Avery Pennarun
Co-founder & CEO
at
Tailscale

Avery Pennarun is the Co-founder and CEO of Tailscale, a company revolutionizing secure networking with its zero-trust, easy-to-use approach. With a background in software engineering and an extensive career spanning innovative startups and tech giants like Google, Avery is recognized for his ability to simplify complex systems and foster technological innovation. His open-source work includes projects he launched such as netselect, bup, sshuttle, and gfblip, all reflecting his core philosophy: technology should be powerful but also easy to use. Whether it’s automating VPNs or optimizing network latency with clever hacks, his work consistently prioritizes simplicity, reliability, and developer ergonomics.
A natural storyteller with a penchant for technical depth and humor, Avery shares his insights on topics such as modern networking, the evolution of the internet, and the challenges of startup growth in today’s fast-paced tech environment.