The Best of Venture in Security

The list of all-time best posts about cybersecurity, industry trends, investing and other topics related to security

Welcome to Venture in Security! Before we begin, do me a favor and make sure you hit the “Subscribe” button. Subscriptions let me know that you care and keep me motivated to write more. Thanks, folks!

Q: I recently discovered Venture in Security, and I’m finding it hard to browse your posts. Is there an easy way I can find your best stuff?

It’s been over a year of writing about cybersecurity, industry trends, investing, and other topics related to security. I started Venture in Security as a way to better understand the business side of cybersecurity - the trends, actors and their motivations, and moving parts in general. Venture in Security now has over 100 posts, and discoverability has become a problem. To fix that, I’ve collected some of my best articles, from day one until today across six topics:

1. 📈 Cybersecurity industry trends & insights

2. 💵 Cybersecurity investing

3. 🎯 Go-to-market strategy

4. 💡 Innovation in cybersecurity

5. 📚 Resources for cybersecurity founders & investors

6. 🧠 Philosophy O’clock

📈 Cybersecurity industry trends & insights

• Security is about data: how different approaches are fighting for security data and what the cybersecurity data stack of the future is shaping up to look like

• Game of Thrones in cybersecurity: data gravity, industry consolidation, platform play, private equity, and the great cyber gold rush

• Explaining the complex world of channel partners in cybersecurity and looking at their past, present, and future

• Open source in cybersecurity: a deep dive

• The rise of security engineering and how it is changing the cybersecurity of tomorrow

• Why there are so many cybersecurity vendors, what it leads to and where do we go from here

• Follow the people: @stake, NetScreen, IBM, Israel Defense Forces and the US Armed Forces mafia networks in cybersecurity

• Enmeshment in cybersecurity: blurring boundaries between products and services

• Future of cyber defense and move from promise-based to evidence-based security

• Managed security service providers: present state, trends, and future outlook of the space

• Insurance industry: mechanics, challenges, and the role in accelerating the maturation of cybersecurity

• Cyber insurance: state of the space, trends & the emergence of fully-integrated cyber solutions

• Gartner, Forrester and cybersecurity: a deep dive into the trends, challenges & the future of the notorious industry analyst firms

• The importance of adopting a security-first mindset and why compliance is a bad substitute for security

• Understanding the RSA Conference iceberg: revealing the unknown truths and explaining the well-known concepts

• The rise of cybersecurity certifications and why we should take an engineering approach to security education instead

• Why Israel may become the winner in the global cybersecurity market, and what can make it fail

• The “great CISO resignation” isn’t what it looks like: a hype-free, data-driven, in-depth look at the evolution and challenges of security leaders

• Trust no one: why we can't trust most stats about the cybersecurity industry, and why must stop creating numbers out of thin air

• Three types of consolidation in cybersecurity, and how monopolization and commoditization are shaping the industry of tomorrow

• Palo Alto isn’t going to buy everyone: the anatomy of cybersecurity startup exits

• Every successful security platform started as a point solution

💵 Cybersecurity investing and fundraising

• Why we need more startups and venture capital in cybersecurity, and what needs to change for the industry to mature

• On a hunt for successful cybersecurity startups and unicorn founders

• Investing in cybersecurity: a deep look at the challenges, opportunities, and tools for cyber-focused VCs

• Raising capital and understanding paths to an exit: thoughts and mental models for cybersecurity startup founders

• A deep look at investing in cybersecurity services for VCs: why, why not, and how to

• Investing in open source cybersecurity products: a field guide for VCs and a useful source for founders

• Fundamentals of angel investing via syndicates for cybersecurity founders and security professionals

• Corporate venture capital and cybersecurity: why Okta, CrowdStrike, CyberArk and others invest in cybersecurity startups

• The tough business of incubating cyber innovation: a deep look at the cybersecurity-focused incubator and accelerator models

• Startups that target mature security enterprises should be especially careful about their fundraising strategy

🎯 Go-to-market strategy

• Caveat emptor: product-led growth in cybersecurity can be a great idea, but it can also hurt or even kill security startups

• Customer love: a recipe for building winning cybersecurity startups

• Cybersecurity marketing: in need of fundamental change

• Business & distribution model design for cybersecurity founders and startup leaders

• Looking for ways to promote products and services that make cybersecurity a better place: five unique case studies

• PLG is not a boolean: practical advice for cybersecurity startups looking to embrace product-led growth

• 4 ways cybersecurity startups can boost adoption and shorten time to value

• Solving problems when nobody will admit they have one: practical advice for building products in cybersecurity

• Time to trust: what it is, why cybersecurity startups must shorten it to accelerate growth, and how to do it

• 19 plus one traction channels for growing a cybersecurity startup: a founder’s guide (part 1 of 3)

• 19 plus one traction channels for growing a cybersecurity startup: a founder’s guide (part 2 of 3)

• 19 plus one traction channel for growing a cybersecurity startup: a founder’s guide (part 3 of 3)

• Psychology of marketing and selling cybersecurity

💡 Innovation in cybersecurity

• Why building security products is hard and why skilled security practitioners are the only way to achieve an advantage over the adversary

• A shortage of cybersecurity founders building companies, not features or products

• Four cybersecurity startup dilemmas and what they mean for security founders and the industry in general

• How security leaders can accelerate innovation in cybersecurity

• Not everything is about technology: 9 of the many sources of cybersecurity innovation

• The role of trust in cybersecurity, and how what is happening in the industry leads to the tragedy of the commons

• Why security teams should start recruiting product managers

📚 Resources for cybersecurity founders & investors

• Top 10 resources about the business of cybersecurity

• Global cybersecurity startup ecosystem map: a founder’s guide

• 4 books every cybersecurity startup founder needs to read (and 15 more that can be helpful)

• A founder’s guide to overcoming the VC-related information asymmetry between the entrepreneur and the investor

• In 2024, finding cybersecurity startup ideas worth pursuing is harder than many people think

• Most security startups are tackling problems that are too small for the VC model (but there are other ways to build companies, too)

🧠 Philosophy O’clock

• Cybersecurity is not a market for lemons. It is a market for silver bullets.

• Most of the security teams’ work has nothing to do with chasing advanced adversaries

• Cybersecurity talent shortage: not the lack of people, but the lack of the right people

• Why cybersecurity is not everybody’s job (and what we should do for it to become one)

• Cybersecurity metaphors: from simplifying complexity to promoting bad decisions

• Cybersecurity is not about technology

• How cybersecurity vendors make us less secure

• How tech startups are building an insecure world and where we can go from here

Going forward, I’ll keep this post as a living document to track all the best writing I put out. Please bookmark it for future reference & share it with friends. Thank you for your support!

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If you like my blog, please subscribe & share it with your friends. I do this in my free time, so seeing the readership grow helps me to stay motivated and write more. I don’t send anything except my writing and don’t sell your data to anyone as it’s dumb and I have better stuff to do. Thank you!