What Does It Actually Take to Start a Security Product Company?

Presented at BSidesDC 2014, Oct. 19, 2014, 11:30 a.m. (60 minutes)

Security people often talk about business in the same hushed tones that everyone else uses when talking about the mysteries of security. Join Rick Gordon and Bob Stratton, partners at Mach37, for an informal chat to demystify what's actually involved in founding a high-growth security product company. If you have an idea for a product that you believe could change the way we handle security at work, for consumers, or on the Internet at large, this chat may help you to figure out your next step. Topics may include company formation, capital formation (raising money), how to price, the costs of entering markets, "what not to do", or whatever else has piqued your curiosity.


Presenters:

  • Rick Gordon
    Rick Gordon is an expert on security technology, business strategy and early-stage venture development. Rick currently serves as Managing Partner of Mach37. Prior to this role, Rick served as Vice President of Product Management at KEYW Corporation, COO of Lookingglass Cyber Solutions, Managing Director at The Civitas Group, and CEO of Tovaris, a specialized encryption software company.
  • Bob Stratton
    Bob Stratton is a General Partner at Mach37, a startup accelerator specializing in information security companies. He is a repeat offender with security startup companies (firewalls, IDS, pentesting, incident response), starting security departments, and security investing, and spinning inventions out of labs. He remembers when all new Internet RFCs had 3-digit numbers, when there were no commercial firewalls, and when INFOSEC people were almost always programmers. When he’s not geezing, he looks for things that aren’t baked yet but could be the Right Thing someday.

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