Punit Minocha, Former Executive Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Zscaler, Joins Ballistic Ventures and Decibel Partners as Strategic Advisor

SAN FRANCISCO, July 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ballistic Ventures, the venture capital firm dedicated exclusively to funding and incubating entrepreneurs and innovations in cybersecurity, and Decibel Partners, a venture capital firm specializing in technical founders building in AI and cybersecurity, today announced that Punit Minocha, former Executive Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Zscaler will join both firms as Strategic Advisor.

Punit is a results-driven technology executive with more than three decades of experience building, scaling, and creating value at high-growth companies. He has held key leadership roles at Palo Alto Networks, Zscaler, and Trend Micro, helping scale each business through multiple stages of development and contributing to the creation of market-leading companies with multi-billion-dollar revenues and enterprise values. A skilled communicator adept at aligning executives, boards, and investors, Punit brings a track record of translating strategic vision into operational execution and enterprise value.

In his advisory roles, Punit will help portfolio founders sharpen their corporate strategy and build the strategic channel partnerships and technology alliances needed to accelerate growth. He'll work alongside Ballistic's other functional advisors, spanning go-to-market, marketing, and finance, to give founders access to the specialized expertise needed at each stage of scaling their business. He will also join Decibel's team of Founder Advisors to provide strategic business development advice to technical founders at the earliest stage.

"Punit has spent his career at the intersection of corporate strategy and technology partnerships, helping companies build the alliances and business models that accelerate growth," said Barmak Meftah, Co-Founder and General Partner at Ballistic Ventures. "We're committed to surrounding our founders with the best expertise across every function, and Punit's ability to architect strategic channel partnerships and technology alliances gives our portfolio companies exactly the kind of guidance that helps them move faster."

"I'm thrilled to join Ballistic Ventures at a time when cybersecurity founders need more than capital, they need partners who've been in the trenches of scaling a business from early stage to market leadership," said Minocha. "I've spent my career building the partnerships, M&A strategies, and go-to-market engines that turn strong technology into lasting companies, and I'm excited to bring that experience to Ballistic's portfolio as they build the next generation of category-defining cybersecurity companies."

"Punit gives the masterclass on how a startup can cultivate strong strategic partnerships from day one and it is never too early to seek his advice" said Jon Sakoda, Founder of Decibel Partners. "The cybersecurity landscape is changing dramatically with AI, and Punit's skills will undoubtedly help our founders take advantage of the tectonic shifts ahead." 

"I have admired Decibel's approach working closely with founders and early adopters from the earliest stage and am looking forward to supporting their founders" said Minocha. "We are at the beginning of the AI and cybersecurity 'supercycle' and the market is evolving faster than ever before. There is no better time to be a founder building in this space than right now."

Punit joins fellow Ballistic and Decibel advisors who are guiding the firm's portfolio companies in their growth.

Learn more about the Ballistic team at https://ballisticventures.com/team/ and the Decibel team at https://www.decibel.vc/team.

About Ballistic Ventures
Ballistic Ventures is a venture capital firm solely dedicated to early-stage cybersecurity and cyber-related companies. The partners have spent their entire careers defending against every cyber threat conceivable. Members of the firm have founded, operated, and funded over 100 successful cybersecurity firms – including Abnormal Security, AlienVault, ArcSight, Fortify, Mandiant, and Shape Security – led over 10,000 security professionals globally, and have 40+ years of experience in venture capital. The Ballistic portfolio includes Above Security, Aembit, Alethea, Armadin, ArmorCode, AuthMind, BreachRx, Codezero, Concentric AI, GetReal, Gomboc AI, Hypernative, Magnitude, Mimic, Native, Noma, Nudge, Oligo, OverAI, Pangea, Reach, Reveal Technology, Root Evidence, SpecterOps, Talon (PANW), Veza, WitnessAI, and Zip Security. Our experience provides entrepreneurs impactful support from people focused on the same mission. Our networks and relationships open doors for our founders. Learn more at ballisticventures.com.

About Decibel Partners
Decibel is an early-stage venture capital firm and an early believer in technical founders. We invest in the essential software used by engineering and security teams to build and protect our digital world, and specialize in enterprise software categories at the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. We accelerate the path to product-market fit by engaging with some of the largest communities of technical early adopters across rapidly growing startups and the Fortune 1000. Our founding team's history includes early investments in leading infrastructure software companies such as Cloudflare (NET), Elastic (ESTC), and MongoDB (MDB). The firm's current portfolio includes Abacus, Censys, Cognition, DropZone, E2B, Ent Security, RunZero, Sublime Security, and SpecterOps. Learn more at decibel.vc.

SOURCE Ballistic Ventures