Ep4: Yasmin Lukatz | Executive Director of ICON

Yasmin Lukatz, MBA Stanford, Startup Investor and Philanthropist, is the Founder and Executive Director of ICON - Israel Collaboration network, helping Israeli entrepreneurs penetrate the US market by bridging Silicon Valley and Israel. ICON's members are VC Partners, Executives at Fortune 500 companies and Founders of rising-star startups. Yasmin only asks, is to pay it forward, and also pay it back by rallying the ICON community to support and mentor children in Israel's periphery.  Yasmin is also a respected startup investor, starring in the new season of the Israeli TV version of Shark Tank.

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