In cybersecurity, hesitation can be the most expensive decision a company makes. Shahaf Galili knows this not as a management theory, but as a lived operational reality forged across 22 years running offensive cyber units inside the Israeli military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou always need to make decisions when you don\u2019t have all the information,\u201d says Shahaf Galili, co-founder and CEO of Mars Security, a Tel Aviv-based threat detection startup that raised $9 million in 2025. \u201cThe most dangerous thing to do, if you\u2019re investigating a breach, if you\u2019re conducting an offensive operation, if you\u2019re trying to decide which product line to invest in, is to wait. Targets are moving and evolving. There\u2019s a lot of chaos and multiple unknowns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a philosophy shaped by his real-world experience in the Israel Defense Forces, confronting actual life-or-death consequences. Galili left the IDF at 39, relatively later than most who leave after their mandatory three-year commitment, which he considers an advantage. The extra years gave him something that fast-track civilian careers rarely produce: a visceral comfort with operating under conditions that would paralyze most executives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe more chaos that you live through,\u201d he said, \u201cthe better you will thrive in chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n