RSD013 | From VC Partner to Unicorn CGO: How Madeleine scaled Aikido to $18M ARR in 18 Months

Revenue Systems Decoded: Madeleine, Chief Growth Officer at Aikido Security At 26, Madeleine was a partner at a €150M VC fund, writing checks for what she believed would scale. Then she left to become Chief Growth Officer at Aikido Security—a Belgian cybersecurity startup with no Silicon Valley pedigree, no CISO network, and no traditional playbook. Just a freemium product, a no-bullshit attitude, and a mission to prove the gap between what VCs think will scale and what actually scales. In 20 months, Aikido grew revenue 5x to $18M ARR, raised $60M at a $1B valuation, and became Europe's fastest-growing cybersecurity company and fastest to reach unicorn status. Over 100,000 teams now use the platform, including Revolut, the Premier League, and SoundCloud. Madeleine has built one of the few teams with 21 former founders and cracked the US market from Belgium—generating over 53% of revenue from the US without traditional enterprise sales motions. Connect with Madeleine:   / madeleine   Connect with Olivier:   / oliviertytgat   Sign up for Aikido Security: https://aikido.security Get a free GTM strategy review: https://forms.outboundcatalyst.com/ro... Chapters 00:00 Introduction: From VC Partner to Unicorn CGO at Aikido Security 03:14 The Systematic Disconnect: What VCs Get Wrong About Go-to-Market 06:26 The Freemium Foundation: Leveraging Community and Self-Service to Scale 09:23 The Wall of Shame: No Stone Left Unturned in Lead Follow-Up 11:02 North Star Metrics: Measuring Real Usage vs Vanity in a Freemium Model 13:37 The SMB Advantage: Why Aikido Banned the Word Enterprise Early On 15:57 Bottom-Up Enterprise: When Big Logos Start Finding You Through Freemium 19:05 The Developer-First Philosophy: Solving Pain Without Feature Bloat 22:08 Adding Top-Down Motions: Cold Calling and Enterprise Expansion Strategy 24:40 Cheeky Marketing in a Serious Industry: Brand as Competitive Advantage 27:41 The Founder Magnet: Building a Team of 21 Former Founders 29:24 Global from Day One: Cracking the US Market from Belgium 32:15 GEO Over SEO: Winning in AI-Powered Search and Chat Interfaces 33:21 The Half-Million Dollar Bet: RSA Conference and Enterprise Repositioning 35:06 The Reality Behind the Systems: Building Without a Playbook