“You can’t vibe code a customer.” Ron Gula started as an NSA pentester, co-founded Tenable and grew it into the company behind Nessus. Today he invests in cybersecurity and AI startups through Gula Tech Adventures. He has a front-row seat to the AI gold rush in security, and he’s not buying all of it.

We get into why AI may be blowing up entry-level jobs and entry-level companies alike, the hidden cost of “we’ll just build it ourselves,” who’s liable when your AI agent goes rogue, why phones are the weakest link in the enterprise, and why 2026 looks a lot like 1996. Ron also breaks down how he builds vRon, his AI alter ego that publishes a new video almost every day, and the five questions every founder should be able to answer.

🔗 Ron Gula on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rongula/
🔗 Gula Tech Adventures: https://www.gula.tech
🔗 Ron’s videos (and vRon): https://www.youtube.com/@GulaTechAdventures

Chapters
0:00 Cold Open
0:51 Meet Ron Gula
1:59 How Ron feels about cyber right now
5:27 You can’t vibe code a customer
7:47 The hidden cost of “we’ll just build it”
10:37 Software margins and whether SaaS is cooked
15:53 Overfunded vs. underfunded in AI security
19:02 Who’s liable for your AI agent?
22:08 AI regulation and AI in the classroom
26:18 Why Ukraine may be the next Israel for startups
34:03 How a cyber startup breaks through the noise
39:50 Why nobody has automated risk yet
44:30 Your phone is the weakest link
45:50 How vRon gets made
56:00 Advice for founders and new cyber pros

Subscribe to ZeroSum for conversations with the people building and breaking cybersecurity.

#cybersecurity #AI #ZeroSum #startups #venturecapital