Cyberends - Investing in cyber founders rejected by Cyberstarts

Cyberends was built around a contrarian belief: if you reached a serious conversation with the Cyberstarts team but ultimately didn’t get funded, that alone might be a strong signal that you are unusual.

Cyberstarts was chosen as the reference point because it sits at the center of Israeli cybersecurity company-building and has become one of the strongest filters for early cyber talent. Founded by Gili Raanan, one of the most respected cyber investors in Israel and globally, Cyberstarts describes itself as the “day one partner” for industry-defining cybersecurity companies, with a portfolio that includes:

Cyberstarts sees an enormous amount of exceptional talent very early, but by definition can only back a limited number of founders. That gap became the core idea behind Cyberends: a VC built to say yes to founders who were strong enough to get into the room with Cyberstarts - but ultimately heard no.

Designing a brand for Cyberends was very different from designing a typical VC identity.

Most venture firms brand themselves around confidence, access, exclusivity, and pattern recognition. Cyberends needed some of that - but not too much. The whole point of the firm was to speak to founders who had already been close to a highly selective process and came out without a check. That is a psychologically delicate audience. They are often ambitious, technically exceptional, and emotionally bruised at the same time.

The challenge, then, was to create a brand that felt credible enough for elite cyber founders, but warm enough to feel like an open door rather than another gatekeeper. It also needed to make the opportunity immediately clear: this was not a generic VC, but a firm built for the “almost” - and ready to act fast, with low friction.

From the start, I treated Cyberends less like a traditional VC and more like a position inside the cyber ecosystem.

I spent time looking at VC branding, especially at how firms create emotional meaning around themselves. More than ever, VC branding matters because founders do not choose investors only for capital. They choose them based on tone, fit, feeling, speed, and what it feels like to be seen by them. A strong VC brand tells founders not only what the firm invests in, but who stands behind it and what kind of founders they are really looking for.

Three principles shaped the work:

Cyberstarts

Cyberstarts uses a minimal and highly controlled visual language. The brand relies on clean typography, generous white space, and simple compositions to create a feeling of confidence, focus, and clarity. Instead of looking busy or overly technical, it feels quiet and deliberate.

What stands out most is the use of nature. Greenery, gardens, trees, and natural light appear again and again, giving the brand a softer and more human atmosphere than most cybersecurity firms. The green and earthy tones, which seem to echo the colors of its offices and physical spaces, make the identity feel calm, premium, and grounded.

There is also a sunrise theme in the brand - both visually and conceptually. It connects directly to the idea of a start: early-stage founders, day-one partnership, and the very beginning of a company’s journey. This is reinforced by their “Sunrise” playbook, which formalizes that moment as a structured phase of building.

This makes Cyberstarts feel less like a hard-edged cyber investor and more like a thoughtful, founder-first partner focused on what happens at the very beginning.

Name and Logo

The name Cyberends was built as a direct counterpoint to Cyberstarts. If “start” marks the beginning of the process, then “end” marks the point where that process stops. The idea was simple: if a founder’s journey with Cyberstarts ended, Cyberends should immediately come to mind as the next place to go. In that sense, the name turns an ending into an opening - suggesting that a no from one process may still be the start of a meaningful relationship somewhere else.

That naming gave the brand several useful qualities at once. It feels familiar immediately, because it echoes a known structure in the market. It also carries a subtle emotional narrative: not just starts, but endings, continuations, second chances, and staying power.

The connection to Cyberstarts is intentional. Just as Cyberstarts uses a linked c+s symbol, Cyberends introduces a linked c+e mark. This creates an immediate visual relationship between the two brands, making Cyberends feel like it belongs to the same ecosystem while still standing on its own.

Colors

The color palette was designed to feel related to Cyberstarts, but emotionally different. Like Cyberstarts, it uses warm, earthy tones instead of the colder blues often associated with cyber brands, which helps place Cyberends in the same broader world. But where Cyberstarts leans toward soft greens, beige, and sunrise-like warmth, Cyberends shifts into browns, plums, soft peach, and sunset-like warmth.

This difference supports the positioning of the firm. If Cyberstarts evokes the beginning of the journey through light, nature, and early-morning optimism, Cyberends feels more like what comes after: grounded, reflective, and still warm.

Brand Activation & Creative Strategy

The website was designed to communicate the idea immediately and without friction. The first line you see sets the tone: “Where Cyberstarts ends, we begin.” It creates a direct conceptual bridge to Cyberstarts while clearly positioning Cyberends as what comes next - not a competitor, but a continuation.

From there, the experience is intentionally simple, warm, and human. Unlike many cyber-focused sites that lean heavily on technical language or abstraction, the design focuses on people, clarity, and emotional accessibility. The goal was to make founders feel understood within seconds.

Let’s start with the values. This section was designed to express who Cyberends is through real moments from their day-to-day - not staged visuals, but glimpses into how they actually work, think, and interact. The warm, sunset-driven palette ties everything together, creating a calm and human atmosphere that reflects the way they approach founders: personally, directly, and with care.

Building on that, the Team section plays a central role. It was important that the team wouldn’t feel distant or institutional, but personal and approachable. Each member is presented in a calm, natural environment, with soft lighting and relaxed compositions. In addition to static portraits, we embedded a video of each person in a context they enjoy - small glimpses into who they are beyond their role. This creates a sense of familiarity and trust before any conversation even begins.

Take a look yourself:

While the portfolio highlights individual founder stories, the Sunset program captures the shared structure behind them - the moment where one process ends and another begins.

The Sunset program was designed as a direct counterpart to Cyberstarts’ Sunrise - not as an alternative, but as a continuation. While Sunrise captures the beginning of a founder’s journey, Sunset focuses on what happens right after a strong process ends. The visual language reflects that shift: instead of expanding outward, the curve dips inward, representing a moment of reflection, clarity, and renewed conviction before moving forward again.

Beyond the website, I was also involved in developing growth and marketing ideas to reach founders in more direct and unexpected ways. One of the most effective examples was placing a physical billboard right at the exit of Mikhmoret - where Cyberstarts’ office is located. The idea was simple: every founder leaving a meeting would pass by it. The sign, written in Hebrew, read: “Bad meeting? Talk to us, we’re ready to invest.” It spoke directly to that exact moment, turning a potentially disappointing experience into an immediate next step.

It was highly targeted, a bit provocative, and impossible to ignore - and we have a feeling it even made Gili and his team smile :)

Another initiative we developed was the Cyberstarts Rejection Support Group - a half-joking, half-serious concept designed to turn a typically private and uncomfortable moment into something shared, human, and even empowering. Instead of treating rejection as an endpoint, we imagined a physical space where founders could talk openly about the experience, exchange stories, and realize they are far from alone. The tone intentionally balanced honesty with humor, making the idea feel light enough to engage with, but still grounded in a real emotional truth.

This idea came to life through a series of design materials: directional signs leading to the “support group,” social media banners featuring real founder stories, and even small physical artifacts like the “Drafting a Unicorn” notebook - a subtle reminder that one “no” doesn’t define the journey. Each piece reinforced the same message: if you were good enough to be in the room, you’re good enough to keep building.

Swag became an important extension of the brand - not just as merchandise, but as a way to create identity, belonging, and even a bit of attitude around the Cyberends community. We created classic pieces, like a refined cap with the text “Pre-Seed, Post-Cyberstarts” and a minimalist T-shirt - but with a twist: “rejected by Cyberstarts” on the front and “backed by Cyberends” on the back. What started as a slightly provocative idea quickly became something founders wore with pride - especially when coming into meetings - turning a past “no” into a visible badge of confidence.

Alongside these, we explored more unexpected and playful directions. One example was a beach umbrella printed with “Cyberstarts, come see what you’ve missed :)”, designed specifically for Mikhmoret beach - making it part of the physical landscape around Cyberstarts’ office. Another was sending comforting ice cream to founders right after rejection. It worked because it met them exactly at the emotional moment: light, human, and disarming. Instead of another formal email or pitch, it created a small, memorable gesture - something that made people smile, reset, and reach out.

Cyberends was created as a playful but sincere tribute to the standard Cyberstarts has built in the cyber ecosystem. The concept only works because Cyberstarts’ judgment, taste, and founder signal are so strong that even getting into a serious conversation with the team already means something.

The goal was never to position Cyberends against Cyberstarts, but beside it - as an imagined continuation of the journey after one highly selective process ends. In that sense, the brand reframes “no” not as failure, but as a moment that may still contain real signal, potential, and momentum.

The design needed to hold that balance carefully: credible, warm, founder-first, and emotionally aware, while always respecting the prestige of the original Cyberstarts process. Every choice, from the name and visual language to the website, campaigns, and community ideas, was built around making founders feel seen without diminishing the selectiveness that made the signal valuable.

Ultimately, Cyberends explores how venture branding can turn an ending into a new opening. It is a fictional concept, but it is built around real admiration for Cyberstarts - not only as a fund, but as one of the strongest signals in the cyber founder ecosystem.