December 28, 2021
The Startup Struggles – Kevin Pope
When it comes to cybersecurity, all organizations are different. While some may have very similar models, they may have very different structures, leadership styles, and risk appetites. They may have wildly different application stacks and attack surfaces. They’ll face unique challenges even when their models are nearly identical. Also, organizations of various sizes tend to have differing levels of maturity and are facing very different types of problems at different stages of maturity. This makes the cybersecurity landscape incredibly diverse and difficult. There is no such thing as a standard structure for organizations which means there is no such thing as a standard solution.
That’s why it’s incredibly important to have a partner that you can trust when it comes to understanding your unique organization and its needs. Startups and small businesses need to close deals, get in the black, and start building some liquidity if they hope to become stable and make it past the crucial five year mark. This leads to putting a primary focus on engineering and sales, while information security takes a back seat, or more accurately, gets shoved in the trunk.
This often ends up being disastrous when the organization begins to mature and scale. The solutions they’ve relied on and the processes they’ve created now are subjected to chaos. As sales begins to bring in the big fish, they start demanding to see the SOC2 report or other compliance certifications. All of a sudden, the company bounces off an invisible wall it never saw coming, and potential revenue losses are hitting the books. Leadership panics and finally security is a priority.
The chaos inflicted on the organization’s staff, assets, configurations, and processes stems from the fact that it all has to be switched up or ripped out and security now has to be forced in. It can be a traumatic event when that threshold is crossed and for the first time ever, the company is forced to take security into account. It seems like a huge burden and major inconvenience and nobody is happy about it. That leads to a very painful period of struggling, seemingly blindfolded, as these organizations never saw a need or ability to invest in security products and skilled professionals. They suddenly feel lost and behind the 8-ball. Worst of all, employees, management, and leaders can easily end up resenting security and seeing it as a obstacle and complete pain the rear. This ends up developing a culture that is hostile to security and only furthers the organization’s long-term pain.
I’ve seen and heard of this happening far too many times. It’s a tale that repeats itself with nearly every startup that is born. The barrier to entry and the overwhelming cost of retaining decent cybersecurity talent ends up being a huge thorn in their side. That’s why it’s so important that organizations look at the value of building security in from the ground up at a reasonable cost. Cybersecurity doesn’t have to be so painful. It just requires the right people at the right price point, delivering the right answers to leadership around the organization’s scope and model.
If the above pain points seem all too familiar, what you may need is that expert who you can trust that will be honest and transparent, listen to your needs, understand your scope and model, and provide just the things you need and none of the hype or toys you don’t. Best of all, it’s at a price point that you can feel more than justified with. Contact us today to have a discussion around our service and how we can help make sure your basics are taken care of so that you can not only have a greater sense of security around your operations and the ability to scale with confidence.