Growing a startup from $2M to $350M ARR requires much more than a great product. Every stage of growth demands new leadership, new systems, new sales strategies, and difficult decisions that most founders never anticipate.
In this episode of the Post Money Podcast, Peter McKay, former CEO of Snyk, explains how the company evolved from a small developer security startup into a business approaching $350 million in ARR. Rather than telling a success story in hindsight, he breaks down the sequence of strategic shifts that made continued growth possible: moving from product-led growth into enterprise sales, expanding from a single product to a platform, recognizing organizational inflection points before they became crises, and making difficult leadership decisions long before performance visibly deteriorated.
Inside The Episode:
How Snyk evolved from a single security product into a platform business.
Why great employees can become the wrong leaders as a company scales.
The hardest conversation every CEO eventually has to learn to initiate.
How to identify organizational bottlenecks months before they become visible.
Why Peter doubled down on hiring and product investment while others were cutting costs.
A practical framework for fundraising, dilution, and deciding when to raise capital.
How acquisitions became a tool for accelerating product development instead of simply buying revenue.
The leadership mindset required to keep a company growing beyond its early success.
Watch Full Episode On YouTube:
About Peter McKay
Peter McKay is a five-time CEO and one of the most experienced operators in enterprise software, with a track record of scaling and exiting multiple companies across cybersecurity and infrastructure.
He most recently served as CEO of Snyk, where he helped scale the developer security platform into a global business approaching $350 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) while expanding its product portfolio, enterprise presence, and AI capabilities. In 2026, after seven years as CEO, he transitioned to the role of Advisor at Snyk.
Before Snyk, Peter held CEO roles at companies including Veeam and Desktone, and has been involved in several successful exits to companies like VMware and IBM.
Known for his operator mindset, Peter focuses on execution, speed, and making decisive bets ahead of market shifts, including pushing early into AI while most companies were still experimenting.
Connect with Peter McKay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pemckay/
About the Host
Nilanjana Bhowmik is a General Partner at Converge and host of the Post Money Podcast, where she speaks with founders, investors, and industry leaders shaping the future of technology, innovation, and venture capital. Through in-depth conversations, Post Money Podcast explores the ideas, decisions, and trends driving the next generation of transformative companies.
Connect with Nilanjana Bhowmik: linkedin.com/in/nilanjanabhowmik
Converge VC website: converge.vc
