# Dean Valentine

> Dean Valentine is co-founder and CEO of ZeroPath, a San Francisco application security company in Y Combinator’s Summer 2024 batch. Previously a co-founder of Mevlink, acquired by bloXroute Labs in 2023, he writes about the gap between AI benchmark scores and useful security work and authored ZeroPath’s July 2026 introduction to CatastropheBench.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at ZeroPath
- **Organizations:** ZeroPath, Mevlink
- **Education:** The University of Texas at San Antonio
- **Known for:** Co-founded Mevlink, acquired by bloXroute Labs in 2023., Co-founded ZeroPath, a Y Combinator Summer 2024 company., Holds OSCP and OSCE certifications.

## Career timeline

- **2018** — Earned OSCP certification in February, as listed on his LinkedIn profile.
- **2020** — Earned OSCE certification in August, as listed on his LinkedIn profile.
- **2023** — Mevlink, which he co-founded with Etienne Lunetta, was acquired by bloXroute Labs.
- **2024** — Co-founded ZeroPath; the company joined Y Combinator’s Summer 2024 batch.
- **2025** — Published On Recent AI Model Progress on March 24.
- **2026** — ZeroPath became an RSAC Innovation Sandbox Top 10 finalist; Valentine authored the July 22 CatastropheBench introduction.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Mevlink, acquired by bloXroute Labs in 2023.
- Co-founded ZeroPath, a Y Combinator Summer 2024 company.
- Holds OSCP and OSCE certifications.
- Leads ZeroPath, an RSAC 2026 Innovation Sandbox Top 10 finalist.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Authored Introducing CatastropheBench: A Tripwire for Autonomous Zero-Day Discovery, published July 22.
- **2026-06** — Discussed autonomous application security, scaling, and customer control over remediation in a June 18 ITTech Pulse interview.
- **2026-02** — ZeroPath was named a Top 10 finalist in the RSAC 2026 Innovation Sandbox announcement on February 10.

## Links

- Website: https://zeropath.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-valentine-3b7583313

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/dean-valentine
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-08