Founder Storiez · 2026-06-04 · 1h 34m
Steve Ward has been a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, a Secret Service agent who ran one of the first computer-network wiretaps in U.S. history, the CISO of Home Depot, a partner at Insight Partners, and an early backer of Wiz, Abnormal and a dozen others . Today he runs his own cyber venture fund, Bright Mind - named after his son. But this isn’t a victory lap. Steve talks openly about the engine underneath all of it: a relentless feeling that he doesn’t belong and doesn’t deserve what he’s achieved, and what that’s cost him. He shares why the Wiz money is going into a trust for his son with autism, the ego that pulled him away from his family, the mentor he’s spent two decades trying to find, what he looks for in founders, and how he now defines success - hint: it has nothing to do with the wire transfer. Honest, raw, and unexpectedly moving. As Steve put it: “It was like a free therapy session.” A conversation about cybersecurity, venture capital, and the cost of ambition - hosted by Ephraim.
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