He waited nearly 20 years to start a company. Now he's the cofounder of a double unicorn.
Snehal Antani cofounded Horizon3, an AI hacking venture. He credits his experience in helping him navigate a funding downturn and the SVB collapse.
Snehal Antani, now 46, became a cofounder in his late 30s for AI hacking startup Horizon3. The company now has a market value exceeding $2 billion, making it a so-called double unicorn. Antani spent nearly two decades building the skills he believed he needed to be a founder, including experience in product launching, organizational management, scaling a hypergrowth company, and leadership at the US Joint Special Operations Command.
He met his future cofounder Anthony Pillitiere at JSOC. After founding Horizon3 in 2019, the company had to adapt to a sudden change in the tech funding environment and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, where all of Horizon3's money was held at the time. To survive, Antani cut costs and reinvested that money into sales and marketing, which helped the company's revenue grow nearly fivefold year over year.
The episode tested his fundraising skills, which he had never used before. He treated early investor meetings as crash courses, refining his pitch deck, financial model, and market case repeatedly in response to questions. Today, Horizon3 employs about 550 people and serves 7,000 customers globally.
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