This Week on Build Mode
This week’s guest is Ayal Yogev, co-founder and CEO of Anjuna Security, who has navigated the full spectrum of the startup journey: leading rapid, explosive growth during the industry boom years, before facing the gut-wrenching, incredibly difficult decision to cut a significant portion of his team when market conditions shifted dramatically.
From scaling his organization to 75 employees to restructuring and rebuilding from a smaller base, Yogev learned first-hand that the hardest part of leadership is not fast-paced hiring — it is making the toughest, high-stakes decisions with intentional care, radical transparency, and unwavering integrity.
In this episode, host Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Yogev to unpack what compassionate leadership through layoffs actually looks like, and how founders can show up for their people even in the most challenging of circumstances. They also dig into the hard lessons of over scaling too quickly, and how to build a far more resilient, sustainable business on the second attempt.
Their conversation covers:
How to approach layoffs with genuine empathy and full transparency
Actionable ways to support departing employees beyond financial severance
Common missteps founders make around rapid scaling and aggressive hiring
Why company culture matters most when navigating periods of crisis
Key hard-earned lessons from rebuilding a company after layoffs
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TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
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New episodes of Build Mode drop every Thursday. Hosted by Isabelle Johannessen. Produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience development led by Morgan Little. Special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.
This Week on Build Mode
