When Russia invaded Ukraine, 80% of Cyberhaven’s engineering team was in Kyiv. Employees were stopped at the border. Families were being separated. And one CEO had to decide what kind of leader he was going to be.

In this episode, Howard Ting - CEO of Cyberhaven - shares the moment he thought it was the end of the company, and the bold decisions that saved it. You’ll hear how he led through a live-fire crisis, why he believes most companies fail because of people rather than product, and what “people-first leadership” really looks like when everything is on the line.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

The moment all hell broke loose - and what Howard did in the first 24 hours.
Why he told his team: “Family first. Country second. Company last.”
How they explored every option, including bribing border officials, to get employees out.
The operational playbook for building fault tolerance under fire.
What crisis leadership actually looks like when your company is on the line.
Why most companies don’t fail on product or market, but on people, culture, and stage-wrong hires.
How this experience changed his view on success, sacrifice, and the different “types of wealth” in a career.

Chapters:

00:00 Navigating Crisis: The Impact of War on Business

11:46 The People Factor: Why Companies Fail

15:01 Leadership and Personal Growth: A Shift in Perspective

20:02 Work-Life Integration: Balancing Ambition and Family

22:49 Redefining Wealth: Beyond Economic Success

Book recommendation: The 5 Types of Wealth, by Sahil Bloom

Time charting link mentioned: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFu4TTnxt66/

About Howard Ting

Howard Ting is the CEO of Cyberhaven, a data security company protecting the world’s most sensitive information. He has led teams through some of the most extreme operational challenges in startup history and has spent his career building and scaling go-to-market and product teams in high-growth enterprise companies.

About Inside the Silicon Mind

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Keywords: Howard Ting, Cyberhaven, CEO, startup, Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship, crisis leadership, cybersecurity, wartime CEO, why startups fail, people-first leadership, Ukraine war