Inside the Network

Our guest in this episode is Mike Fey, co-founder and CEO of Island, one of the fastest-growing cybersecurity companies. Founded just five years ago, Island has raised over $700 million in funding, crossed $5 billion valuation, and helped create an entirely new category: the Enterprise Browser.

Mike has scaled massive cybersecurity businesses. Over the course of his career, he has served as CTO of Intel Security and President of both Blue Coat and Symantec. Mike played a key role in some of the largest transactions in cybersecurity history, including Intel's $7.7 billion acquisition of McAfee, Symantec's $4.7 billion acquisition of Blue Coat, and Broadcom's $10.7 billion acquisition of Symantec's enterprise business.

After decades of leading some of the industry's largest security companies, Mike could have easily become an investor, advisor, or board member. Instead, he decided to start over from scratch. Together with co-founder Dan Amiga, he set out to challenge one of the most entrenched pieces of enterprise software: the browser. At first glance, building a browser company sounded like a terrible startup idea: enterprises already had Chrome, Edge, Safari, and countless security products protecting them. Yet Mike and the Island team believed that the browser was evolving into the primary workspace for modern employees and that whoever controlled the browser could fundamentally rethink security, productivity, and the future of work.

On Inside the Network, Mike shares the story behind Island's creation, why he initially rejected the idea before becoming convinced it could become a generational company, and how the team navigated the challenge of convincing enterprises to replace one of the most widely used pieces of software in the world.

We discuss category creation, the Innovator's Dilemma, building go-to-market organizations from scratch, fundraising strategy, and the lessons Mike learned from scaling businesses through more than $20 billion worth of acquisitions. He explains why founders often underestimate sales and go-to-market execution, how startups can use incumbents' strengths against them, and why market timing matters more than many entrepreneurs realize. We also dive into the impact of AI on enterprise software and cybersecurity, how AI is reshaping the role of the browser, and why Mike believes the browser will become the front door through which enterprises adopt and operationalize AI.