funding
-
“We built a brilliant product, but no one bought it.” A familiar refrain in cybersecurity startups. Vendors are masters of the acronym; DNS, IAM, EDR, DDR but often fail to agree internally on who their buyer is, what problem they solve, or how to tell that story. This isn’t a minor oversight. Misaligned GTM efforts…
-
Worth a thousand words…
•
1 min read
“When setting out on a journey, do not seek advice from those who have never left home.” Rumi
-
“Markets are conversations.” Regis McKenna, 1985 In 2025 the conversation around cybersecurity is louder, faster and far more sceptical. Perimeters have dissolved, AI now writes both code and exploits, and regulators redraw the map almost monthly. The vendors that win will do so not by shouting but by proving openly, quickly and repeatedly that they can be…
-
Artificial “Intelligence”
•
2 min read
AI sounds grand. We all have some sort of idea what is AI but still we imagine circuits thinking, learning, plotting. Yet large language models only predict the next word. That is maths, not mind. When a chatbot finishes a proverb or drafts a policy note it feels as though meaning guided the pen, but…
-
12 Month Marketing Workflow for Cybersecurity SaaS: From Zero to Pipeline (Blueprint Edition)
•
8 min read
This isn’t marketing theory. It’s the playbook for when you’re the founder and also the first marketer. You’ve got a domain name, a product that’s finding its legs, and two customers who see your vision. No cavalry is coming. But follow this 12 month blueprint, and you’ll forge a growth engine that doesn’t just attract…
-
It’s 2021. An early stage cybersecurity startup’s technical founder made a bold move. He stepped back from sales and handed it to a seasoned manager. No prep, no context, no process. Just: “Here’s the CRM. Go.” Deals didn’t stall. They closed faster. Pipeline grew. Conversion rates jumped. But in my view? That wasn’t process. That…
-
When AI Overselling Backfires While I witness a European cybersecurity vendor saw a drop in proof-of-concept conversions after prospects flagged “AI-washing” in their messaging. The lesson? Idk, timing? With CrowdStrike adding generative AI to Falcon and Microsoft baking Copilot into Defender, customers face a paradox: they want AI-powered efficiency but distrust vendors who overpromise. The…
-
Not all early stage capital is created equal. Especially in cybersecurity, where GTM cycles are long, trust is hard to earn, and technical depth matters more than shiny pitch decks. So when you’re raising your first real round, the question isn’t just “Who will fund us?” It’s “Whose model actually fits how security companies grow?”…
-
Startups don’t fail because they hire the wrong people. They fail because they hire too many before the system can support them. That’s why your first scale hire shouldn’t be HR. It should be ops. HR sets policies. Ops builds engines. If you’re under 30 people and already hunting for a Head of People, you…
-
Raising your first capital is hard enough without navigating the fine print of deal instruments. SAFE notes. Convertible notes. They sound interchangeable. They’re not. For UK cybersecurity start-ups, where burn is real, traction is lumpy, and buyers move slower than you’d like, the wrong instrument can box you in before you ever close a Series…