The Battle for Your Computer

CHAPTER 5The Pioneer—The Story of Check Point

Unit 8200 has produced several legends, who even years after leaving, are still talked about with reverence there. They have become symbols of daring, professionalism, and creativity—examples of extraordinarily talented people who realized their full potential. I met some of them when I started writing this book, to hear firsthand from them about how they had taken off, what drove them, and what it takes to turn a small startup into a global company. I often went to interview them with a racing heartbeat, knowing I was going to meet people who had blazed the trail I was taking—as a soldier, entrepreneur, and investor. One of these trailblazers, if not the first among them, was Gil Shwed.

In the spirit of those early post‐COVID days, I met with Shwed on Zoom. His personal assistant booked me in for half an hour and warned me to stick to the schedule. I got the message. Shwed's time, as the Nasdaq's longest‐serving CEO, was precious. But Shwed was a talker, and he patiently spelled out for me his many reinventions and explained how he saw the world, and he even gave me an extra half‐hour. Behind him, on my screen, I could see his first product in its original cardboard packaging. We chatted and I tried to get a sense from him about what he had learned about the fields of cybersecurity and innovation since the days when he was a young man who knew he was going to change the world.

Aged 22 and fresh out of the army, back in 1991, Shwed ...