Dmitri Alperovitch, CTO and Co-Founder, CrowdStrike
The World on the Brink?
Dmitri has been a truly unique speaker for Icons. He started his career as an engineer and the Co-Founder one of the most iconic cybersecurity companies, CrowdStrike, and has been deeply involved in political discussions over the years. He later co-authored the book The World on the Brink. What was supposed to be a tech-focused talk turned into a big-picture conversation about where the world is headed in the next few years—particularly with the United States and China both on the edge of something major.
Here are our key takeaways from our pen-and-paper Icons session with Dmitri:
1/ The world is on the Brink, and we’re in a new Cold War.
China has always aimed to be the most powerful—it was historically so until the industrial revolution. Meanwhile, the U.S. doesn’t want to give up its pole position. Partial decoupling is happening now, and a crisis over Taiwan seems likely in the coming 3-7 years. Should it come, no sector will be completely resilient.
2/ It can cost up to $1 million to develop an exploit for an iPhone.
The scariest part is that the target might never know they’ve been compromised—someone else could be watching all their calls and messages without a trace. Every new iPhone update, for instance, gets jailbroken within weeks.
3/ Never compromise on hiring.
Many tech companies make the mistake of rushing hires. Even if it takes longer, you’ve got to hire the very best. Dmitri recalled hiring someone who couldn’t work well with the team—communication and shared growth are essential. So, never settle when it comes to the qualities of your hires.
4/ We overestimate how “friendly” countries are with each other.
International relationships tend to be quite transactional. Coalitions historically don’t necessarily endure forever; things can shift quickly.
6/ China would likely need close to 1,000,000 soldiers to have a shot at conquering Taiwan.
That’s a huge number to transport across the Taiwan Strait and highlights the complexities of any potential conflict.
7/ In security tech, it’s very difficult and rare to create a brand-new market.
It’s typically better to disrupt an existing market with a superior solution. Wiz was an exception, but most big companies get disrupted by startups, and there are relatively few *brand-new market* innovations happening right now.